Spend 10 years working for the best in the business, travel and taste extensively, then open a restaurant that serves the best versions of the foods you know and love. Sound like a formula for success? It has been for ICE graduate Marc Murphy, whose Landmarc bistro in Tribeca has been enthusiastically hailed by the press and dining public alike. Dining editor Sam Sifton of the New York Times called it "a sly French and Italian bistro primer that takes virtually every modern menu archetype and recasts it as a virtue," and critic Amanda Hesser hailed it as "a bistro with a backbone."

Landmarc, opened by Murphy and his wife, Pam, this February, has the kind of neighborhood appeal and authenticity that draws diners from all over. "This food is all about my life," says Murphy. "This is all the food I want to eat – it's all here from so many parts of my past."

The son of a diplomat, that past includes a cosmopolitan childhood spent in cities all over the world. After high school, Murphy found himself working odd jobs in New York and decided to attend ICE's culinary program – the main draw, as he tells it, being ready access to good food. But Murphy got much more than good food, and his career took off quickly. In addition to work and travel throughout France and Italy, he worked with some of the biggest names in the business: Alain Ducasse, Terrance Brennan, Sylvain Portay, David Pasternak.

Murphy became executive chef at Cellar in the Sky in 1993 and then headed uptown to be opening chef at La Forchette on the Upper East Side. Despite excellent reviews, La Forchette closed in 2002 and Murphy began scouting around for a restaurant to his own. After 8 months of renovations, Murphy and his wife opened 100-seat Landmarc on West Broadway.

In addition to kudos for the food, the Murphys have also gotten excellent press from for their wine program. Half-bottles replace wines by the glass at Landmarc, and everything – from magnums on down – is priced at a fraction of what diners are accustomed to.

2005