José Ramón Andrés Puerta born 13 July 1969 is a Spanish chef and founder of World Central Kitchen WCK a nonprofit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters A Spanishborn and raised cook he is often credited with bringing the small plates dining concept to America He owns restaurants in Washington DC Los Angeles Las Vegas South Beach Florida Orlando Chicago and New York City He was awarded a 2015 National Humanities Medal at a 2016 White House ceremony for his work with World Central Kitchen In addition he has received honorary doctorates from Georgetown University George Washington University Harvard University and Tufts University Description above from the Wikipedia article José Andrés licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia