Rick Moonen

Who is Rick Moonen?

Rick Moonen is a celebrated seafood chef and an early champion of sustainable fishing practices.

Moonen graduated first in his class from the Culinary Institute of America and then went on to work at New York City’s La Côte Basque, Le Cirque and The Water Club where he commanded the kitchen for six years. He then became executive chef and partner at Oceana before he opened rm in New York, which earned three stars from the New York Times. In 2005, Moonen closed the New York rm in order to open Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood and r bar café at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Moonen is a devoted advocate for sustainable seafood, dedicated to educating about the dangers of overfishing and ocean conservation. He is a founding member of the Chef’s Coalition, Seafood Choices Alliances and an active member of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Seaweb, Share our Strength and a chef’s advisory board member of Ecofish. Moonen has served as a spokesperson for American caviar and has testified several times for environmental and sustainable policy issues in Washington, DC and New York.

He is on the board of advisors for the French Culinary Institute, a member of the corporation for the Culinary Institute of America, a contributing editor to Food & Wine Magazine and is a frequent guest chef at the James Beard House. In 2010, Moonen was a finalist in the second season of Bravo's Top Chef Masters.