Puck trained as an apprentice under Raymond Thuilier at L'Oustau de Baumanière in
Les Baux-de-Provence, at
Hôtel de Paris in
Monaco, and at
Maxim's Paris before moving to the United States in 1973 at age 24. After two years at La Tour in
Indianapolis, Puck moved to
Los Angeles to become chef and part owner of
Ma Maison restaurant. Following the 1981 publication of his first cookbook,
Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen, which was based on his Ma Maison recipes, Puck opened the restaurant
Spago on the
Sunset Strip in 1982. Fifteen years later, in 1997, Puck and
Barbara Lazaroff, his then-wife and business partner, moved the award-winning Spago to
Beverly Hills. It has been recognized as one of the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. since 2004.
The Infatuation wrote that "Spago made Wolfgang Puck the first (and maybe only) chef you and your grandma know by name." In 1991, Puck opened his fourth restaurant, Granita, a seafood restaurant in
Malibu, California. The restaurant closed in 2005. Since 2003, Puck's recipes have been syndicated worldwide to newspapers and websites by
Tribune Content Agency. Wolfgang Puck is active in philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations. He co-founded the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation in 1982. The foundation supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival which benefits
Meals on Wheels; it has raised more than $15 million since its inception. One of Wolfgang Puck's signature dishes at his original restaurant, Spago, is house-smoked salmon pizza. Puck has been accused of misogyny in the workplace. While judging an episode of the cooking competition show
Top Chef, he said, "A stove is like a woman, it never does what it's supposed to do." ==Personal life==