Michael Stoltzfus grew up on a 140-acre working dairy farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At 25 years old, after working at a few restaurants in Maryland, his talents were evident and he was hired to work at New Orleans’ esteemed Restaurant August, where six months later he was promoted to Sous Chef. In December 2008 Michael opened Coquette in New Orleans’ idyllic Garden District. Michael has been named a semi-finalist in the prestigious James Beard “Best Chef South” award for consecutive years.

Michael and Kristen Essig have two James Beard "Best Chef South" award nominations (2017 and 2018) under their belt together as co-executive chefs of Coquette.