The 10th Annual Kohler Food & Wine Experience will host some of America's most innovative chefs, notable wine experts and regional restaurateurs. 
 

Joe Bartolotta
President & Cofounder
The Bartolotta Restaurant Group
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Bringing together his passion for food, entertaining and hospitality, Joe Bartolotta is the president and cofounder of The Bartolotta Restaurant Group. Established in 1993, Joe oversees the daily and long-term operations of The Bartolotta Restaurant Group. These restaurants include Ristorante Bartolotta, Lake Park Bistro, Mr. B’s–A Bartolotta Steakhouse, Bacchus–A Bartolotta Restaurant, Pizzeria Piccola, and The Bartolotta Catering Company, which includes three of Milwaukee’s premier event spaces: Boerner Botanical Gardens, Pier Wisconsin on Milwaukee’s lakefront and the Historic Grain Exchange in downtown Milwaukee. Joe’s most recent ventures include collaboration with SSP, the Food Travel Experts, called Nonna’s, which opened in the General Mitchell Airport in February of 2009 and Northpoint, a burger and custard stand, which opened May 2009.

Born and raised in the village of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, Joe Bartolotta is from a family of entertainers. His father was the longtime director of the Pabst Theater, and his uncles and cousins run the famous Bartolotta Fireworks Company. After graduating from high school, he attended the culinary program at MATC and later moved to New York to further his career. Joe spent three years as a manager at Maxwell’s Plum restaurant and its sister, Tavern on the Green. In the next five years, Joe oversaw several high-profile restaurants including the New York Playboy Club, under the direction of famed restaurateur Richard Melman, founder of the Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. Joe also served as general manager of the groundbreaking restaurant Batons, which boasted star chef Richard Krause.

An irresistible offer to merge his love of food and theater brought him to Connecticut, where he supervised the 600-seat dinner theater in Darien. From there, Joe joined Hilton Hotels in Bridgeport. With an urge to cultivate restaurant concepts in Wisconsin, Joe headed home to oversee The Anchorage restaurant in Milwaukee for two and a half years.

Joe sits on the boards of VISIT Milwaukee and the Greater Milwaukee Hotel-Motel Association, and he actively supports the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, American Cancer Society, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Task Force on Family Violence, and many other local nonprofit and charitable organizations.

Anne Burrell
Television host of Food Network series Worst Cooks in America
It was while attending Canisius College in Buffalo that Anne Burrell, who has taught in both the professional and recreational programs at the Culinary Institute for two years, first worked in a restaurant. "I waited tables at a casual bistro/bar," she says, "and I got bitten by the restaurant bug." After graduating in 1991, she worked for a time as a headhunter, but she found that the culinary world still called. "I moved back to my mother's house after being away for six years and got a job making salads and doing prep work. I did all the grunt work like cleaning shrimp and washing lettuce for a year, and then I went to culinary school," she reports.

Upon graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Burrell studied at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners, spending time in Piedmont, Umbria, Tuscany and Liguria. "It gave me a feeling for simplicity and seasonality," she says.

Burrell has always relished the opportunity to work in small, highly personal restaurants. In Tuscany, she worked at La Bottega del'30, a 30-seat restaurant that offered one seating each night. Back in New York, after serving as sous chef at Felidia, she moved on to Savoy, where she was the chef in the small prix fixe dining room. "I cooked on an open fire in the dining room and got to write a weekly menu," she recalls. "It was like being back in Tuscany."

After running the kitchen at Sasha Muniak’s Centro Vinoteca from its opening in July 2007 through June 2008, Burrell landed her own show on the Food Network. Aptly named Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Burrell is now sharing her stock of insider secrets from years of training and restaurant experience with her fans.

In January 2010, Anne’s new show Worst Cooks in America debuted on the Food Network as the highest-rated, most watched night in Food Network history, attracting four million viewers for the first episode. Anne and her cohost took twelve of the most hopeless cooks in the country, pitting them against one another in a high-stakes elimination series. The show put the “recruits” through a culinary boot camp with the last cook standing winning $25,000.

Burrell feels fortunate to have found a field that satisfies her so completely. "I like to teach cooking because it's fun, and because I get to share with lots of people things that it has taken me years to learn, and I also love talking about food all the time," she says. "I feel so lucky that I have found my true passion in life."

Lynn Chisholm
Executive Chef and Proprietor
Paddock Club
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Lynn Chisholm began her culinary career working in the front of house at a restaurant in Minneapolis. Lynn quickly realized her dream was to be in the kitchen, and she moved to Milwaukee to pursue a culinary career. She was fortunate to work with Shully’s Catering while earning her culinary degree from an area school. Upon graduation, she moved to Madison to help Chefs Patrick and Marsha O’Halloran open Lombardino’s restaurant – an institution recognized for its seasonal Italian cooking and use of local ingredients. Lynn took advantage of a great opportunity and joined the Bartolotta Restaurant Group in 2002 where she spent the next five years working at highly acclaimed restaurants: Lake Park Bistro, Ristorante Bartolotta and Bacchus. In her time with the Bartolotta Restaurant group, she worked with James Beard Award-winning chefs, Adam Siegel and Paul Bartolotta. She also had the great fortune to meet and cook with various Michelin-star chefs who visited from Italy and France. To expand her skills and experience, Lynn has completed programs at the French Culinary Institute in New York and done numerous food and wine trips through France and Italy.

In the spring of 2007, with the encouragement of family, she opened the Paddock Club restaurant in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. She continues to be inspired by the simplicity of Italian food and the technique of French cooking which is evident in the wonderful menu of her restaurant.

paddockclubelkhartlake.com

Graham Elliot
Executive Chef, Graham Elliot & Grahamwich
Chicago, Illinois
Graham Elliot is the culinary mind behind Chicago’s first “bistronomic” restaurant, Graham Elliot, juxtaposing four-star cuisine with humor, accessibility and a mind-set that food is art … but dining should be fun. Within a short time frame, the 32-year-old chef has accrued accolades like Best New Chef from Food & Wine magazine in 2004. At age 27, he was the youngest four-star chef to be named in any major U.S. city. At Chicago’s Graham Elliot, Graham eschews the regiments of fine dining for a relaxing atmosphere and jovial, dynamic gastronomy.
Graham Elliot was born in Seattle, but due to growing up in a naval family, he hails from all over the world. His predilection for working in a professional kitchen became clear when at age 17 a position as a busboy was enough to make him enroll in culinary school at Johnson & Wales, after which Graham embarked on a nationwide kitchen crawl.

Graham’s first job at Jackson House Inn & Restaurant in Woodstock, Vermont familiarized him with New England’s regional ingredients and culinary history. Next he turned to the South and the acclaimed Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas where he worked under Chef Dean Fearing and became acquainted with the rigors of fine dining in a luxury hotel setting.

After reading Charlie Trotter’s cookbook, Graham set his sights on Chicago – more specifically, Trotter’s kitchen – where he learned what it meant to work at the pinnacle of culinary professionalism. Graham carried those standards with him to Tru, and later to Avenues at The Peninsula Chicago where he would receive a perfect four-star rating from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun–Times and Chicago Magazine making him the youngest chef from any major U.S. city to have achieved the title of “Four-Star Chef.” Under Graham, Avenues also received the AAA Five-Diamond award.

In May 2008 at the age of 31, Graham opened the aptly named Graham Elliot –a restaurant that would not only bear his name, but become an extension of his passionate personality embodying his core principles of humility, courage, vision, respect and focus. With Graham Elliot, Graham has ushered in a new breed of casual fine dining with the philosophy that “If it’s not broken, break it.” Graham replaced dress codes, tablecloths and tuxedoed-clad servers with hip music, Converse sneakers and a clever menu of his signature whimsical takes on American classics like A Road Trip to Wisconsin, cheddar cheese, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer-simmered risotto, with beer-braised onions and Wisconsin bacon and Rabbit Ménage à Trios, rabbit three-ways served with chive spaetzle a burgundy-apricot chutney and Riesling reduction.

Since opening its doors, Graham Elliot has beguiled the city of Chicago garnering two stars from The Chicago Tribune and two and a half stars from the Chicago Sun-Times. Graham continues to break the mold at Graham Elliot, incorporating his musical talents and passion for fine art into everyday operations. Graham first appeared at Lollapalooza 2009, a three-day music festival, with a tent in the public food court and a backstage meal for Jane’s Addiction. For Lollapalooza 2010, Graham acted as the culinary director for the entire festival, orchestrating his own hand-picked lineup of Chicago-based chefs to feed festival goers.

Most recently, Graham has been hard at work on his sandwich concept, Grahamwich, which opened summer 2010. Graham appears on FOX’s new series MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich, which premiered in July.

Jason Gorman
Chef
Dream Dance
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
A true Midwesterner, Chef Jason Gorman was born and raised in Chicago. When he was young, his family relocated to Atlanta, where the Southern hospitality he experienced had a huge impact on his future style of cooking. His mother’s Italian heritage and love of “big night” family dinner events showed him how food can be celebrated. This eventually led him to work in some fantastic restaurants. NAVA in Atlanta and The Grape Restaurant and AquaKnox in Dallas. Even though Jason is self-taught, he gives a lot of credit to the chefs he studied under such as Russian chef Arkady Mirestky, celebrity chef Kevin Rathbun and the founding father of Southwestern cuisine Stephan Pyles. Their influences helped Jason define his own style and hone his passion. This led to Jason to be recruited during a nationwide search for a chef to head up the kitchen at Potawatomi Bingo Casino’s four-star, four diamond, fine-dining restaurant Dream Dance.

Since joining Dream Dance, Chef Jason has further elevated the restaurant’s impeccable reputation on a local and national scale. Dream Dance has received AAA’s Four Diamond award and the DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) Award from 2004 to 2007. In 2006, Jason received Santé magazine’s Most Innovative Cuisine Award for the Midwest region. Local publications have raved about Chef Jason’s cuisine, as well. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel restaurant critic Dennis Getto awarded the newspaper’s highest rating - four stars - and said, “Chef Jason is cooking the freshest and most creative cuisine in the city.” The Shepherd Express nominated him as the best chef in the city. And recently, The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, wrote, “Dream Dance Chef Jason Gorman may be the state’s best culinary artist, creating cuisine in a most unlikely location that puts Wisconsin on the national culinary map.”

Dream Dance’s seasonal menu features Jason’s progressive style of cooking - a balance of innovation, comfort, bold flavors and glorious ingredients. His mission is to provide a cuisine which celebrates the history of Wisconsin. He proudly refers to it as “New Wisconsin Cuisine.” Jason supports local farmers, and his inspirations have created amazing dishes such as “Lobsterwurst,” Alaskan King Crab Golabki, Strauss Veal Bierochen and Sprecher Root Beer Venison.

Jason resides in Milwaukee with his wife Jennifer and their first child Emelia Rose (which he says is his best creation). In his spare time, Jason enjoys reading old cookbooks of Wisconsin, going to movies, dining out and playing guitar. Jason humbly admits he first dreamt of being a rock star.

Rob Hurrie
Executive Chef and Owner
Margaux
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
A 1994 graduate of Kendall Culinary Institute of Evanston, Illinois, Chef Rob Hurrie began his kitchen career at the renowned American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin, moving to the kitchens of the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix. In 1997, Hurrie was appointed Executive Chef of Blackwolf Run, one of Kohler's resort golf courses. In 1998, Hurrie opened the kitchen at famed Whistling Straits Golf Course, while still the Executive Chef of Blackwolf Run and cooking for the 1998 LPGA Women's Open, held at Blackwolf Run.
In 1999, Hurrie opened his own New York on 8th Deli & Gourmet Catering and has now opened his second restaurant, Margaux, and Margaux Catering, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Margaux is a Wine Spectator-rated restaurant boasting an eclectic continental cuisine combining flavors and styles from around the globe.

Tyler Malson
Chef of Mo's the Place for Steaks
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Aida Mollenkamp
Television host of Food Network series Ask Aida
With a diverse culinary background, cooking expert Aida Mollenkamp has been engaging in all things food for more than a decade. Currently, she is host of the Food Network’s popular “Ask Aida”, where she shares her knowledge of food while dishing out culinary therapy. On May 31st, Aida will debut a second show, “Foodcrafters,” for the Food Network's new sister network, Cooking Channel. In “Foodcrafters,” Aida leaves the kitchen to uncover handmade food finds from around the nation.

Growing up with an Italian-American mother and a French stepmother, Aida was fortunate enough to always be surrounded by good food. Eventually, she made her way into the kitchen and discovered her own passion for cooking. In the years since, Aida has worked everywhere from a gourmet deli and California Pizza Kitchen to the Hotel Bel Air and online food magazine CHOW.com.

Having studied Hospitality Management at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Aida worked at Ernst & Young in Hotel and Restaurant Consulting before traveling to Europe to attend culinary school at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Paris. While studying in the City of Lights, she book-ended her time with stints in Florence, Italy, where she learned to speak Italian, to cook the food, and to enjoy life – something that has stuck with her ever since. In 2004, Aida graduated with a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu Paris.

In January 2005, Aida joined San Francisco-based CHOW.com, a web site created for food and drink enthusiasts. As the Food Editor, Aida regularly appeared in instructional videos for the site, ran the test kitchen, worked as a lead food stylist and developed recipes and story ideas.

When not hunting out the hottest restaurants, searching for the newest artisanal products, or hosting her friends and family at laidback dinner parties, Aida can be found giving back to the community. She lives by the belief that good knife skills lead to good life skills and works with Share our Strength's Good Food Gardens program, helping kids to foster their relationship with food and, ultimately, boost their confidence.

Sara Moulton
Chef, Cookbook Author, Television Personality
One of the hardest-working women in the food business, Sara Moulton has been juggling multiple jobs – as well as a full family life — for her entire career. Admired by millions as the host of Cooking Live, Cooking Live Primetime, and Sara's Secrets, Sara was one of the Food Network's defining personalities during the outlet's first decade. In addition to her work on the Food Network, Sara was the Executive Chef of Gourmet Magazine for twenty-three years — right up until its closing in October 2009.

Sara is the author of Sara Moulton Cooks at Home (Broadway Books, 2002) and Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals (Broadway Books, 2005), which served as the basis for Sara Weeknight Meals, a series on public television that launched in 2008. Her fourth cookbook Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners debuted in April by Simon & Schuster. She is also the Food Editor of ABC-TV's Good Morning America.

Ask Sara how it all began and she will tell you, "I've always liked to eat." The idea of channeling this deep affection into a career, however, didn't occur to her until after she graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in the history of ideas in 1974. And, indeed, it was at the Culinary Institute of America that Sara found herself.

She graduated with highest honors in 1977 and commenced working in restaurants immediately, first in Boston and then in New York, taking time off only to apply herself to a postgraduate apprenticeship with a master chef in Chartres, France, in 1979. Sara's restaurant experience peaked with a stint as chef tournant at La Tulipe in New York in the early eighties. It was also during this period that Sara cofounded the New York Women's Culinary Alliance, an "old girl's network" designed to help women working in the culinary field. The alliance celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007.

In the interest of starting a family, Sara left restaurant work to pursue recipe testing and development. She was an instructor for two years at Peter Kump's New York Cooking School (now known as the Institute of Culinary Education), where she discovered her love of teaching, a passion that would give focus to her subsequent work in television. In 1984 Sara took a job in the test kitchen at Gourmet. Four years later she became chef of the magazine's executive dining room.

Sara’s TV career began in 1979 when she was hired to work behind the scenes on public television's Julia Child & More Company. Her friendship with Julia led eventually to Sara's gig at GMA, where what started as another behind-the-scenes position grew by 1997 into on-camera work. By then Sara had begun hosting the Food Network's Cooking Live. Six years and over 1200 hour-long shows later, “Cooking Live” ended its run on March 31, 2002. Sara's Secrets began the next day. "Other TV chefs may own famous restaurants and perform with theatrical flair," noted Herma Rosenthal from TV Guide," but Moulton's the one you can actually picture popping over to help you fix the lumpy gravy or the fallen soufflé." Sara has several new television projects in development and is currently raising money for the second round of her public television series

Her new cookbook, Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners, features 200 new recipes for overscheduled home cooks who want to treat the family to something new without breaking the bank or spending hours in the kitchen. “Broadly,” she says, “this book is a compendium of strategies to wriggle free of the straitjacket that stipulates starch/vegetable/protein at every meal.”

Sara lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

James T. Murray

Richard Palm
Pastry Chef
The American Club
Kohler, Wisconsin
For over 20 years, Chef Palm has worked at some of the top resort hotels in the United States and has studied under some of the world’s top pastry chefs. In 1980, Chef Palm graduated from the Hasselbaken Hotel School of Baking in Stockholm, Sweden, where he became the first American to graduate at the top of his class. Shortly thereafter, he apprenticed in Mionnay, France, before becoming the Chef de Partie at the Plaza of the Americas Hotel in Dallas. Four years later, Palm joined the Marriott Corporation as pastry chef for several resorts, including Lake of the Ozarks, Chicago Downtown and Minneapolis City Center.

In 1991, Chef Palm joined the culinary staff of The American Club where he has continued his culinary training. He has trained under Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sebastien Canonne, co-owners of The French Pastry School and two of America’s top-ten pastry chefs; with Norman Love, Executive Corporate Pastry Chef of Ritz-Carlton Hotels and another of America’s top-ten pastry chefs; with Olivier Bajard M.O.F. (France’s best craftsman) and co-winner of the 1993 World Pastry Cup Championship; and under Pascal Brunstein M.O.F., and winner of 1995 World Pastry Cup Championship.

Andrew Ruiz
Chef de Cuisine for Bacchus – A Bartolotta Restaurant
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Food has always been important to Andrew Ruiz of the Bartolotta Restaurants. He has spent most of his adult life in the kitchen. Originally from Minnesota, Andrew has worked in several 4-star restaurants. His culinary skills run the gamut, from French to Italian and now to contemporary American. Andrew can do it all. Today you will find Andrew as Chef de Cuisine for Bacchus - A Bartolotta Restaurant.

Bruce Sacino
Executive Chef
Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta, Georgia
As the Executive Chef at the Augusta National Golf Club since 2003, Bruce Sacino is responsible for all food service operations, including the prestigious Masters Golf Tournament held annually the first week of April.

In 1980, Bruce graduated from Johnson & Wales University, earning an A.S. degree in culinary arts. He gained extensive culinary expertise in the years following, including studies of classical European, regional American, gourmet catering and Northern Italian cuisine. Past experience highlights include a position as Executive Chef of World Yacht cruise lines in New York, N.Y., from 1983 through 1988.

Bruce then moved on to become Executive Chef at the state of South Carolina’s Governor’s mansion for three governors from 1989 through 2002. He managed the complete food and beverage responsibilities of the state’s official executive residence as well as The Lace House, The Caldwell-Boylston House and Charles Towne Landing’s Legare-Waring House, which are all special-event and guest houses owned by South Carolina.

From 1998 through 2002, Bruce hosted the What's Cooking weekly talk radio food program on WIS 1320 AM, Columbia.

Chef Sacino was the recipient of several awards, including the 2001 Johnson & Wales Distinguished Visiting Chef Chair; 2000 ACF President’s Medallion; Chef’s Professionalism Award Nominee; ACF Professional Culinary Competition Gold (2), Silver and Bronze Medals; the 1999 National Fame Award; 1996 Custom Gold Medallion; the 1996 and 1997 Golden Whisk Awards; the 1994 and 1995 ACF Midlands Chapter Chef of the Year; 1993 Hospitality Association of South Carolina Chef of the Year, as well as many ACF Outstanding Service Awards, and numerous favorable reviews and features in national and regional magazines and newspapers. In 1995 and 1999, he was awarded the South Carolina’s highest honor to private citizens, the Order of the Palmetto, for public service.

Bruce has been an active member of the American Culinary Federation since 1985 and has been an ACF South Carolina state representative, two-term chapter president, vice president, chairman of the board, treasurer and chairman of numerous chapter committees, including culinary competition chairman and organization head of the South Carolina School Lunch Challenge.

Huma Siddiqui
Mother, Author, Entrepreneur, Cooking Show Host
Madison, Wisconsin
Mother, accountant, entrepreneur, published author, cooking instructor, host of ‘White Jasmine Everyday Cooking’ a weekly cooking show in its fifth season on NBC15 in Madison, WI. Huma Siddiqui has lived on four different continents and is intent on keeping Pakistani food traditions alive. In Pakistan, food is so much more than sustenance; it is the foundation of a family.

Huma has a passion for cooking, great food and bringing family and friends together. She is not only the author of this fabulous book, ‘Jasmine in Her Hair-Culture and Cuisine from Pakistan’, but also the President and Founder of White Jasmine. White Jasmine is a web-based business and offers gourmet spices, selection of teas and a mouth-watering, unique line of Gouda cheese flavored with White Jasmine all-natural spices. Please visit www.whitejasmine.com for additional information and recipes.

White Jasmine is based in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin founded in 2003. Siddiqui, and her son and Vice President of Sales Samir Karimi proudly run the family business that represents a unique blend of celebrating family rituals, traditions and customs in life.

Adam Siegel
Executive Chef
Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro and Bacchus
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Originally from the North Shore of Chicago, Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro and Bacchus executive chef Adam Siegel unknowingly began his culinary career helping out at Michael's, his stepfather’s restaurant, at the tender age of 14. He has since worked throughout the United States with three James Beard Award-winning chefs on both coasts and in some very prestigious Michelin-star restaurants in Italy and France. Adam, an alumnus of the culinary school at Kendall College in Chicago, received his formative training at Spiaggia under his mentor and James Beard award-winning Chef Paul Bartolotta. During his three years at Spiaggia, Siegel worked in every station in the kitchen before requesting Chef Bartolotta arrange for him to study with Chef Julian Serrano at Masa's in San Francisco, where he remained for more than two years. From there, Siegel ventured to Italy for year at the Michelin two-star Ristorante San Domenico di Imola with Chef Valentino Marcattilii. Siegel returned stateside to open Olives in Washington, D.C., with yet another James Beard Award winner, Chef Todd English.

In 2000, when a chef de cuisine was needed at Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro, Siegel's credentials made him the obvious choice and Paul Bartolotta asked Siegel to join him in Milwaukee. During the two and a half years as chef de cuisine, Siegel continued his culinary and cultural education traveling extensively in France studying the nuances of French cuisine and working brief stages at La Regalade in Paris with Chef Yves Camdeborde and at L'Ardoise with Chef Pierre Jay. Chef Siegel was perfectly prepared for his present position as executive chef of Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro.

Since taking over the helm as executive chef, Adam has made the menu his own, demonstrating three distinctive cooking styles. Les Plats Classique represent Lake Park Bistro's signature dishes; Les Plats Traditionnel are traditionally prepared regional French bistro fare and La Cuisine Modern du Chef are Chef Siegel's modern and contemporary interpretations of today's ever-evolving French bistro cuisine. In 2005, Adam added to his duties by taking over the kitchen of Bacchus - A Bartolotta Restaurant - as its executive chef. At Bacchus, Adam has broadened his cooking repertoire by creating stellar contemporary American dishes.

In 2007, Adam returned to France to work with Michelin two-star chef Thierry Marx at his top restaurant in Bordeaux, Cordeillan-Bages, and also at François Pasteau's L'Epi Dupin in Paris. In April 2007 Adam received a James Beard Award nomination for Best Chef in the Midwest. Adam did not take the award that year, but was again nominated in 2008. 2008 would prove to be Adam's year; in June 2008, Adam won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest 2008.

Alamelu Vairavan
Celebrity Chef and Cookbook Author
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Alamelu Vairavan, a native of South India, has lived most of her adult life in the United States. Over the years, she has developed a deep interest in promoting healthy cooking and eating to the American public using spices, legumes and Indian cooking techniques.

Alamelu has coauthored, with her neighbor and friend Dr. Patricia Marquardt, two books on South Indian cooking: Art of South Indian Cooking (1997) and Healthy South Indian Cooking (2001, 2003, 2007) Hippocrene Books Inc, N.Y. The second Expanded Edition of Healthy South Indian Cooking was released in October 2008.

She has also contributed several recipes to the American Dietetic Association cookbook, Cooking Healthy Across America (2004, John Wiley, N.Y.)

As a culinary instructor, Alamelu offers classes teaching the public easy ways to prepare and enjoy healthful foods using legumes, spices and herbs. Her classes have been offered through community education, hospital and university outreach programs and the chef series at Waukesha Culinary Arts Program in Wisconsin. Alamelu also offers “wellness programs” for corporate employees.

She has been featured on numerous national and regional TV shows including appearances on PBS, Discovery Channel, Fox and CBS. Alamelu has also been a feautured guest on many radio shows in several states. In April 2009, Alamelu presented a culinary workshop at The James Beard Foundation, New York.

Her books and recipes have been featured in magazines and newspapers including USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Enquirer, Los Angeles Times, Wisconsin Woman and India Today. Los Angeles Times has referred to her recipes as “coconut-infused curries, brilliant vegetable dishes,” and has noted “what could be complex becomes relatively simple in Vairavan’s approach.”

Alamelu’s website: curryonwheels.com
Alamelu’s Blog Site: whitefishbaynow.com

Bart Vandaele
Chef-Owner of Belga Café
Washington D.C.

Stefano Viglietti
Chef-Owner
Trattoria Stefano, Il Ritrovo, Field to Fork, Duke of Devon
Stefano Viglietti is a self-taught chef who strongly believes in the re-creation of authentic Italian dishes using the best ingredients. Stefano and his staff make frequent pilgrimages to Italy in search of the next morsel that will add authenticity and flavor to his menu items. Stefano and Whitney Viglietti opened Trattoria Stefano in 1994 and has been featured in Food & Wine and Wisconsin Trails Magazines and has received Milwaukee Magazine’s “Critics Choice” award for Best Italian Restaurant.

Il Ritrovo, a combination Neopolitan pizzeria and Italian Specialty Store & Deli, opened in 2000. Il Ritrovo was the fifth member in the United States of the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association which is a prestigious organization based in Naples entrusted with protecting the methods and ingredients used in making the famed Pizza Napoletana.

One of Stefano’s latest ventures, opened in December, 2005, Field to Fork is a locally-sourced natural foods restaurant and specialty grocery store, using as well as selling local grass-fed meats, farmer-direct local produce, homemade bread, artisan cheese as well as in-house roasted coffee. Stefano strives to use local produce and meats in all four restaurants.

Opened in April, 2006, The Duke of Devon, located on Sheboygan’s riverfront, is a joint venture with Stefano’s sister. It features authentic English pub fare and wonderful British ales. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently awarded The Duke of Devon 3 ½ stars.
trattoriastefano.com

Bryan Voltaggio
Top Chef Season 6 Runner-up, Chef/Owner VOLT
Frederick, Maryland
Highly accomplished, innovative, and talented 34-year old Chef Bryan Voltaggio is among the new generation of young chefs that are reinventing American cooking through his three-star reviewed restaurant VOLT in his native Frederick, Maryland. Both a James Beard Best Mid-Atlantic Chef nominee and most recently, a contestant alongside his brother Michael on ‘Top Chef Season Six,’ Voltaggio was classically trained at one of America’s most prestigious culinary schools and his pedigree includes that of a celebrated Chef.

Voltaggio’s passion for cooking was fostered during childhood in Frederick County where meals often included produce harvested from the family garden. Committed to a career in cooking early on in his teens, Voltaggio had already served as Sous Chef and Executive Chef at two regional hotel restaurants by the age of 20. Aware of his need for more formal training, Voltaggio was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, during which time he also cooked at the highly acclaimed Hamilton Inn in nearby Millerton. Upon graduation, Voltaggio staged at several restaurants in Manhattan before being introduced to Chef Charlie Palmer.

“Charlie Palmer provided me with the professional and practical experiences that fast tracked my career,” says Voltaggio of his mentor. Engaged at Aureole in Manhattan, Voltaggio’s dedication was soon rewarded when Palmer named him to the position of Sous Chef. Several years later, the decision that came to open Charlie Palmer Steak in Washington, DC, included Voltaggio as the Executive Chef. Before launching the DC enterprise, Voltaggio was granted the opportunity to expand his cooking knowledge at Pic, the world-class, three-star Michelin restaurant in Valence, France.

Upon his return, Voltaggio oversaw the construction and opening of Charlie Palmer Steak. Voltaggio’s menu and attention to service soon made it the “Hill favorite” among patrons. Food critics agreed and accolades soon followed, including a three star review.

Following nine successful years with Palmer, including a partnership, Voltaggio embarked upon his long-term professional goal of restaurant ownership. At VOLT, Voltaggio exercises his cooking philosophies and signature preparation of Modern American cuisine – which he characterizes as “sophisticated dishes offering classic flavor combinations that are created using fundamental and innovative cooking techniques.”

With multiple concepts under one roof, an array of menus are overseen and conceived daily. The Main Dining offers an a la carte menu, Kitchen Dining Room hones in on a Chef’s playground of flavors offering two tasting menus, one of which is the Market Menu or all vegetarian. The bar/lounge features Chef’s favorite delights that pair nicely with the extensive hand-crafted cocktails, or the latest to join the menu repertoire, Table 21. This seats eight guests and is located in the kitchen itself. Recently reviewed at three stars by the Washington Post, two flying pig statues join the guests through their 21-course tasting menu that the kitchen staff, including Chef Voltaggio, serves to them.

Voltaggio’s menus are driven by the fresh, seasonal offerings of local farmers. “I want to strengthen the relationship between chef and grower,” says Voltaggio, who has become an advocate for meats, seafood, and produce that are local, sustainable and organic. “Through our choice of ingredients, we become engaged in more than creating a great dining experience, but in supporting local agriculture.” Driven by the love and support of his family, wife Jennifer and son Thacher, Chef Voltaggio continues to bring historic Frederick a piece of his culinary upbringing to a place that built his foundation.

Michael Voltaggio
Top Chef Winner, Season 6
Chef Michael Voltaggio began his culinary career in his teens, and was fortunate to obtain an apprenticeship at the renowned Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia under European Certified Master Chef and educator Peter Timmins. He graduated at the age of 21 receiving a gold medal and completing the program as one of the youngest chefs ever in its 50+ years of culinary excellence.

After two years at The Greenbrier, he became a Sous Chef at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. He was quickly promoted to Chef de Cuisine of The Grill Room and then became Sous Chef of The Dining Room. After his turn as Sous Chef, he was promoted to Chef de Cuisine of The Dining Room, where he was responsible for the management of culinary operations for a AAA Five Diamond Restaurant.

In 2004, Chef Voltaggio became Executive Chef of Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, California, where he collaborated daily with Celebrity Chef Charlie Palmer. After two years and a one star rating in the 2006 Michelin guide for his cuisine, he became Chef de Cuisine of Hemisphere at The Greenbrier. Chef Voltaggio then moved on to helm The Bazaar by José Andrés at The SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California as Executive Chef. In 2009, he would find himself reinventing the dining experience as Chef de Cuisine for The Dining Room at the Langham in Pasadena, California. That same year, Chef Voltaggio earned the prestigious distinction of being the winner of season six of Bravo’s EMMY and James Beard Award-winning series, Top Chef.

In addition to his Top Chef title and a Michelin star, Chef Voltaggio’s other accolades include a 3.5 star review in the San Francisco Chronicle for his cuisine at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen; a 4 star review from the Los Angeles Times as Chef de Cuisine of The Bazaar; and noteworthy recognition from local and national media including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Food + Wine, Gourmet and Travel + Leisure.
This spring, Chef Voltaggio won Star Chefs magazine’s Rising Stars Award for Los Angeles for his work at The Dining Room at The Langham and most recently was selected as Angeleno magazine’s Best New Chef in 2010. He will soon be announcing his first solo project which will have a home in Los Angeles, to be opened later this year.

Chef Voltaggio’s celebrated style is described as new American cuisine using classic discipline and modern trends, presenting traditional and non-traditional flavors in new, innovative ways. He also utilizes the bounty of seasonal produce that California offers while showcasing the best quality seafood, meats and artisan ingredients available from around the globe. He primarily focuses on ingredients and flavor profiles, complementing them with strong technique and precise execution.

Laura Werlin
Laura Werlin is one of the country's foremost authorities on cheese and is the award-winning author of four books on the subject. Her most recent book, James Beard award-nominated Laura Werlin's Cheese Essentials (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2007), is the go-to guide for anyone with cheese questions including how to buy it, how to create successful cheese and wine pairs, how to entertain and cook with cheese, and how to store cheese.
Werlin's other books have all been recognized with prestigious honors including the James Beard award for The All American Cheese and Wine Book, the IACP Best American Cookbook award for The New American Cheese, and the World Gourmand Award for Best Cheese Book for her classic, Great Grilled Cheese.

Laura has appeared on several television shows including The CBS Early Show, ABC7's "View From the Bay," NBC11's "In Wine Country," "Joey Altman's Bay Café;" Sara's Secrets and Cooking Live! with Sara Moulton on the Television Food Network, Martha Stewart Living Television, Plum TV in Aspen, Colorado, California Country, "Fox & Friends" and "Fox News Magazine," and numerous other television and radio segments from coast to coast. She has written for national magazines including Food & Wine, Culture, Fine Cooking, Saveur, Cooking Pleasures, Country Living, Cooking Light, and Every Day With Rachael Ray.

She is an active member of the American Cheese Society, where she served on the board for six years, and is a member of the James Beard Foundation, San Francisco Professional Food Society, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals.