Amanda Hesser is the co-founder and CEO of Food52, a digital food community containing recipes, cooking advice, and kitchen and home products. Food52 has won awards including the James Beard Award for Publication of the Year and the IACP Award for Best Website. Prior to launching Food52, Hesser was the New York Times Magazine food editor. Hesser has also authored... read full bio
Andrew Carmellini is an American chef, and restaurateur, who works in New York City. He has been cooking professionally since he was only 14 years old in a local Italian restaurant in his hometown before moving on to a French restaurant. Carmellini went on to study at the Culinary Institute of America before cooking at restaurants in New York and... read full bio
As a young adult, Ceci Carmichael decided to move to New York City to pursue an acting career. Appearing on stage and in hundreds of television commercials, Carmichael found her niche in the food. Her career was supported by classical chef training, and Carmichael hosted cooking shows on the Food Network, Fine Living Network, and the Oprah Winfrey Network. Later... read full bio
Marcus Jernmark found his passion for cooking at a young age. He landed a kitchen job in his early teens and decided to pursue the craft in high school. Jernmark attended the Burgardens Institute of Restaurant and Hotel, and later the Culinary Institute of Grythyttan, Sweden. There, he honed his knowledge on food and wine. Jernmark represented Sweden at the... read full bio
Sam Zien, better known as Sam the Cooking Guy, is a television cook and cookbook author that is based in San Diego, California. Zien started his career almost as a traveling host after a life-changing trip to Tokyo but that career stopped after the September 11 attacks. After that, Zien changed his mindset and decided that simplifying cooking was something... read full bio
Carolyn Robb is a chef who was the former personal chef to TRH Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry. She is also a published author, public speaker and an events and culinary specialist. Robb was born and raised in South Africa and she started cooking at a very young age. As soon as Robb was able to... read full bio
Chef Melissa King is a chef who has recently been crowned the champion of the competition reality series “Top Chef All-Stars.” During the show, King won a record nine competitions throughout the series and was also voted the Fan Favorite. King is based out of San Francisco, California, and her cooking style is a mixture of the Bay Area’s best... read full bio
Alpana Singh is a restaurateur, master sommelier, and speaker. Singh fell in love with food and wine in college after working as a waitress. Pursuing a position as a wine salesperson, Singh found herself at the world-renowned Everest Restaurant in Chicago as a sommelier. Singh soon passed her Master Sommelier exam, known as the youngest female ever to pass the... read full bio
Jeff Mahin is a chef/partner at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE), the co-founder of the consumable nutrition company Split Nutrition (splitnutrition.com) and the brains behind the restaurants Stella Barra Pizzeria (Santa Monica, Hollywood, Chicago, and Bethesda), Summer House Santa Monica (in Chicago and Bethesda), Do-Rite Donuts (Chicago) and M Street Kitchen (Santa Monica). He was also a contestant on Season 1 of... read full bio
Michael Voltaggio is an American chef from Pasadena, California who is most well known for being the winner of the sixth season of Top Chef, a cooking competition reality show on the Bravo network. He competed against his brother Bryan in the show. They both ended in the finale alongside Kevin Gillespie. Judge of Top Chef, Tom Colicchio, stated on... read full bio
Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are partners and co-owners of Animal, Son of a Gun, Jon & Vinny's, Helen's Wines and catering company, Carmelized Productions. Growing up on opposite sides of the Florida coast, they have been working together for over a decade working on their ideas for recipes and restaurants together and even eventually being credited with innovating and... read full bio
Tokyo-born Austin-bred, Tatsu spent most of his upbringing in restaurants. At a young age, he took a job as a dishwasher and continued on this path working his way from line cook, sushi chef to executive chef. Eventually, he made a trek to LA to immerse himself in Japanese cuisine at the Michelin rated kaiseki, Urasawa in Beverly Hills. Tatsu... read full bio
French chef, restauranteur, and king of the pop-up restaurant, Ludo Lefebvre trained in France for twelve years before moving to Los Angeles where he quickly won the prestigious Mobil Tavel Guide Five Start Award…at two separate restaurants. Since, he has opened two restaurants - Trois Mec and Petit Trois - and created the LudoBites concept, a multi-city restaurant tour. Lefebvre... read full bio
Chef, food advocate, TV personality, culinary innovator, and restaurateur Hugh Acheson has a lot on his plate. Chef Acheson believes that every choice we make – from the food we eat, where it comes from and how we prepare it – has a lasting impact on our children and the world they will inherit. A staunch supporter of No Kid... read full bio
Troy Johnson was the host of Crave, a program on the Food Network. He has appeared in national magazines like Surfer, Spin, Mojo, Paper and Rolling Stone and has even hosted a music television show on San Diego's Fox affiliate called Fox Rox. The show won two regional Emmys and gave some of Troy's favorite bands a live, in-studio platform, including... read full bio
Chef Sue is a Pennsylvania native who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with a fellowship in seafood and fish. She relocated to New Orleans and like so many talented people before and after her, she began in the kitchen of the Commander's Palace before transferring to Gautreau's. When Sue took over as executive chef, she made sure Gautreau's food honored... read full bio
The Link Restaurant Group, which consists of 5 different restaurants in New Orleans, is owned by Chef Donald Link. In addition to being a nominee for the "Outstanding Chef" Award, Link won the James Beard Award for "Best Chef South." Pêche Seafood Grill, the newest member of his business, also won its fourth and fifth JBF Awards for "Best New Restaurant in America" and... read full bio
Since 1979, Susan Spicer has played a significant role in the New Orleans restaurant scene. However, it was her 1990 opening of Bayona, with its fusion of European, Asian, North African and American flavors and its cozy setting in the French Quarter, that first garnered national attention. Spicer won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef/Southeast area and Bayona was inducted... read full bio
Tory attended Seattle Community College after high school and graduated with a culinary science degree. He traveled to New Orleans after college to experience the city's illustrious past, Creole cuisine and of course, Mardi Gras. He was hired by Commander's Palace Executive Chef Jamie Shannon at the age of 19 and he advanced quickly through all 12 kitchen levels while mastering his art and... read full bio
Southern Louisiana native John Besh has established the standard for gourmet dining in New Orleans, a city whose identity is tied to its cuisine. His twelve highly regarded establishments—August, Lüke, Domenica, Pizza Domenica, Borgne, Shaya, Willa Jean, Eunice and The Caribbean Room, Bayou Bar, Hot Tin and Silverwhistle Cafe residing in the Pontchartrain Hotel—celebrate the region's abundance and customs. In his restaurants,... read full bio
