Daniel Orr was born in 1963, and raised in Columbus, Indiana to a family of Foodies (food lovers).

He was always in the kitchen while growing up and even won a cooking competition in junior high school with a Spanish recipe. His first job in high school was at the only fine dining restaurant in Columbus. That led to him going to Johnson & Wales University in Providence Rhode Island. After graduating in restaurant management in 1990, he went abroad for two years, working in France at Auberge des Templiers, Restaurant Daguin and three-star L’Esperance, as well as Belgium’s three-star Restaurant Bruneau.
In 1992, Chef Orr returned to New York City to work at the famed French Restaurant, La Grenouille. Working up the ranks, and in 1997 at age 34, he was appointed Executive Chef, the same year the restaurant received three stars from the New York Times. Chef Daniel also wrote his first cookbook “Daniel Orr: Real Food” published by Rizzoli that year, and created Kitchen D’Orr, a line of 10 spice blends perfected in his own kitchen.

Two years later, Chef Orr was approached by Sir Terrence Conran, to become the executive chef of his first restaurant in the USA, Guastavino’s, under the 59th Street Bridge. It was there in the spring of 2001, that Great Chefs showed up to tape Chef Orr preparing three dishes for Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of America television series. He cooked Frog Legs Spiced with Pickle Marsala, Garlic and Lemon as an appetizer (episode #211); a Boeuf with Market Vegetables, and Potato Purée with Truffle Butter entrée (episode #202); and a dessert of Minted Melon Soup with Raspberries (episode #197).

A lover of sun, Chef Daniel spent many vacations away from New York City, diving and exploring in the Caribbean Islands. As fate would have it, in 2004 he was invited to become executive chef of the Cuisinart Resort & Spa in Anguilla, BVI in the Caribbean.

Today, Chef Daniel Orr runs FARMBloomington in Bloomington, Indiana, developing new products, offering his services as a professional chef, and writing new cookbooks.