The traditional tall white chef’s hat, or “toque blanche," as the French refer to it, has been a mainstay of dining establishments for centuries. Many will recognize it for its distinctive height, ...

What's A Chef's Hat Called? The iconic chef's hat is called a toque blanche (French for “white hat”). A toque can refer to any hat with no brim, or a very narrow one. There are many theories about its ...

I worked in restaurants for more than a decade, and if there’s one thing you learn quickly, it’s how to spot who’s doing what. The hosts are usually the best-dressed. The servers all wear black and ...

Patrick O’Connell, chef-owner of The Inn at Little Washington, Va., finds he is helpless without his toque blanche. “I can’t cook a thing without it on,” he said. But to Jean-Louis Palladin of ...