ESTHER MCMANUS (née Azran) was born and raised in Marrakesh, where she learned Moroccan cooking. After finishing high school in Israel, Esther emigrated to the US in the late 1950s. A native French speaker, she taught French for many years and earned a Master’s in French Literature from Northwestern University. Esther launched her cooking and baking career in the mid-1970s, and has been an important fixture of the Philadelphia restaurant scene ever since. She was chef at the Garden Restaurant, the Barclay Hotel and DiLullo’s before focusing her work on baking, especially bringing croissants to the Philadelphia area through her work with Le Bus.