William D'Auvray

Executive Chef/Partner

The menu at East End is a snapshot of William D’Auvray’s culinary training in Los Angeles, where he learned the fundamentals of French and Asian cuisines.  

He builds on those techniques and flavors for simple bistrot fare that is familiar and unfussy.

D’Auvray started his career in pastry at Michel Richard's pâtisseries in Beverly Hills and Hollywood Hills and still bakes his own bread, pastries, and desserts at East End. 

He spent the next four years in Los Angeles with Japanese chefs at La Petite Chaya and Chaya Brasserie, pioneering Franco-Japanese restaurants owned by a family with 400 years of restaurant experience beginning in Japan. 

D’Auvray joined renowned chef Patrick Healy at Colette in West Hollywood next. Healy, who trained under Alain Ducasse, Jean and Pierre Troisgros, Michel Guerard, and Roger Verge in France, encouraged him to travel to France to learn more about ingredients and techniques. 

He continued working at Colette after returning from France while taking roles at the legendary L’Orangerie under Jean Francois Meteigner and other California kitchens like Ma Maison and Max au Triangle under a young Wolfgang Puck and Joachim Splichal. 

A keen interest in seafood led D’Auvray to the kitchens of seafood masters Susumu Fukui and Hidemasa Yamamoto. When Yamamoto moved from L.A. to take over the legendary Jockey Club at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C., D’Auvray joined him, refining his technique with Yamamoto and a team of classically trained chefs.

Family ties brought D’Auvray to North Carolina, and in 1997, D’Auvray introduced his California cuisine to Raleigh with the opening of his seafood restaurant Fins. Fins earned a 4/4-star review in The News & Observer and garnered national attention by Bon Appetit as one of the "Best Seafood Restaurants” in the country in 2008.

After 13 successful years, D'Auvray closed Fins, and restaurant consulting took him to Florida and Maine. When he returned to North Carolina, he lent his consulting expertise to area restaurants before taking on the role of Executive Chef at East End Bistrot in 2023.

D’Auvray is now the Executive Chef and Managing Partner of East End Bistrot, which repeatedly earns recognition as “Best New Restaurant,” “Restaurant of the Year,” and “Best Restaurant” by Eater Carolinas, News Observer, Raleigh Magazine, Axios, and Infatuation.