Get a chef to confide in you,*

and one of two things will happen. If that chef is passionate about her work but works for someone else, she will undoubtedly talk about the frustrations and constraints of working around customers' whims - or, maybe worse, an owner's perception of a customer's whims. She'll talk about wanting to be free to make her art on her own terms - to open a restaurant that is only hers, and to make the food she loves making, regardless of who comes in the door.

Now get a chef who is also a restaurant owner to confide in you. She might complain about many things - payroll, a ruined panna cotta, an inexplicable kale shortage - but she won't complain about feeling boxed in. At worst, she%u2019ll feel misunderstood. But feeling misunderstood is a trait of all artists, isn't it?

The chefs in Dining Out 2010 belong to that latter category. They have taken on tremendous personal and professional risk in the hope of reaping the tremendous reward of both freedom and success at the thing they love most. Their food and their stories inspire us. We hope they inspire you, too.

- Luke Baumgarten, Section Editor

* This may take a drink or two, and you may have to do some confiding yourself.