FEATURED CHEFS & SPEAKERS
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Warren Brown Warren Brown is the host of Sugar Rush on The Food Network and the owner of CakeLove and Love Café. Mr. Brown loves working in the kitchen and developing new products that are sold through his bakery and café. His career path has been anything but normal and that adds to a lot of the excitement in the sweets he creates. He completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University in 1993 with a BA in History, and graduate studies at The George Washington University in 1998 with a Juris Doctor and a master’s in Public Health. Warren continues to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit by building additional retail storefronts and expanding the product line. He contributes his time and energy to charitable causes by speaking to young students and rising entrepreneurs about business development and finding one’s passion. Warren will be opening CakeLove in the Can Company in Canton the beginning of February! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Midgley Michael likes to joke around with just about everyone, but when he is in the kitcen, he is all business. Micheal is hysterically funny, extremely open and so alarmingly blatant that it is hard to believe he ever gets serious. Chef Michael has attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and "Top Chef" Season Two Contestant. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chef John Shields Currently, John writes a column for the monthly magazine, baltimore eats, and the quarterly , Edible Chesapeake. He is an active member of many community organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group dedicated to protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding wetlands. He’s also active in a variety of professional organizations, including the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance, Slow Food, and the Chefs’ Collaborative, which promotes sustainable agriculture through use of indigenous foods and local suppliers. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the fall of 1999, Chef was accepted into the French Culinary Institute, where he would graduate from both the Culinary and the Pastry program in the summer of 2000. After a short-lived entrepreneurial venture into the catering business with classmates, Chris took an internship with the famous Ron Ben Israel Wedding Cakes in New York City. After his internship, Chef Paternotte moved back to Baltimore, taking a position at the renowned Kali's Court in Fells Point. Beginning as a Sous Chef, Chris quickly moved up the ranks to become Executive Chef. Under Chef Paternotte's direction, Kali's Court opened a sister establishment, Mezze, a casual 100 seat tapas-style restaurant that shares a kitchen with Kali's Court. In the spring of 2005 Chef Christopher Paternotte set out to create a place to call his own, that place is VIN. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monyka Berrocosa Monyka Berrocosa, known as “M” to her friends, has been a professional food and wine educator, consultant and journalist living in Baltimore, MD since 1998. Down to earth and no nonsense, Monyka prefers to be called a wine “enthusiast” rather than “expert” despite ten years experience in the food and wine industry traveling the world by the glass. She is a regular contributor to Baltimore Smart Woman magazine, Taste of the Bay and often seen on WBALTV Channel 11 sharing the “pleasures of the table”. Her humor, enthusiasm and lack of pretension has captured the attention of thousands of readers, viewers and students alike. In 2004 she founded The Women’s Wine & Dine®, a women-only wine centric event series that raises money for a variety of charitable organizations and counts over 10,000 subscribers to its monthly newsletter “Women’s Wine & Dine Wisdom”. The WW&D provides a forum to inspire, educate and celebrate women from all walks of life through various events held throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2006 she released her first book “One Sip at a Time”. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MICHAEL COSTA Pazo's Executive Chef, Michael Costa, earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Virginia and soon after received his Associate's in Culinary Arts from El Centro College in Dallas. Michael's love of regionally grown produce and grilling over a live fire is evidenced throughout the Pazo menu. He works closely with owner Tony Foreman to create seasonal menus that showcase the best of what the region has to offer. Michael’s background is as extensive as it is diverse having worked in other great kitchens such as Michel Richard Citronelle in Washington DC and prior to joining Pazo, Restaurant Michel Rostang in Paris France.
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Hugh Sisson A sixth generation Baltimorean, Hugh J. Sisson has been involved in all aspects of craft brewing. General Partner of Clipper City Brewing Company, L.P., Sisson is among Baltimore's premier authorities on craft brewing and a former manager of the state's first pub brewery, Sisson’s, located in Federal Hill. In 1994, he left Sisson’s to begin a new venture, Clipper City Brewing Company. Clipper City has been in operation for more than a decade and markets fine beers in 18 states, as well as Washington, DC. Sisson is a member of the Master Brewers Association of America, the Brewer’s Association, and is past President for the Brewer’s Association of Maryland. He has served as President of the Cross Street Irregulars Home Brew Club, and co-hosts a weekly program on WYPR Radio entitled Cellar Notes that critiques fine wine and beer.
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Olivia Boru
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As a former international supermodel, never dreamed that she would go from being a fashion diva to a domestic diva. Ironically, while jet setting off to modeling assignments around the world, Maria became closer to the simplicity of life and food in the country setting of her family's vineyard in the mountains of central Italy. She began to experience the real tastes of food that she knew from her childhood. Her passion with food began at the early age of 4, when she would accompany 'nonno' (grandfather) on his early morning Saturday trips to the Italian Market in Philadelphia to pick out all the fresh ingredients for the Sunday family meal. Years later, Maria was spotted by international artist Sergio Terzi (known as Nerone) and was asked to sit for a portrait at his studio in the Emilio-Romagna region of Italy. While sitting for this portrait, the months lingered on and Maria found herself spending more and more time at Nerone's family farm nearby. During her time there, she studied the art of making the famed Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese. When the painting was finished, it was exhibited all throughout the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the painting and the artist were honored at a special ceremony for the contributions of Italians to the World. Maria began writing food articles and restaurant review columns. She was soon asked to conduct cooking programs while in Italy and then in the States. The rest, as they say, is history. She divides her time between her office and residence in the USA and Italy. Maria's cooking philosophy that she shares here with you, is to create recipes that simply transform the freshest ingredients without changing their essential flavors. For more tips on cooking, foods, style and decorating, visit the lifestyle page and Maria's blog for frequent updates and information. |
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Renee Brooks Catacalos has been writing about food, restaurants, and other topics since 2001 for a variety of local and national publications. In 2006, she launched a bi-weekly e-newsletter about local food, called Local Mix, with a friend and fellow local food enthusiast. That grew into a web site, www.realpeopleeatlocal.com. She is excited to take her commitment to the wonderful local foods of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia to another level as publisher and editor of Edible Chesapeake. Renee is a local product herself, born in Washington, DC, a graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She spent more than five years as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, serving in Mexico City, Mexico, and Istanbul, Turkey, before moving to Houston, Texas in 1990, where a decade-long career in public relations and international protocol unfolded. Houston is also where she met her husband, Damon, and gave birth to her two little Texans, Catherine and Louis. They all now live in University Park, Maryland. |
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 Rocky FinoAuthor Will Cook For Sex: A Guys Guide to Cooking At an early age, a passion for good food and a healthy appetite led Rocky into the kitchen serving as sous chef alongside his father. Rocky’s father (fondly referred to as the “Old Man”), often handled most of the cooking for their busy family of six and had a flair for inventing fabulous menus. Aside from cooking for the ladies in their lives, Rocky and the Old Man have enjoyed an active lifestyle; hunting, fishing and sailing on their “weekend passes.” Having achieved success in their own kitchens, they began testing a few of their gourmet creations on their usually grateful friends. “The guys” would then take these satiating menus home to their wives, who begged them to develop their own culinary skills. Rocky and the Old Man enjoy a father-son bond that is still strong today. And, as much as Rocky enjoys experimenting with his extensive library of cookbooks and recipes, restaurants have been his true inspiration. He and the Old Man frequently enjoy dining in some of California’s top culinary destinations, where they have an opportunity to sample the creations of top executive chefs. Rocky will oftentimes, order unusual and interesting menu items, and if impressed, incorporate the flavors into his own simpler gourmet creations. John “Rocky” Finocchiaro was born and raised in Arcadia, California, one of four children. Rocky attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where he earned his degree in Radio/Television and Film. Upon returning to Southern California, he participated in a Masters of Professional Writing program at University of Southern California, and later earned his MBA from California State University, San Bernadino. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chef Masood Masoodi has been a member of the Da Mimmo family for 19 years. His culinary training took place in Italy on the Amalfi Coast in the town of Pasitano at the leading hotel of the world, Le Sirenuse. Chef Masoodi prides himself on carrying on the tradition of Da Mimmo by preparing such signature dishes as the two and a half inch thick Veal Chop alla Florentina, as well as the Lobster Tettrazini and Swordfish Mediterranea. He also brings to the kitchen of Da Mimmo his own unique talent for cooking seafood, meats, pasta and risotto. A few of Chef Masoodi's signature dishes are an Asparagus and Sea Scallop Risotto and a Frutta di Mare Paccheri Pasta. But, save room for dessert because he makes an excellent Zabaglione and a to die for Bananas Foster. Chef Masoodi invites you to dine at Da Mimmo where he can be found nightly, ready to take your order and personally prepare your dining experience. Buon Appetito!! |
 Barrie Lynn The Cheese Impresario Barrie Lynn – The Cheese Impresario is a former advertising executive who always loved food, wine and entertaining. I have been a dedicated member of Slow Food for years and took a client to a fund-raiser to benefit Slow Food. It was an artisanal cheese tasting event and I literally flipped out! The flavors, the cheesemakers who take total pride in what they produce and the diversity of cheeses inspired me to invent The Cheese Impresario, from pure passion for artisanal cheeses. |
Dale Dugan
