San Diego chef leads Team USA to gold at Bocuse d'Or qualifiers

Driving the news: De Palma, the third female chef to lead Team USA — and the first in more than two decades — bested the competition in this round, but teams from Canada, Mexico, Chile and Colombia will also head to France.

• Canada and Mexico won silver and bronze respectively, while Chile and Colombia are wild card qualifiers.

Zoom in: De Palma was the chef de cuisine at Addison — after 15 years working her way up from a pastry chef — when it earned three Michelin stars, the only San Diego restaurant to ever do so.

Go deeper: Local chef leads Team USA in world's "most rigorous culinary competition"

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Stefani De Palma is the third (not the first) woman to lead the U.S. team, and the first in over two decades.