Instructors at the Chef's Gallery

 
In Alphabetical Order:
 


Robin Asbell

is a free-lance culinary professional and cooking instructor around the Twin Cities. Her many experiences in the restaurant and the natural foods industry include developing hundreds of recipes as the former head chef of the Wedge Deli. She is the author of “The New Whole Grains Cookbook“ (Chronicle Books), and “The New Vegetarian Cookbook” (Chronicle Books, Fall 2009).


Bret Bannon

is a longtime chef/teacher in the Twin Cities, whose recipes have been published in Midwest Home and Cooking Pleasures Magazine. He has appeared on KARE 11’s Showcase Minnesota, and has held positions at the Park Avenue Café in New York, and at The Local and Un Deux Trois in the Twin Cities.


Ron Bohnert

is the executive chef at Stone Ridge Golf Club. He was honored as one of America's Culinary Leaders from the American Tasting Institute and received the "Chefs 2000 Award," and has received numerous awards for his creative wild game specialities.


Maureen (Molly) Brandt

is the founder of Cook in the Kitchen. She trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and has worked at many restaurants, most notably the critically-acclaimed Michelin starred Café Boulud in New York City under Gavin Kaysen. Molly is a co-founder and chef for Flavors of Italia, a company that offers intimate, culinary-focused vacations in Northern Tuscany.


Jenny Elliott

is a baker and owner of On Fire! Ovens baking and catering service. She is president of the Crossroads Kitchen Food Producers Co-Operative and writes two weekly columns for the Dunn County News. She is an advocate of the Slow Food Movement and uses as many local organic and sustainably-grown foods as possible. Her interest include nutrition and the promotion of personal health at all stages of life.


J.D. Fratzke

has spent many years working in kitchens in the metro area. After many years at Chino Latino and Muffuletta, he has ventured to St. Paul with The Strip Club - Meat and Fish in Dayton's Bluff.


Mindy Guyton

is a self-taught raw foods enthusiast who has been experimenting, researching and partaking in the raw foods lifestyle since 2002. She was introduced to raw foods at her Bikram Yoga teacher training when she saw a fellow trainee eating a raw avocado with a spoon. She wondered how one could possibly nourish themselves with an uncooked diet, let alone while practicing two Bikram yoga classes daily. She devoted much of her spare time to learning about this completely unorthodox way of eating, and to put this lifestyle to the test, she ate only raw foods for 10 days and experienced “the glow” in the first couple of days. That was the turning point for Mindy.


Mark Hanson

is the chef owner of Stillwater's popular Marx Wine Bar, which has been a hit since the moment it opened, prompting him to expand almost immediately. Previously the owner of The Harvest Inn, also in Stillwater, he attributes his culinary skills to working in New York, LA, and the Virgin Islands.


Jeff Hertzberg

developed a love for great bread growing up in New York City, and refined his bread-making skills through extensive European travel. He is a co-author with Zoe Francois of “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” and “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.”


Nic Kervadec

is from Lorient, France, and is the lead pastry chef at Fresh Fields Bakery and Café. He is famous for his delicate croissants, mouth-watering “American” gourmet cupcakes and decadent Bailey’s Irish Cream Cake, an award winning cake.


Kristin Klemetsrud

has owned and operated Savories Bistro & Wine Bar with chef husband Jeffrey for 17 years. A Francophile since living in Paris, she brings a Euro-centricity to her cooking and a French “je ne sais quoi” to her fun and informative classes.


Jim Kyndberg

is the former chef/owner of Bayport Cookery, which received awards from Minnesota Monthly, Mpls./St. Paul Magazine, and City Pages readers’ poll for “Best Fine Dining,” “Best Destination Dining,” “Best Wine List,” and “Best Service.” His latest venture is LocoVores, a gourmet catering van to be launched this spring.


Manfred Krug

began his culinary career over 23 years ago. He is currently a chef instructor at St. Paul Technical College, teaching restaurant operations, meat fabrication, and breakfast cookery. He is a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.


William Lendway

was sous chef at North Oaks Golf Club and Town & Country Club. He is currently finishing his master’s degree in human nutrition at the University of Minnesota as he researches whole grain use by local chefs.


John Michael Lerma

is a chef, author and television personality. His two cookbooks, “Garden County Cooking – Where Everyone is Welcome to Sit at the Table” and “Garden County Pie”, have become favorites with foodies throughout the United States. He can be seen on Food Network specials and challenges as the “pie guy,” where he received a medal, and is a regular on KSTP’s Twin Cities Live. He offers culinary vacations to Tuscany, Italy, as the director of “A Gathering in Tuscany.” www.GardenCountyCooking.com


Michele Licata

is an accomplished chef, teacher and consultant with over 15 years experience in catering and food preparation. She has made regular appearances on HGTV, and is a featured commentator on WCCO-AM and FM107 Radio.


Lift Bridge Beer Co. crew – Brad, Steve, Dan, Jim, and Trevor

have established the newest craft brew to hit taps and shelves in Minnesota. Based in Stillwater, they have combined their love for all things culinary and fermented to release some interesting brews, some using spices such as star anise, vanilla, and cinnamon, and others utilizing market produce like lingonberries and pumpkin. Their passion for quality brewing has gained many followers.


Mark Leslie

is a self-proclaimed “foodie” who loves to cook for anyone with an appetite, and works across the country in professional theatre as a stage manager. Every year he vacations in Italy and lives to eat his way through every plate of pasta and cone of gelato placed before him! He shares his experiences of Italy on his blog at www.mark-leslie.net. A Chicago-area native and “Yankee” by birth, Mark has lived in Alabama for over 23 years, and celebrates the fact that he started life eating farina, progressed to grits, and finally arrived at polenta!


Tim McKee

is the executive chef and co-owner of La Belle Vie (formerly of Stillwater) and Solera in Minneapolis. A 2007 James Beard Best Chef nominee, he is one of the most recognized and respected chefs in the upper Midwest.


Charlie Means

is a passionate ãfoodie,ä and has been a representative of numerous high-end culinary lines for over twenty years.


David Merrill

was an investment banker for 22 years, in commercial real estate redevelopment, a music teacher, and has appeared on the Prairie Home Companion! He started Merrill Foods three years ago, specializing in high end food products with A-list clients like The Chefs Gallery.


Thom Miller

was formerly a high-level merchandising and marketing executive at Marshall Field’s (a Target Corp. company). He founded Two Rivers in 2002, quickly developing an extensive list of clients who benefit from his 20-plus years in retailing and his longstanding relationships with such retailers as Target, Sears, Dillard’s, Sur La Table, Amazon.com and Belk. An in-demand speaker, Thom has been a featured presenter, discussing the state of U.S. retailing in Chicago, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Bangkok and Hong Kong. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, and lives in Minneapolis with his family.


Kristin Moffitt

is a special education teacher with the St. Paul Public Schools. She has always loved to cook, and chocolate has become one of her true passions. Kristin has completed on-line chocolate courses, interned at Chocolate Celeste in St. Paul, and studied in Belgium.


John Occhiato

completed training at The New England Culinary Institute, and was head chef at D’Amico Cucina for many years. He is now head chef at The Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis.


Christian Orosz

was born in New Jersey and grew up in England. He completed culinary school at Chichester, in West Sussex, England, and came back to the States at age 19 to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. From there he made his way from hotel restaurants, specialty food stores, and private yachts, traveling from the Canadian border to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Zuma Chain and up the Mississippi. While cooking on private yachts, Chef Christian experienced many cultures, gaining culinary knowledge and inspiration. Today Christian is chef at Water Street Inn in Stillwater.


Rachael Perron

is an award-winning chef, author, artist, and the owner and founder of Details Private Chef Services, LLC, which provides in-home personal chef services and special event services. Her professional education includes work at a restaurant and B&B outside Florence, Italy, where she honed her specialty for updated regional home-kitchen classics that are fresh, elegant, flavorful and simple to prepare. Chef Perron is the author of three cookbooks and the popular foodie blog, “The Refrigerator Diaries,” and is a regular guest on local television.


Marge Porter

has more than twenty years experience in the culinary industry and a lifetime of experience in the eating industry. Her style focuses on teaching basic techniques incorporated into class themes that enable and inspire the home cook to readily pursue a culinary passion. Her education includes the New England Culinary Institute, the Culinary Institute of America, and Warren Wilson College. Her experience includes restaurants, catering, vegetable and herb horticulture, specialty food purchasing for distribution, teaching and demonstrating.


Martina Priadka,

a native Minnesotan, is a sommelier and writer currently based in Hong Kong. Her training earned her a certification in wine through the Court of Master Sommeliers and led her to work with restaurants throughout Hong Kong, Shanghai, Thailand and North America. She has maintained award-winning wine lists at top restaurants around the world including awards from The Wine Spectator, Best of Award of Excellence and the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNA) Award for the "Highest Standards for Wine and Spirits." She is a frequent contributor to a variety of wine journals including her column Wine Line, featured in www.theskini.com.


Jack Reibel

is the executive chef of The Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. Formerly the executive chef of La Belle Vie in Stillwater, and former sous chef at Goodfellow's in Minneapolis, he has cooked in Aspen for Food and Wine's top new chefs dinner in 1992, for Mikail Gorbachev at the governor's mansion, and at fund-raisers at the James Beard house in New York.


Kevin Ryan

has a master's degree in gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu, and in food science. He has owned catering and wedding cake businesses, consulted for Cook's Illustrated, and authored ãWhy It Works: Insider Secrets to Great Food.ä He is currently at General Mills and teaches classes as a sideline.


Antigoni Sander

is co-owner of Kafe 421 in Minneapolis. Here she works side-by-side with her business partner - and mom - where together they bring old school hospitality to the Twin Cities. Raised with a strong appreciation for her Greek heritage, Antigoni’s journey with cooking began with foods that were so familiar to her as a child. She now brings these favorite childhood recipes plus her own twists on Greek classics to the menu at her restaurant, and to viewers of Twin Cities Live.


Suzanne Schilling

was the executive chef/owner of Suzanne’s Cuisine for 30 years. She has taught both hands-on and demo classes for All-Clad at Bloomingdales, adult education classes and numerous community organizations, as well as worked in recipe development for the Jack Daniels Distilleries. She has also cooked in Mexico with Diana Kennedy and Susanna Trilling.


Kathleen Schubert

is owner and creator of Schubert Catering Company. She is influenced mainly from traditional American, European, and Asian flavors. Introduced to food at an early age while working at her family’s restaurants, her love of food continued while living and cooking in Europe.


Tom Skold

has been cooking professionally for 25 years. He is chef at The Harbor View Café in Pepin, WI, and when the kitchen is closed for the season, he teaches cooking classes in the Twin Cities, and provides recipe and menu development for consumer food companies. He is a graduate of Johnson & Wales College and recently earned his Food & Nutrition degree at UW Stout.


Matt Stabenow

is co-owner of Revé 324 in Stillwater. After many years of managing for others in the bar and restaurant business, he has been able to share his passion of great food and wine pairing in the opening of his own business with the atmosphere of fine dining with a small town feel.


John Sugimu-a

is a second-generation sushi chef. His love of sushi is life-long, blossoming in Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, Japan. As a professionally-trained Sushi Institute of America chef, his advanced culinary training built a sturdy foundation that emphasized traditional sushi and Japanese cuisine.


April Torzewski

is a wine industry representative for Cat and Fiddle Beverage. She has a rich background of experience, having worked with wine on the retail, winery and now the wholesale side. She leads introductory wine appreciation classes around the metro area, and is known for her dynamic and fun personality.


Nathan Utsch

is co-owner of Revé 324 in Stillwater. After completing culinary school, he worked as head chef for many years at The Dock Restaurant. There he met his future business partner and the dream of Revé 324 was born.


Rachel Wille

is a celebrated cake designer at Fresh Fields Bakery and Café. She is a graduate of Johnson Wales University in Colorado, and has an innate eye for detail. To Rachel, cake decorating is not a hobby or a job – it’s who she is. Fresh Fields was voted Bride’s Choice by Wedding Wire in 2009.


Jeff Woodward

is one of the premier natural foods cooking teachers in the United States. For 26 years, he has presented his unique approach to creating joy and vitality through high-quality food, and has lectured at conventions, corporations, and health care clinics around the U.S. and Canada.


Terry John Zila

has fifteen years in the restaurant industry in a wide variety of cooking styles, which he uses to create fail-proof recipes geared to the home cook. He operates johnjeanjuan, a wedding cake and special occasion dessert business, and is also a Master Gardener, a member of the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals), and a regular food and entertaining contributor to KSTP-AM 1500 Talk Radio.