Epicurean® Ambassadors are chefs and foodies who put our products to the test in both home and commercial settings. They help shape Epicurean® products and assess their performance in real-world culinary conditions. Once products get their seals of approval, you know you are buying quality tools for your own kitchen adventures.
Ambassadors include: Craig Bell, Royal Dahlstrom, Anna Maria Florio, Jon Liddel, Marshall O’Brien, Pete Trusiak.
Craig Bell
Corporate Chef, Sub Zero-Wolf; Chef/Owner, Big Hatt Gourmet Website: bighatt.com"My love of BBQ and the art of cooking great ribs and pulled pork brought me into the world of professional cooking. As a young man growing up in the BBQ capital of the world,outside Memphis, Tennessee, I was fascinated with the smoking process and how to make BBQ. I began my career as an amateur chef by joining a competitive cooking team with a group of friends. We had some great success winning regional, national, and world championship titles.While working a day job, I pursued my passion of BBQ and began teaching people about cooking.
"Cooking was my passion, and I turned it into a career. After moving to Chicago, I started teaching BBQ classes to friends in my backyard. The classes grew as word spread, and soon I was teaching at the Chopping Block. I continued to teach and began wanting to know all aspects of cooking so I could become a more rounded chef. This led me to put my career on hold and enroll in culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu.
"I had a great mentor in Chef Jim McGuinness, who made a similar career change many years before me. It was an incredible experience being exposed to the professional side of the kitchen. I returned to the United States and began working as the corporate chef for Sub Zero/Wolf. This position combines my love of cooking with my desire to share my passion through teaching. I do cooking shows, demonstrations, classes, and private events from 10 to 2,000 people, always in front of live audiences.
"Throughout my career, I have been able to work events with great chefs from around Chicago and the world. I am still a BBQ man at heart, but now I combine that with the high-end cuisine of the modern kitchen."
Inspirations:"I have many influences on my cooking style but what inspires me is the happiness I can impart to my guests. Whether it is serving them an incredible meal or demystifying a recipe so they can make it at home, nothing is more gratifying than giving back to the audience."
What's next: "My goal is to change people's perceptions and combine my styles. I am currently working on elevating aspects of true southern BBQ culture with high-end dining. I love cooking outdoors over an open flame. The trick is to elevate this with classical techniques and modern culinary style to change the perception of the outdoor grill. Hopefully I will develop a cookbook - if I can slow down long to write down what I am doing."
Royal Dahlstrom
Award-winning Chef and Creative Force, Chef (a Minneapolis-based catering company) Website: chefroyal.com"I started cooking out of necessity, making meals for my family when I was growing up. I discovered I loved food and cooking and got my first job in a professional kitchen when I was 15. I graduated from a local community college, but I mainly developed my skills in the apprentice tradition of European kitchens. I worked my way up the culinary ladder over the course of 24 years, honing my palate and progressing from dishwasher to prep cook, line cook, sous chef, pastry chef, and ultimately executive chef.
"I loved feeding people and working with great ingredients and a talented staff, but the hours necessary to keep a restaurant running were tough on my young family, so I decided to take a leap of faith and start my catering and personal chef business. My decision has led to opportunities I never envisioned, like local and national television appearances. I enjoy working one-on-one with my clients to provide them with unique, personalized events. Many of my clients are celebrating important events like an anniversary, a wedding, or a graduation. It is an honor to be part of their milestones.
"While I was thrilled to receive many awards during my career as a restaurant chef, none of those accolades is more rewarding than having a happy customer tell me that my food and the overall experience exceeded their expectations and added to their happy occasion. I have had to adapt from cooking in gleaming, state-of-the-art restaurant kitchens to turning out fabulous food in clients' home kitchens or using nothing more than a hot plate for a television shoot. I've learned to improvise when needed, never lose my cool, and rise to any challenge to provide a wonderful event.
"I'm lucky to earn a living doing something I love. As for my next chapter, we will continue to do local and national TV and radio, along with teaching cooking classes at a local cooking school. We also will continue to take our food on the road to wherever our next event might be."
Anna Maria Florio
Passionate about food, passionate about cooking... cultivate your passion for cooking at La Cucina at the Market. Website: lacucinaatthemarket.comInspirations: My culinary flair mostlyor ginates with familial influence. "Cooking has always been an integral part of my life. Ever since I was a little girl I remember summers in my grandmothers’ kitchens." What inspires me most is the joy I experience when I can bring together my greatest passions; people and food. Simple recipes, delicious food, simply wonderful...
ANNA MARIA FLORIO, the proprietor of La Cucina at the Market, is a Philadelphia native and the daughter of Italian-born parents from the Campania region of Italy. Her family brought their love of food and rich traditions of la cucinawith them and Anna grew up speaking Italian in a family where the kitchen was the center of the house. When people came together in their home there was always cooking, talking, laughing and sharing of their passion for food. During her childhood she spent summers in Benevento where she played and worked in the kitchens of family trattorias and cafés.
Fourteen years ago she accepted an invitation to join Temple University Center City ("TUCC") as an Italian language instructor and began to share her Italian heritage with the Philadelphia community. Her students were lovers of all things Italian and the topic of food was part of every class. Anna wanted to recreate and share the experience of her own family kitchen directly with her students. About five years ago Anna approached the Director at TUCC, about developing a series that combined food and language. "It seemed a natural segue to combine the two things that are essential to an Italian household: talking and eating. When people are around food they are naturally more relaxed and conversation is inevitable." TUCC’s first Italian cooking/language class, entitled "Mangiamo in Italiano", completely sold out. Students said they had a marvelous time and asked for more. In a short time, this became Anna’s signature program for TUCC.
In 2007, when space in the Reading Terminal Market became available, Anna decided it was certainly the right time for La Cucina at the Market to be born. "I saw La Cucina as the dynamic location that could bring together urban professionals who happen to be lovers of food with the vibrant venue that is the Reading Terminal Market. I couldn’t think of a better spot to cultivate one’s passion for cooking or even join a group of friends to prepare a meal. With the great variety of specialty ingredients available at RTM, La Cucina would offer the perfect place to eat, shop and learn." Anna’s enthusiastic idea: a space exclusively dedicated to cooking and culinary demonstration. The concept and the process began with a lively, warm and inviting space; where people who love food could come together and share their passion, where prominent Philadelphia chefs and other members of the food community could be showcased and where visitors to Philadelphia could experience the vibrant atmosphere of the Market in a personal way.
Epicurean has been "on board" since day one. I love working with these boards; they’re durable, eco-friendly and just downright sexy beautiful, aging with grace!
Today, classes continue, along with private culinary events and corporate team building. A great staff of instructors ensure a diverse menu of new and interesting options to cultivate your passion for cooking!
The Future: A brand new kitchen to be completed in January, 2012 in a central location within the market and the continued blessing of doing what I love!
Memberships: Les Dames Des Escoffier, Slow Food Philadelphia
Philadelphia Magazine: Best of Philly, 2011: Cooking classes
New York Times: Bachelorette Parties Gone Mild: August, 2010
Jon Liddel
Corporate Chef, Sub Zero-Wolf, Chef Big Hatt Gourmet Website: bighatt.comThe beautiful northern Michigan of his childhood first inspired Jon to cook. His passion for being creative with fresh, seasonal, local ingredients grew from a love of the outdoors, hunting, fishing, foraging, and studying the local agriculture of his hometown farming community. He nurtured this culinary creativity in his teens, which produced some pleasant surprises as well as misadventures (one Thanksgiving Day, for example, Jon locked up a local turkey in an oven on the self-cleaning cycle).
After high school, Jon moved his big appetite to the bigger city of Grand Rapids, where he attended Grand Rapids Community College as a culinary student. Here he gained knowledge of everything from cooking and baking to restaurant management. Upon graduation, Jon took his talents to the U.S. Virgin Islands,where he spent the next six years on a personal quest to prove himself professionally.
Though the bounty of fresh seafood and island fruit was worlds apart from his childhood staples, the inspiration to create fresh, local dishes with fresh, local ingredients was the same. Jon fell in love with island fare, spending many days during mango season on the beach, indulging in his now favorite ripe fruit on earth - the Julie Mango.
"It is the epitome of why I love to cook, with its deep, rich flavors and layers of subtlety, all occurring naturally," Jon said. "If I can recreate this throughout my original dishes, then I feel that I accomplished what I always set out to do."
Jon first made waves in the Caribbean at the former East End Café, serving up Italian cuisine with a creative twist. He used this opportunity as a springboard to many more, including opening his own catering company, Modern Sauté. Not only did the catering company soon become one of the largest in St. Thomas, it has developed into an exclusive business, catering to the rich and famous as well as to sailing regattas such as Rolex International. In addition to Modern Sauté, Jon launched a restaurant at the St. Thomas Yacht Club, a venture that put him exactly where he wanted to be—cooking fresh fish on the beach, with the dock where he just bought the fish in sight.
A few years ago, Jon followed his love for everything food (as well as a certain beach beauty he met on his favorite white sand beach) to the culinary capital that is Chicago. Heembraced his new surroundings with the same mantra—keep it fresh, keep it simple, keep it damn good. He has spent much of the past years developing different southern smoking and barbeque techniques. These days, Jon can be found anywhere from the heart of downtown Chicago to the vast cornfields of northern Wisconsin, testing recipes and ideas out on clients of Sub-Zero Refrigeration and Wolf Cooking Equipment.
Jon has spent his life setting high standards for himself, developing his talents to create dishes that nurture and inspire. He holds the equipment he uses in his culinary adventures to the same standards. When he found his first Epicurean® cutting board, he knew it was the right choice for him. On top of being the most durable board he's ever laid a knife to (a statement he put to the test one day by unsuccessfully attempting to light one on fire), it is also just plain beautiful. Jon has hauled the boards across the country countless times for use in all types of cooking situations. What impresses him most about Epicurean® boards is the fact that they clean brilliantly and are eco friendly.
"To me, there's nothing better than having a sexy enough board to put on display like a hardwood block, yet can be run through the dishwasher at 185 degrees," John said. "You can't match that anywhere - unless you get a free mango with it, of course."
Marshall O’Brien
Facilitator, Taste Success (cooking team-building events); Consultant, Corporate Wellness Programs Website: chefmarshallobrien.com"I started out as a prep cook for a 'mom and pop' restaurant and worked for a catering company. I loved the camaraderie and creativity. I saw magic in the kitchen with my fellow cooks when we were in sync, and I saw disaster when we were not! That inspired me to want to use the kitchen and cooking as catalysts to help celebrate and build teams, so I got into facilitating cooking team-building events. I also saw an opportunity to use a similar model to help kids connect with food, and, in the process, build self-esteem and interpersonal skills.
"I've taken all these experiences and developed live programs and video segments to complement companies' wellness initiatives and help their employees connect with healthy 'real' food. Inspirations include regular, everyday people. When I meet someone who says, 'I've tried something new thanks to you, and now I'm cooking more and trying new foods,' that really makes my day.
"I studied communications and psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth and culinary arts at Hennepin Technical College. My future goals and plans include continuing to support companies' wellness programs. Someday I'd like to have my own TV show. I'm very excited to be a new dad. That will be a lifelong adventure, and I feel privileged and honored to be embarking on it."
Pete Trusiak
Owner, Forage & Feast Website: cookingfromthecave.tvAfter receiving his classical training at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon, Chef Pete Trusiak relocated to Madison, Wisconsin, and began working with James Beard Foundation's 2001 Best Chef of the Midwest, Odessa Piper at L'etoile. It was in Madison that Chef Pete developed an avid interest in following our foods from field and pasture to plate.
Madison is home to the granddaddy of Midwest farmers markets, and every Saturday from April to October, hundreds of farmers converge on the Capitol Square and sell everything from fresh honey and cheeses to the best produce you'll find in the Midwest and naturally raised beef, pork, trout, and poultry. While foraging for ingredients for the dinners at L'etoile, Chef Pete met many upstanding members of Wisconsin agricultural families. From these meetings, he cultivated close relationships with a handful of farmers who allowed him to donate his time helping with some of their farming duties.
Chef Pete has assisted at a free-range chicken farm, picked spinach and tomatoes at an organic farm, helped move cattle at a free-range cattle farm, and enjoyed other agricultural adventures. These opportunities to work closely with farmers have strengthened his bonds with the origins of the ingredients that he uses in his cooking.
In addition to working at L'etoile, Chef Pete has been a professional chef and consultant for various organizations. They include: The Compound in Santa Fe's trendy Canyon Road neighborhood, The Viking Cooking School in Glenview Illinois, Epicurean Cutting Surfaces, Royal Prestige Cookware, Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Botanical Garden, Sur La Table, Heartland Meats, River Valley Mushrooms, Insignia Kitchen & Bath, Walter Payton Cancer Fund, Bear Necessities, Health and Wellness Society, Downers Grove Infant Welfare Society, and Children's Memorial Hospital. He cohosted and coordinated the 2010 Great Chef of Grey Poupon Mustard Competition and was the featured chef at Midwest's BBQ Festival in 2010 at Galleria Marchetti.
Chef Pete has highlighted his cooking prowess through various media outlets. He has appeared in television segments on Chicago ABC affiliate Channel 7, Chicago Fox affiliate Channel 32, HGTV's Design Challenge, and as host of a cooking show called Cooking with Pete, carried by the local cable network in Naperville, Illinois. He also starred in a 32-episode cooking DVD for Video Chef, on which he created, taught, and presented simple cooking techniques to home cooks. He has been featured in print in Gourmet magazine, Northshore magazine, Chicago Home and Garden magazine, the Suburban Daily Herald, and the Chicago Tribune.
Chef Pete and his wife recently launched a rapidly growing catering company called Forage & Feast, based in Wheaton, Illinois, and are looking to expand the business into a retail gourmet market for shoppers to buy locally grown and produced foods. Through the Forage & Feast Catering Company, Chef Pete has been working closely as corporate chef for the renowned MHP and Phoenix grill companies. Affiliations and memberships include Slow Food International and the Society of Wine Educators.
