Classically trained in France, Jacques Torres was pastry chef at Le Cirque for 11 years and now serves as dean of pastry studies at the French Culinary Institute in New York. In 2000, Torres opened his own chocolate factory in Brooklyn, and in 2004 he opened Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven in lower Manhattan. He is the author of Dessert Circus and Dessert Circus at Home. Torres lives in New York City.