stu_spivack with tag foodandwinebestnewchefs2008

stu_spivack

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  O Ya

  Tim Cushman
  O Ya, Boston, MA
  Menu | Reservations | Website
  
  Tim Cushman, 55, a Boston native, is chef and co-owner of O Ya, a contemporary New England restaurant with Japanese influences. With over 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry, Cushman has apprenticed at hotels and restaurants around the world, including the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong and Hostellerie de la Poste in France. He also worked with top Japanese chefs including Nobu Matsuhisa and Hiro Urasawa, and served as corporate chef at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises under founder Rich Melman. Cushman owns a restaurant consulting business called Ideas in Taste.

  foodandwinegolist2008 food boston restaurant foodandwinebestnewchefs2008 nytbestnewrestaurant20067

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  James

  Jim Burke
  James, Philadelphia, PA
  Menu | Reservations | Website
  
  Jim Burke, 34, is the owner and chef of James, a seasonally-focused, modern Italian restaurant in the Bella Vista neighborhood. Before opening James with his wife, Kristina, in 2006, Burke worked with top Philadelphia chefs Marc Vetri of Vetri (a Best New Chef 1999) and Vince Alberici of The Marker. He later headed the kitchen at Stephen Starr’s Angelina. He also did a stint at the Michelin-starred Ristorante Frosio in Almè, Italy.

  food restaurant philadelphia pa foodandwinebestnewchefs2008

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  Hen of the Wood

  Eric Warnstedt
  Hen of the Wood, Waterbury, VT
  Menu | Wines | Reservations | Website
  
  Eric Warnstedt, 32, is executive chef and co-owner of Hen of the Wood at the Grist Mill, a historic site specializing in seasonal Vermont cooking using the best local ingredients (such as the namesake hen of the wood mushroom). A native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Warnstedt worked in the kitchens at Wildwood Restaurant in Portland, Oregon; Mark’s in Fort Lauderdale; and Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont. He opened Hen of the Wood with co-owner Craig Tresser in October 2005.

  food vt restaurant foodandwinebestnewchefs2008

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  Niche

  Gerard Craft
  Niche, St. Louis, MO
  Menu | Wines | Reservations | Website
  
  The chef and owner of Niche and the adjoining Veruca Bakeshop & Café, Gerard Craft, 28, began his career washing dishes in a pool hall in Salt Lake City. His love of cooking led him to take a job at Bistro Toujours, one of the city’s top restaurants, under Bryan Moscatello (a Best New Chef 2003). Craft held positions at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles under Mohammad Islam and the Metropolitan in Salt Lake City under Perry Hendrix. He moved to St. Louis in 2005 to open Niche, which is in a converted warehouse in the Benton Park area. Menu standouts are a “Bacon and Eggs” sandwich of braised pork belly, buttery brioche and an oozing poached egg.

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  Union

  Ethan Stowell
  Ethan Stowell
  Union, Seattle, WA
  Menu | Wines | Reservations | Website
  
  Simple flavors and fresh ingredients are the mantra of Ethan Stowell, the chef and co-owner of Union. In addition to Union, a five-year-old American bistro with a menu that changes daily, the self-trained, 33-year-old chef also co-owns two other Seattle restaurants, the year-old Tavolàta and How To Cook A Wolf, which opened in November 2007. He has worked with several Seattle chefs, including Tim Kelley of The Painted Table. Stowell owns over 600 cookbooks and claims to have read them all.

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  Boka

  Giuseppe Tentori
  Boka, Chicago, IL
  Menu | Wines | Reservations | Website
  
  As a boy, Giuseppe Tentori helped out on his grandmother’s farm in a small town outside of Milan. At the age of 19, while at Antica Osteria la Rampina in Milan, he was invited by chef Gabriel Viti (a Best New Chef 1991) to work at Carlos’ in Highland Park, Illinois. He went on to become sous chef at the Metropolitan in Salt Lake City and chef de cuisine at Chicago’s Charlie Trotter’s before becoming executive chef at Boka in March 2007. Tentori, 35, has created an innovative menu revolving around seasonal ingredients. Tentori’s eclectic, multi-layered dishes include smoked trout and squid stuffed with baby spinach, spicy pineapple and black tapioca.

  food chicago il restaurant foodandwinebestnewchefs2008

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  Avec

  Koren Grieveson
  Avec, Chicago, IL
  Menu | Wines | Website
  
  Influenced by the cuisine of Europe’s wine regions, South African-born chef Koren Grieveson, 36, helped launch the wine bar Avec in October 2003 with her mentor, chef Paul Kahan (a Best New Chef 1999). Grieveson, who lived in Angola, Iran, England and Brazil as a child, was a caterer for the entertainment industry and a solider in the United States Army for nine years before attending the Culinary Institute of America. Prior to opening Avec she worked with Kahan for five years as sous chef at his restaurant Blackbird and also worked at San Francisco’s Aqua under chef Michael Mina.

  beard2009 beardgreatlakes2009 food chicago il restaurant foodandwinebestnewchefs2008

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  Ubuntu

  Jeremy Fox
  Ubuntu, Napa, CA
  Menu | Reservations | Website
  
  Jeremy Fox, 31, is the first Food & Wine Best New Chef to head a vegetarian restaurant, Ubuntu. Fox, who studied at Johnson & Wales University, started his career at Anson in Charleston; then he traveled the world working in high-profile restaurants such as Michelin two-star De Snippe in Belgium; Gordon Ramsay in London; Rubicon and Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco; and Manresa in Los Gatos, California. A carnivore himself, Fox and his wife, pastry chef Deanie Hickox Fox, create Ubuntu’s vegetarian menu with produce from the restaurant’s own gardens.

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  Gautreau's

  Sue Zemanick
  Gautreau’s, New Orleans, LA
  Menu | Reservations | Website
  
  A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, Sue Zemanick has a passion for seafood that’s reflected in her menu at the French/Creole Gautreau’s. Zemanick apprenticed under chef Rick Moonen at Oceana in New York before moving to New Orleans and taking a job at Commander’s Palace. She eventually found her way to Gautreau’s, where she worked under chef Mat Wolf (a Best New Chef 2004). She became executive chef in 2005.

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