Abe & Arthur’s
Chef Franklin Becker

A Brooklyn native, Franklin Becker has headed the kitchens of such city landmarks as Capitale, Brasserie, Local and Trinity. A seasoned chef, Becker has a stellar reputation and numerous accolades. He was named a New York Rising Star by StarChefs.com, and a member of The Next Generation of Great New York Chefs by Diversions magazine. Crain’s New York Business awarded Brasserie two-and-a-half stars and stated “Becker brings a lusty yet light touch to the French food framework.”

Adour Alain Ducasse at The St. Regis New York
Chef Joel Dennis

Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Joel Dennis spent much of his childhood in the kitchen with his mother, whose love of cooking inspired him to pursue a career in the culinary arts. He has worked in the country’s most acclaimed kitchens, including TRU in Chicago, where he received numerous accolades including four stars from the Chicago Tribune. He also worked at Blue Water Grill in Chicago and Aureole in New York.

Aldea
Chef George Mendes

George Mendes is Chef and Owner of Aldea restaurant in Manhattan, where he draws on his heritage to offer Mediterranean cuisine with influences of Spain, France and Portugal. Mendes has cooked in the world’s top kitchens including Bouley, Wallsé and Tocqueville in New York; Le Moulin de Mougins in Paris; and Martin Berasategui in San Sebastián. At Aldea, Mendes creates modern, seasonal dishes that strike a perfect balance between rusticity and refinement.

Allegretti
Chef Alain Allegretti

Allegretti’s cooking style pairs cultural influences from his home city of Nice with the guidance culled from famed chefs including Jacques Maximin and Alain Ducasse. Previously the Executive Chef at the New York Ritz-Carlton’s highly acclaimed Atelier, Allegretti honed his culinary skills at several Michelin® star rated restaurants including Chantecler at Hotel Negresco in Nice, Chez Chapel in Mionnay and Restaurant Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo.

Aretsky’s Patroon
Chef Bill Peet

Bill Peet is the Executive Chef of Aretsky’s Patroon, where he serves refined adaptations of classic American comfort fare. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Peet is a 30-year veteran of some of New York City’s most highly regarded restaurants. For 15 years he worked under legendary Chef André Soltner at Lutèce, and he was later the chef/owner of La Petite Rose, then executive chef at Café des Artistes, Asia de Cuba and “44” at the Royalton Hotel.

Bar Blanc Bistro
Chef Sebastiaan Zijp

As Executive Chef of Bar Blanc Bistro, Sebastiaan Zijp implements a creative, seasonal menu that accurately reflects his imaginative approach. Zijp draws on classical culinary training and years of experience in Manhattan’s finest kitchens (Gramercy Tavern, Gilt, Bouley, and Bouley Upstairs) when serving his market-driven American bistro cuisine.

Bar Boulud
Chef Damian Sansonetti

Five years after accepting a position at DB Bistro Moderne, Damian Sansonetti is now the Executive Chef at Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud’s casual French bistro. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and worked as Chef de Cuisine at Shallots before joining Boulud, first at DB Bistro and at Daniel. He combines precise technique with his own rustic flare to reinvent traditional bistro fare.

Barbuto Restaurant
Chef Jonathan Waxman

Jonathan Waxman’s “less is more” philosophy combined with seasonal ingredients has influenced the U.S. culinary world for thirty years. Raised in Berkeley, he spent a year at the La Varenne cooking school in Paris before working with three-star chefs in France. He returned to the states to work at such prestigious restaurants as Chez Panisse alongside Alice Waters and Michael’s in Los Angeles. His restaurants in New York include Jams and Washington Park.

Beacon Restaurant and Bar
Chef Waldy Malouf

Waldy Malouf, who has worked at The Four Seasons, La Côte Basque, and The St. Regis Hotel, opened The Hudson River Club in the early 1990s, where he developed a signature cuisine that inspired his first cookbook, The Hudson River Valley Cookbook, nominated for a Julia Child Cookbook Award. He worked at the legendary Rainbow Room before opening Beacon Restaurant and Bar in 1999 to much critical acclaim.

Benoit
Chef Pierre Schaedelin

For Pierre Schaedelin, fine cuisine requires not just quality ingredients, but a mastery of technique to deliver their promise. Formerly the Executive Chef of Manhattan’s iconic Le Cirque for over six years, he has also worked at some of the finest restaurants in Europe and the United States, including Le Louis XV in Monaco; Auberge de L’ILL and Fer Rouge in France; and Monte’s in London.

BIA
Chef Michael Bao Huynh

Michael “Bao” Huynh, known as “The Architect Chef,” combines his expertise in architecture and culinary arts to design, plan and build innovative restaurants. Born in Vietnam and inspired by his mother’s cookbooks, he relocated to New York and has collaborated with chefs Guy Rough, Nello Balan, Drew Nieporent and his partner in life and in the kitchen, Thao Ngyuen, with whom he opened B’un in Soho. He travelled uptown to work with Main Street Restaurant Partners in opening BarBao.

BLT Prime
Chef Chris Leahy

Leahy has worked with some of the world's top culinary talents including Gordon Ramsey, Raymond Blanc, Daniel Boulud and Floyd Cardoz. He met Laurent Tourondel in 2004 and has led the kitchen at BLT Prime since the restaurant opened. Leahy's cooking straddles the line between fine dining and innovative cuisine.

Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Chef Dan Barber

Dan Barber is the Executive Chef and Co-Owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. As a board member of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Dan works to bring the principles of good farming directly to the table. Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns both received “Best New Restaurant” nominations from the James Beard Foundation. In 2006, Dan received the James Beard Award for “Best Chef: New York City,” and in 2009 was named James Beard’s “Outstanding Chef.” In 2009, Time Magazine featured him in their “Time 100,” an annual list of the world’s most influential people.

Bobo
Chef Patrick Connolly

Patrick Connolly’s love of cooking was ignited while pouring Irish stout at a family-run pub in his hometown of St. Louis. He asked for a job in the kitchen where he unearthed a talent for culinary creativity and expression. He then honed his skills in top kitchens in Providence and Boston, receiving the 2008 James Beard Award for “Best Chef: Northeast.” At bobo he continues his commitment to using the finest ingredients from the most reputable local purveyors.

Boqueria Restaurant
Chef Seamus Mullen

At Boqueria, Chef/Partner Seamus Mullen's menu is inspired by seasonal, local ingredients with classic Spanish techniques and flavors. Raised in Vermont on an organic farm, Mullen brings the value of butchering and working with the land to the tables of the Flatiron and Soho restaurants.  This fall, he competes for the title of Food Network's The Next Iron Chef.

Buddakan
Pastry Chef Vicki Wells

Named one of the 10 Best Pastry Chefs in America by Pastry Art & Design, Vicki Wells was inspired by the legendary Madeline Kammen to study under one of Kammen's former instructors at the Cambridge Culinary Institute. She honed her skills in Paris and Monte Carlo, worked as Executive Pastry Chef at a number of Bobby Flay's restaurants, and became an instructor at The French Culinary Institute, where she was named the co-chairperson of the pastry arts department. She has also written a series of cookbooks called Hollywood Hotplates.

Butter
Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli

Craft
Chef James Tracey

James Tracey’s culinary career began with an after-school job at Paradise Bakery in his hometown of Dallas. James went on to attend The Culinary Institute of America, and prior to becoming Chef de Cuisine at Craft he held the role of Executive Chef of Mezze Bistro + Bar in Williamstown, Massachusetts. James has also held positions at Red Sage and Vidalia in Washington, D.C., and Luma, Gramercy Tavern and Lespinasse in New York.

Death & Co.
Mixologists Brian Miller and Thomas Waugh

Dovetail
Chef John Fraser

John’s first exposure to the culinary industry came as he pursued a degree in Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. John proceeded to cook for two notable Los Angeles establishments, Cocco Pazzo and Raffles L’Ermitage Beverly Hills. John later became Executive Chef of Compass and was instrumental in turning the restaurant into a critically acclaimed destination. His passion and growth as a chef and restaurant owner were realized with the opening of Dovetail, a bi-level restaurant just steps from Central Park on New York’s Upper West Side.

Eighty One
Chef Ed Brown

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Edward G. Brown’s career begain at Maurice Restaurant at New York’s Le Parker Meridian and the famous Michelin three-star Lucas Carton in Paris. He spent 14 years as Executive Chef of The Sea Grill, which was called “one of the best restaurants in the world” and Brown “perhaps the most impressive talent in his field.” With the opening of eighty one in 2008, he fulfills a lifelong dream of owning his own restaurant.

Fatty Crab
Chef Zakary Pelaccio and Corwin Kave

Zak Pelaccio is a partner in two Fatty Crab restaurants in NYC and the soon to open Fatty ‘Cue in Williamsburg Brooklyn. He is also a partner in Cabrito and former Executive Chef of 5 Ninth and Chickenbone Cafe. His restaurants reflect the distinctive facets of his classical training at The French Culinary Institute, stints at The French Laundry and Daniel and his travels across Europe and Asia. He is on the advisory board of Heritage Foods USA.

Greyledge Farm All-Natural Black Angus Beef
with Chef Justin Ermini of The Mayflower Inn & Spa

Greyledge Farm, (Roxbury Conn.) raises the healthiest, highest quality beef possible. Our Black Angus beef cattle graze openly on lush pastures with access to the clean water of the Shepaug River Valley. They are neither confined, nor given supplemental growth hormones or antibiotics. Greyledge Farm beef is humanely processed in a state-of-the-art facility and dry-aged for 20 days.

Hill Country
Chef Elizabeth Karmel and Pete Daversa

A North Carolina native, Karmel was raised on barbecue and developed a passion for grilling. Now recognized as America’s foremost female grilling expert, she created Girls at the Grill to help make grilling and barbecue an everyday cooking technique. In addition to writing and teaching, she created Grill Friends, a line of award winning kitchen and grilling tools, designed for kitchen, outdoor cooking and entertaining.

il laboratorio del gelato
Chef Jon Snyder

La Fonda del Sol
Chef Josh DeChellis

Le Cirque
Chef Craig Hopson

Classically trained in the kitchens of Paris, Geneva and his homeland of Australia, Craig Hopson incorporates global flavors and techniques, creating dishes that are both approachable and refined. Prior to joining Le Cirque, he honed his culinary skills at such prestigious restaurants as the famed Restaurant Guy Savoy and Lucas Carton in Paris, and Artisanal, Picholine and One if by Land, Two if by Sea in New York.

L'Ecole, The Restaurant of The French Culinary Institute
Chef Nils Norén

Nils Norén, Vice President of Culinary Arts at The French Culinary Institute and The Italian Culinary Academy at The International Culinary Center, embodies the new international chef: disciplined in the classic sensibilities and driven by immense creativity. A graduate of Culinary School in Gävle, Sweden, he previously served as Executive Chef for Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit.

Locanda Verde
Chef Andrew Carmellini

Prior to opening Locanda Verde, Andrew Carmellini worked at Lespinasse and later Le Cirque when both each earned four-star reviews from The New York Times. He held the top position at the Café Boulud, where he won a the James Beard Award for “Rising Star Chef” and “Best Chef: New York City.” His restaurant A Voce received a three-star review from The New York Times and a Michelin® star. Last year he published his first cookbook, Urban Italian.

Marea
Chef Michael White

Although Michael White’s soulful, flavorful interpretations of Italian cuisine indicate otherwise, he is not an Italian native. He trained with the venerated Italian Chef Valentino Marcattilii at Ristorante San Domenico in Imola and it was there, learning to cook in the Old World-style kitchen, that he began his Italian transformation. Returning to the US he has gone to open the acclaimed Alto, Convivio, and now Marea.

Market Table
Chef Mikey Price

Raised in a small town along the Chesapeake Bay, Mikey Price planted the seeds of his career tending to his family's farm and cooking at a local crab house on weekends. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, he honed his skills at such New York restaurants as The Harrison, The Mermaid Inn, before opening Market Table, where the open kitchen lets him greet customers, share recipes and tips on what’s in-season, and demonstrate his knack for customer service.

Morimoto
Chef Masaharu Morimoto

Masaharu Morimoto is renowned worldwide as star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America. He is Chef/Partner of restaurants around the world, including Morimoto in NYC. The restaurant is a James Beard Award winner and has appeared on "best of" lists from publications such as New York magazine, Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure.

Oceana
Chef Ben Pollinger

Ben Pollinger’s unique cooking style, which artfully blends the freshest seafood with the finest ingredients from a global pantry, has earned Oceana three stars from The New York Times and a Michelin® star two years in a row. His professional background includes working under Alain Ducasse at the renowned Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo and under Christian Delouvrier at Lespinasse.

Payard New York and Las Vegas
Chef François Payard

Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto
Chef Cesare Casella

Cesare Casella found his niche in the culinary world at his family’s trattoria, Vipore, outside of Lucca, Italy. At age 14, he followed his dream and enrolled in the Culinary Institute Ferdinando Martini in Montecatini, and returned to Vipore where he earned the area’s first-ever Michelin® star. He came to New York City in the early 1990s, successfully opening two restaurants, Beppe and Maremma, and authoring three cookbooks offering fundamentals of Tuscan.

SD26
Chef Odette Fada

A native of Brescia, Italy, Odette Fada’s focus on primary ingredients results in creations characterized by intense, pure taste and regional Italian dishes presented with her trademark simplicity and elegance. She worked in some of Italy’s highest rated restaurants before becoming chef at the famed Rex Il Restaurante in Los Angeles, then Executive Chef at San Domenico NY. Her new venture, SD26, opens this fall.

Shang
Chef Susur Lee

Combining the complex food traditions of China with the classical techniques of French cuisine, Susur Lee improvises an original aesthetic. He began his career as a teenage apprentice at Hong Kong’s renowned Peninsula Hotel, later immigrating to Toronto where he worked at numerous restaurants before opening his first, Susur, in 2000. His restaurants have won many accolades and placement on various international lists, including Restaurant World’s “50 Best Restaurants.”

SHO Shaun Hergatt
Chef Shaun Hergatt

Winner of the “Best Young Chef” award in his native Australia, Shaun Hergatt worked for the Ritz Carlton in Sydney and the United States, transforming their restaurants and winning many awards. He made his mark in the U.S. cooking under Gabriel Kreuther at Atelier in New York City before moving to Miami to create the restaurant at The Setai in South Beach. SHO Shaun Hergatt is his debut Manhattan project.

Wallsé
Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner

Growing up on the Danube River in Austria, Gutenbrunner decided at age 14 that he wanted to become a chef. He obtained a degree in culinary arts two years later. He has worked at several top restaurants in Europe, and in New York is the chef and proprietor of Wallsé, Café Sabarsky and Blaue Gans, and wine bar The Upholstery Store, earning abundant praise for his modern interpretation of Austrian cuisine and his seamless integration of food and art.