Chef's Story

On this week's episode of Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Chef Tom Douglas.

Tom Douglas is an executive chef, restaurateur, author, and radio talk show host. He is known for winning the 1994 James Beard Award for Best Northwest Chef. On May 7, 2012, he won the James Beard Award as Best Restaurateur. He is the author of Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, which was named the Best American Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and KitchenAid, in 2001. In 2005, he appeared on an episode of the Food Network's Iron Chef America, where he defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

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This week on Chef's Story, we profile Chris Himmel, Executive Vice President of Business Development for the Himmel Hospitality Group.

The Himmel family owns and operates three of Boston/Cambridge’s most successful and respected restaurants: Grill 23 & Bar, Harvest Restaurant and Post 390 Restaurant. Chris has been a fixture at the restaurants most of his life; first at Grill 23 & Bar, one of the country’s top steakhouses; next at the iconic Harvest in Harvard Square, where New England farmers and product have been the culinary inspiration for over 30 years, and now at the popular Back Bay restaurant, Post 390, known for its “Farm to Post” menus and “Kitchen to Cocktail” program.

A graduate of the prestigious Cornell School of Hotel Administration, Chris set his sights on learning from the best in hospitality, training under Danny Meyer and Chef Thomas Keller. Running the three Boston/Cambridge restaurants owned by Himmel Hospitality Group, Chris brings a deep passion for product and hospitality to each of the restaurants.

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Billy Allin was born in New York and grew up in Greenwood, South Carolina. His professional culinary career began at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where he graduated with honors. During his culinary program, Billy spent, first, a couple days a week, then almost every evening, working at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Billy and his wife Kristin moved to the Napa Valley in 2003, and he worked at The Martini House under Chef Todd Humphries.

In 2004, Billy and Kristin moved back to the Southeast. Billy furthered his career at Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, where he worked as a Sous-Chef for over two years. In 2006, he began the process of opening his own restaurant, Cakes & Ale, in Decatur. Cakes & Ale is modeled after Billy and Kristin’s basic dining philosophy: cook unassuming food using the highest quality ingredients and serve it in a comfortable and welcoming setting. At Cakes & Ale, Billy and Kristin have created a down-to-earth restaurant where they can express their creativity and passion for great food and drink and the diner and enjoy the experience of a truly delicious meal.

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Hiroko Shimbo is an authority on Japanese cuisine who has earned world-wide recognition. She is a chef-instructor at respected culinary schools, a consulting chef to diverse food service industries and a cookbook author based in the United States since 1999. Her associates and clients comprise a domestic and international cohort of renowned food professionals, organizations and companies.

Hiroko has written three award-winning cookbooks. Her latest book, Hiroko’s American Kitchen: Cooking with Japanese Flavors, was selected from among 500 books to receive the IACP 2013 Cookbook Award as the best American cookbook of the year. Hiroko’s American Kitchen offers an entirely new perspective on Japanese cooking. Rather providing instruction for preparing authentic Japanese cuisine, the book focuses on a larger audience of cooks by integrating Japanese flavors and cooking techniques with readily available produce, meats and seafood to recreate dishes already familiar to the America table but with unique added appeal.

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On this week's episode of Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Mark Welker, Executive Pastry Chef of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad in New York City.

After graduating from the International Culinary Center, Welker started working at Eleven Madison Park as a line cook, and, under Chef Daniel Humm’s tutelage, he developed a passion for fine dining. Mark was named pastry sous chef in 2009 and was an integral part of developing the restaurant’s bread and pastry program, focusing his attention on local ingredients and classic New York sweets.

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On this week's episode of Chef's Story, guest host Erik Murnighan, president of the International Culinary Center, interviews J. Kenji López-Alt, the Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, and author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab, where he unravels the science of home cooking. A restaurant-trained chef and former editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine, he is the author of the New York Times best-selling cookbook The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.

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On this week's episode of Chef's Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Steven Jenkins of Fairway Markets. Jenkins is credited with having introduced countless cheeses and foodstuffs to New Yorkers (and subsequently, the rest of the United States), and continues to generate remarkable publicity and public awareness for food artisans and artisanal foods – it was actually he who popularized the use of the terms “artisan/artisanal” as well as “cheesemonger.” He is also the author of Cheese Primer.

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On this week’s episode of Chef’s Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with David Waltuck, who opened the restaurant Élan with business partner George Stinson in 2014. Élan will be closing its doors at the end of this month. Previously, Waltuck was the chef at Chanterelle, which opened in 1979 in SoHo, received various accolades, moved to TriBeCa in 1989, and closed in 2009, just short of its 30th anniversary.

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Tune in for a brand new episode of Chef’s Story as Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Chef Rob Bleifer.  As The Food Network’s Executive Chef, he talks his intriguing culinary journey, the rise of food television, plus thoughts on recently being named the International Culinary Center ’s Adjunct Dean of Food Media.

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Tune in for a brand new episode of Chef’s Story as host Dorothy Cann Hamilton is in conversation with Chef Gabe McMackin. Gabe is the Chef and Owner of the Finch. He has 20 years experience cooking in and around New England. He spent time at restaurants like Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Gramercy Tavern, and Roberta’s and worked for Martha Stewart as corporate chef for merchandising. Worked at The Mayflower, Thomas Moran’s Petite Syrah, and had his first job washing dishes and doing prep at The Hopkins Inn, all in Washington Ct. He spent  a good while at Sperry’s in Saratoga, ran his own catering company and did many incredibly interesting things from publishing to roofing to business development for financial services software development companies before finding the space at 212 Greene ave which he thought he could put a small neighborhood restaurant in.  He is focused on creating a living restaurant where all choices we make consider the long term health of the business and the community.

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