CHEF DEMOS

Saturday, October 13, 2012 | Noon – 4pm

 

BELINDA LEONG

Pastry Chef, b. patisserie

Pastry chef Belinda Leong is a native of San Francisco with nearly fourteen years of international, professional pastry experience at some of the world’s finest restaurants and patisseries. After completing a culinary internship with the newly opened Restaurant Gary Danko, she soon discovered her passion for desserts, and after a year was named Executive Pastry Chef, where she developed her skills during the following eight years.

 

MICHEL SUAS  

Founder, San Francisco Baking Institute

Michel Suas is internationally recognized as an industry expert and thought leader, and is a strong advocate of using education to advance the appreciation and craft of artisan baking. The Bread Bakers’ Guild of America awarded Michel their Golden Baguette in recognition of his enormous contributions to the Guild and the artisan baking industry. The Bread Project named Michel an honorary life member in recognition of his guidance and support.

 

STUART BRIOZA

Executive Chef, State Bird Provisions

Native Californian, Stuart Brioza is a Chef/Owner of the innovative & soulful restaurant State Bird Provisions which opened in San Francisco, early 2012.

 

 

 

JUSTIN SIMONEAUX

Executive Chef, Boxing Room

As Executive Chef of Boxing Room, Justin Simoneaux couples traditional techniques and recipes with seasonal Northern California ingredients for lunch, dinner, and brunch menus.  In 2007, Simoneaux joined Coco500 as sous-chef, working with Chef Loretta Keller, where he remained one year before she hired him to open The Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences in 2008 as her chef-de-cuisine. While he was there, the restaurant received three stars from Michael Bauer at the San Francisco Chronicle, and was featured in the publication’s “Top 100 Restaurants” list in 2009. He was also named a San Francisco Chronicle 2009 “Rising Star Chef.”

 

ANTHONY STRONG

Chef, Locanda

Anthony Strong, might be known for his way with Italian cooking, but like many chefs, he cut his teeth on French technique. The Iowa native went to New York City to work at chef Eric Ripert’s world-renowned Le Bernardin where he learned discipline and refined techniques.  Today, Strong serves as Executive Chef of Locanda. After spending the summer of 2010 on a trip to Rome, Strong took the deep-dive into the cuisine, including Quinto Quarto (or offal) dishes, liberal doses of black pepper and guanciale and of course, the ancient city’s famous pastas such as bucatini all’amatriciana and spaghetti carbonara. Strong has just been awarded Rising Star Chef 2012 by the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

 

PREETI MISTRY

Chef/Owner, Juhu Beach Club

Preeti was born in London and raised in the US.  She is the chef/owner of Juhu Beach Club, a restaurant serving New Indian Street Food that started as a pop-up and will be opening a permanent location this fall in the Mission.  Prior to Juhu Beach Club, Preeti held Executive Chef roles at the de Young Museum, the Legion of Honor and Google HQ and was a contestant on Top Chef Season Six.

 

 

JODI LIANO

Co-Founder and Head Recreational Instructor, San Francisco Cooking School 

Prior to founding SFCS, Jodi was a lead cooking teacher at Tante Marie’s Cooking School where she worked for 14 years. She is also a veteran of food media with experience ranging from working the kitchens of the Food Network in New York to recipe development for Bon Appetit to writing multiple cookbooks for Williams-Sonoma, including the popular “Cooking from the Farmers’ Market”. Her latest book, “Panini”, will be released in March 2013, published for Williams-Sonoma.

Jodi is thrilled to be realizing her dream of operating a cooking school in San Francisco. Over 15 years ago, Jodi was a recruiting executive who switched careers after returning home from a one-week cooking vacation in Italy with Giuliano Bugialli. She remembers the decision to “go back to school” quite well to become a culinary student, so she’s very excited to introduce a new certificate program designed for aspiring food professionals who demand a challenging educational experience that will prepare them for today’s food business. Jodi can be found on Twitter @cookingteach.