Chef Sameh’s culinary path began at a young age, when he shadowed his mother in their home kitchen. That, he claims, is where he developed his “palate.” To hone his skills, Chef Sameh attended The Art Institute International Minnesota, where he graduated with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Culinary Arts. While attending school he was an active member of the American Culinary Federation, where he joined numerous food competitions; which, ultimately lead to countless awards and medals.

In 2009, Chef Sameh launched his own line of gourmet spices – Spice Trail by Chef Sameh Wadi, which are hand-crafted at Minnesota’s Saffron.

Last year, Chef Carmen appeared on Top Chef Masters season 2, where she made it to the final round. Her success led her to a bevy of other opportunities, including supporting the 2010 US Open Tennis Championships and joining the newly-formed Nutrisystem Culinary Council while developing healthy cuisine for the new product line, set to launch in 2012. Chef Carmen is also introducing her own line of upscale take-home meals, Sazon by Chef Carmen, in the New York marketplace with plans for national expansion.

In 2003, Chef Carmen was sole proprietor of Miami’s Carmen the Restaurant, named “One of the best new restaurants in America,” by John Mariani of Esquire magazine. The New York Times proclaimed the restaurant was “One of the city’s hottest hangouts,” and the Miami New Times named it “The best new restaurant.” Among the awards granted Carmen the Restaurant were the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for 2006-2004; AAA’s coveted 4 Diamond Award in 2005 and 2006; and a listing in the 2007 ZAGAT “America’s Top Restaurants” book.

When not in the kitchen, Chef Carmen can be found working on her other passion – community outreach. For many years, she has been involved with Share Our Strength, the James Beard Foundation and a variety of other local and national organizations, including two non-profits she founded – Chef Carmen Cooks for a Cure and Feeding the Mind Foundation.

Stowell is chef/owner of four Seattle restaurants: Tavolàta, a contemporary Italian eatery located in the hip, urban Belltown neighborhood; How to Cook a Wolf, which features a range of small plates that concentrate and focus on the very essence of Italian cuisine; Anchovies & Olives, which showcases Stowell’s love of Northwest shellfish; and Staple & Fancy Mercantile, where diners can enjoy an “omakase-style” dining experience.

Lightner’s creative cooking techniques are already turning heads nationally, with his recent selection by Food & Wine Magazine as one of the 2010 Best New Chefs in America. Recently, Castagna received the Oregonian’s 2010 Restaurant of the Year award. Lightner was also nominated for a 2010 Rising Star chef award by the James Beard Foundation and chosen as one of “10 to Watch in 2010” by Restaurant Hospitality Magazine.

Always curious about new food and cooking techniques, Lightner traveled to Spain in 2007 as part of the culinary team at Mugaritz mastering new modern Spanish methods. Prior to cooking in Spain and spending a month at Noma in Copenhagen, Lightner was the chef de cuisine at L’Auberge in Del Mar, California where he worked alongside James Beard award-winning chef Paul McCabe. He learned French techniques from French Master Chefs Philippe Boulot and Francis Perrot and Mediterranean cuisine in his role as chef at Philoxenia in Portland, Oregon. Lightner graduated from the Western Culinary Institute with high honors in 2001 and holds levels 1 and 2 of the International Sommelier Guild.

A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Sam began his culinary training at Johnson and Wales University in Charleston. During his schooling, Sam worked at the acclaimed J. Bistro in Charleston where he worked under chef /owner James Burns. Sam still considers Burns his mentor and returns frequently to Charleston to cook, fish, and refresh his culinary “juices.”

At 24, Sam moved to New York City as Executive Chef of the Black Duck Restaurant in the City’s legendary Gramercy Park neighborhood. Two years later, he opened his own restaurant, the Williamsburgh Cafe in Brooklyn’s trendiest locale; he was nominated for Best New Chef in Brooklyn by CitySearch and Best Restaurant in Brooklyn by the New York Post.

Sam’s inventive dishes have been praised by The New York Times, New York Magazine, the Daily News, the New York Post, Zink Magazine, Time Out New York and Forbes Magazine. He has traveled the world, exploring his culinary passions and expanding his culinary vision, cooking and eating in some of the world’s best restaurants. Sam is the Executive Chef at Imperial 9 at the soon-to-open Mondrian Soho.

Lauro’s Mediterranean cuisine is an inspired menu for Buehler, who has endless options to choose from among the vastly different cuisines. Her challenge as chef, she says, is to stay true to each region’s culinary traditions. Buehler draws inspiration from the food and ingredients themselves. She also finds inspiration from co-workers and friends who cook and the discoveries she makes at other restaurants.

When she pulls herself away from the kitchen, Beuhler hangs out with friends, has been known to appear at a karaoke bar here and there, and has a passion for traveling. She dreams of warmer climates where she can get back into scuba diving.

As a veteran hotel restaurant employee, Chef Therres brings 10 years of kitchen experience and a passion for regional and New American cuisine. Before moving to the Renaissance Washington, DC Dupont Circle Hotel, Chef Therres worked at the Wentworth Grill in Charleston,SC for seven and a half years. He also was the Sous Chef at Hamilton’s in Fell’s Point, MD and worked at The Milton Inn, a renovated boarding school in the Maryland countryside, recognized by Zagat and named the twelfth best restaurant in the country by Conde Nast.

If he isn’t in the kitchen, Therres is spending time with his family or supporting his hometown teams, the Orioles and the Ravens. In addition, he enjoys exploring his interests in hiking, running, and living a more “green” lifestyle through biking to work.

Kara was the 2007 recipient of the Stags’ Leap Winery Fellowship at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood, as well as the 2006 recipient of the Terlato Family Scholarship for Wine and Food Writers at the Greenbrier Symposium for Professional Writers.

She is a member of the American Sommelier Association, the Museum of the American Cocktail, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and is a former board member of the Culinary Historians of New York.

After beginning her career in New York, Goldsmith first attracted industry notice as pastry chef for Mark Militello’s celebrated Mark’s Place restaurant in North Miami in the early 1990s. From there, she moved onto Nemo and Shoji Sushi, two South Beach restaurants owned by rising chef Michael Schwartz. A great friendship and mutual respect began to grow. Schwartz moved on to other projects, while Goldsmith stayed on, adding Prime 112 to the roster of restaurants for whom she created desserts. In 2006, looking for a break from the daily grind of the restaurant kitchen, Goldsmith began focusing on projects of passion: developing a line of sweet and savory retail and wholesale products that would carry her name. She also began consulting, working with national restaurant groups and pitching in to help Schwartz shortly after he opened his new Miami Design District restaurant, Michael’ s Genuine Food & Drink. The renewed synergy was undeniable; Goldsmith is now creating inspirational desserts at Michael’s Genuine as the restaurant’s executive pastry chef.

Locally, and nationally, Goldsmith is known for her unabashed creativity and unique flavors. Her menu at Michael’s Genuine spotlights seasonal ingredients. Standouts include candied Granny Smith apple and walnut streusel panini with crème fraiche and caramel sauce, tangerine pot de crème with pistachio baklava and tangerine cardamom confit, key lime cheesecake flan with macadamia short bread, tropical fruit salsa and passion fruit coulis, chocolate cremoso, with sea salt, olive oil, sour dough crostini and espresso parfait and pear and cardamom granita with pistachio pomegranate biscotti.

A Philadelphia native, Goldsmith received her B.A. in Photography and Film from the Philadelphia College of Art. Afterwards, she attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, graduating with honors from the CIA’s first Baking & Pastry class in 1985. She also studied at the International Pastry Arts Center in Bedford Hills, New York, where she refined her skills by concentrating on the study of chocolate, sugar and presentation.

Goldsmith has appeared on a number of television shows, including Food Network’s Iron Chef (winning with Michelle Bernstein against Bobby Flay); Public Television’s Great Chefs series and Fox News. She has been featured in publications such as Food & Wine, Gourmet, The New York Times, Bon Appétit and the Miami Herald; and has had her recipes published in cookbooks.

After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute, Ethan zigzagged back and forth across the country working for highly regarded chefs at restaurants in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Upon returning to Texas, he started a small catering company and served as Executive Chef for Austin’s Taverna, a Lombardi Family Concepts restaurant.

Chef Ethan recently left Taverna to pursue an exciting new opportunity with Snap Kitchen, serving as Executive/Concept Chef. Scheduled to open in early December 2009, Snap Kitchen will offer freshly made, healthy meals for grab-and-go or delivery. The Snap Kitchen concept will feature chef-driven cuisine with a strict emphasis on sustainable products and seasonality.

But good eating became an important part of his life even outside the house. At 11, he spent his summers accompanying his mother to work at Menz, a restaurant in Cape May County, NJ.

The restaurant’s executive chef noticed the boy’s burgeoning curiosity, so he taught young David how to shuck clams, peel shrimp, and bread fish. By 13, David was washing dishes. By 14, he was a line cook. He stayed at Menz until he was 17. On his journey toward becoming a chef, Katz learned to put money in his pocket and passion in his soul by seeking out great places to cook under mentors that inspired. In Squaw Valley, California, David cooked at Plumpjack under the tutelage of Chef Joe Lakavage. Then it was back to Philadelphia, just in time to launch Salt, a short-lived but highly acclaimed hotspot run by Chef Vernon Moralis.

There were a few more stops along the way, including a stint at Pollo Rosso under the inspired Chef Corbin Evans before he was lured to helm the launch of M in Philadelphia’s Morris House Hotel. That’s where he was finally recognized by Philadelphia Inquirer Restaurant Critic Craig Laban, “Katz’s approach is minimalist but very effective. He presents a New American menu that changes with the seasons. The flavors aren’t overly exotic. The compositions aren’t contrived. But Katz’s food shows the value of focus, distilling a pair of good ideas on each plate into vivid flavors that put the spotlight on good ingredients”.

On September 29th, David opened Mémé (pronounced MAY-may), a casual restaurant, located at 22nd and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia. Named for his grandmother, the restaurant will allow him to welcome his guests the way his family welcomed theirs. Intimate and warm, with just 40 seats, David wants Mémé to offer the warmth and personality you might feel dining in his home. This seems appropriate, since David, his wife Catherine, and their son Ezra will be living in the neighborhood.

In 2004, Kelty graduated from Ivy Tech Community College in Fort Wayne, Ind. with a double major in Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry Arts. During his schooling, he spent three summers in Europe, traveling and cooking in France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Upon graduation, he since has gone back to Ivy Tech to teach a number of cooking classes, focusing on Italian and American Cuisine.

Kelty has been with Eddie Merlot’s since its inception in 2001, advancing from line cook to Executive Chef. He has been recognized by both the National Restaurant Association and Plate Magazine.

At Trellis, Chef Scheehser melds modern cooking techniques and flavor profiles with the rustic, farm-fresh, robust cooking style that characterizes wine country restaurants. Simple preparations allow the quality of the ingredients to shine, while the rich, hearty flavors that characterize classic wine country cuisine are the mainstays of the menu. Rooted in the simplicity of country Italian and French cooking and influenced by his knowledge of cutting edge Northwest and West Coast cookery, Chef Scheehser’s farm to table cuisine is a perfect match with the casual elegance of Trellis.

Trained at the Culinary Institute of America, where he specialized in garde manger, Chef Scheehser has nearly 30 years of culinary experience. Chef Scheehser regularly participates in educational programs and supports multiple charitable organizations, including Share Our Strength/Taste of the Nation, Star Chefs March of Dimes, Fred Hutchinson Premier Chefs, American Liver Foundation Chefs of Seattle Culinary Gala and Common Meals/Farestart. Chef Scheehser and Trellis have been critically-acclaimed on both a national and local front. Chef Scheehser has been featured in Bon Appetit, Travel + Leisure, The Seattle Times, and 425 Magazine. He also is a member of Slow Food and is involved in events sponsored by the Washington Wine Association.

After moving to New York City in 1998, Beacco began his career as a Sous Chef at Borgo Antico. He has since spread his knowledge of Italian cuisine among La locanda dei Vini, Carmaya Restaurant and the renowned Pepolino Restaurant, before returning to the Tuscan-Emilian inspired restaurant, Borgo Antico, as Executive Chef.

Beacco actively shares his love for genuine Italian cuisine. When he is not busy in the kitchen, Beacco enjoys spending time with his family, which just welcomed a new addition.

Beyond his flair with pears, Dorsey has won numerous awards for his bartending flair, including first place honors in the 2006 Flair Fusion, Tyku Liquor Mixology competition and 2006 Finlandia Cup – Rio and the Monte Cristo Mixology Competition. In 2008, Dorsey was named the 2008 FBA Blue Blazer Mixology Champion. Additionally, he has competed and placed in numerous world flair bartending competitions.

When not showing off his flair, he continues to perfect his craft. Dorsey studies and practices the art of Molecular Mixology and is a member of both the Flair Bartenders Association and The United States Bartenders Guild.