Lior Lev Sercarz is the chef, spice blender, and owner of La Boîte, a biscuit and spice shop in New York City. Lior and La Boîte have been featured in publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine Magazine, and the SAVEUR 100.

After completing three years as a sergeant of the Israeli army, Lior traveled to South America where he further developed a passion for cooking and world cuisines. As his interest in cooking evolved, he decided to enroll in culinary school at the acclaimed Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France. During that time, he did an externship with chef Olivier Roellinger in Cancale, France. Roellinger had earned three Michelin stars at Les Maisons de Bricourt, his hotel, and restaurant, where he displayed a rare understanding of spices, blends, oils, and pastes.

In 2002, Lior brought his newfound understanding of spice blending with him to New York, where he had the honor of working with chef Daniel Boulud as a sous chef and catering chef at his flagship restaurant, Daniel. He left Daniel in 2006 to start La Boîte, launching the company by making and selling a line of French biscuits as well as experimenting with the use of spices.

Inspired by his passion for spices and the stories they tell, Lior opened the Hell’s Kitchen brick and mortar, La Boîte Biscuits & Spices, in 2011. His knowledge of where spices come from and how they are grown allows us to source from farmers and small producers around the world, with a focus on quality first.

Drawing on Lior’s culinary experience, we use these high-quality spices to create unique blends and seasonal biscuits. Since 2015, we have also sold our single spices at retail under the Voyager Collection, a partnership with Eric Ripert.

Since the beginning of his career, Lior has worked closely with chefs from around the world, developing custom blends for them and for other customers with all levels of cooking experience. In 2012, he produced a cookbook entitled The Art of Blending, which features 41 blends along with recipes and cooking tips provided by renowned chefs and culinary minds including Gail Simmons, Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert, and Apollonia Poilâne.

His second book, The Spice Companion, is a distillation of his 30 years of experience. This illustrated guide to 102 spices, complete with blends and recipe ideas was published by Clarkson Potter in November 2016.

In his most recent book, Mastering Spice, Lior shares 250 recipes and invaluable techniques to transform everyday cooking with spices. Mastering Spice was named one of the best cookbooks of the year by The New York Times Book Review.

Lior Lev Sercarz

Will Goldfarb

Chris Kollar