Mike Lata is Chef/Co-Owner of FIG and The Ordinary in Charleston, SC. A formidable presence in the city’s culinary scene, he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2009, and was a semifinalist for Outstanding Chef in 2017 and 2018. Lata’s restaurants have received major accolades of their own, including several James Beard Award wins and nominations and placement on countless national “Best Restaurant” lists.

Roland Passot is a classically trained French Chef. After moving to San Francisco in the 1980s, he opened La Folie in 1988 earning such accolades as a James Beard Award for Rising Star chef, Best Chef in California 2005 – 2007, Best Food and Best French Restaurant in Zagat in 2002, Best French Restaurant in 7x7 Magazine, 4 stars by the San Francisco Magazine, Top 100 Restaurants in San Francisco Chronicle, 4 stars by the San Francisco Chronicle, and one Michelin Star.

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Chef Paul Kahan has become the nationally recognizable face of Chicago chefs. Passionately seasonal, unconventionally creative and dedicated to the inspiration of classical cuisine, Kahan has received international acclaim for Blackbird, avec, The Publican, Big Star, Publican Quality Meats, Nico Osteria, Dove’s Luncheonette, Publican Quality Bread, and Publican Tavern O’Hare. Awarded Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 2013 and Best Chef of the Midwest in 2004, Kahan has earned the praise of many who claim him to be one of America’s most influential working chefs.