Participating Chefs

	David Blessing Longwood Events, Boston David Blessing leads the culinary team at Longwood Events. He believes in the local bounty of New England, supporting farmers who follow all-natural farming methods. Blessing has revolutionized menu planning by creating and customizing each menu down to every ingredient. He is a 14-year Four Seasons veteran and oversaw 27 Whole Foods locations.
	Christopher Coombs Deuxave Christopher Coombs, executive chef and owner at Deuxave in the Back Bay, took his first restaurant job at 11, washing dishes at a seafood restaurant on the North Shore of Boston. He went on to study at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He honed his skills at many restaurants in the Boston area and, during his 18-month tenure at The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, prepared dinners for First Lady Laura Bush at The White House. At Deuxave, Coombs’s menus feature cuisine that is fresh, local, and seasonally inspired. He recently opened the casual yet refined Boston Chops steak bistro in the South End.
	Dante de Magistris Restaurant dante, il Casale Dante de Magistris is the executive chef and co-owner of Restaurant dante in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as il Casale in Belmont, Massachusetts. Dante cultivated his culinary skills while traveling along Italy’s famed Amalfi Coast, and brought his love for the region’s cooking back to the United States where he opened restaurant dante. De Magistris works alongside his brothers in the kitchen to create fresh twists on Italian classics that have earned his establishment a coveted spot in Bon Appetit’s “Hot 10 Restaurants,” among other honors. The James Beard Award-nominee also creates family recipe-inspired dishes at il Casale, serving Italian comfort food reminiscent of his grandmother’s old-world traditions.
	Mary Dumont Harvest A New Hampshire native, Mary Dumont grew up in a family of restaurateurs. After college, she trained under such culinary talents as Traci Des Jardins of San Francisco's Jardiniere, Laurent Manrique of Campton Place, and Daniel Patterson of Elizabeth Daniel. Dumont was the opening chef at The Dunaway Restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she was honored by Food & Wine magazine as a "Best New Chef" of 2006. In 2007, she became the executive chef of Harvest in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dumont competed in the third season of The Next Iron Chef, which aired October 3, 2010, and also appeared on Iron Chef America, battling against Cat Cora in 2006.
	Rich Garcia Renaissance Hotel Richard Garcia is the executive chef of 606 Congress in Boston. Garcia entered the food industry at the age of 12, working at a neighborhood bakery in Quincy, MA, before joining the Marine Corps as a Food Service Specialist. Garcia brought his ideas and flavors to many award-winning restaurants before he signed on as executive chef of 606 Congress in 2010. At 606 Congress, he uses the finest ingredients to create modern farm cuisine dishes that boast regional influences. The James Beard Foundation member was recognized by Star Chefs as one of Boston’s Rising Star Chefs and received the Sustainability Award for his dedication and contribution to sustainable culinary practices.
	Will Gilson Puritan & Co. Will Gilson’s farm-to-table cooking is rooted in his work at The Herb Lyceum at Gilson’s, the restaurant on his family’s farm in Groton, Massachusetts. Gilson was only 17 when he began cooking there, and the experience served as an inspiration for his current restaurant, Puritan & Company—a refined yet rustic neighborhood eatery in Cambridge’s Inman Square featuring farmers’ market fare. Gilson began making a name for himself in the Boston area in 2007, when he opened the Garden at the Cellar in Cambridge. He left in 2011 to launch a series of successful restaurant ventures, including Eat at Adrian’s, located on Cape Cod.
	Andy Husbands Tremont 647 Andy Husbands is the executive chef and owner of Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel, both located in the heart of Boston’s South End neighborhood. After travelling across the country and exploring the West Coast by motorcycle, Husbands was inspired to make bold choices in both his life and his cooking. He is no stranger to the spotlight, having appeared on season six of FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen” as well as on local television stations promoting his book, The Fearless Chef, published in 2009. Husbands’ cooking reflects his commitment to incorporating locally grown ingredients to add freshness and seasonal flavors to his menus.
	William Kovel Catalyst William Kovel is the executive chef and owner of Catalyst Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Before settling in Boston, Kovel’s culinary career took him overseas as well as to the West Coast, sparking his passion for food with simple flavors cultivated in Californian and European techniques. After his tenure working as the executive chef at the Four Seasons’ French restaurant, Aujourd’hui, and being named one of Boston Magazine’s talented “Chefs to Watch,” Kovel opened Catalyst in 2011. The establishment pays tribute to Kovel’s love of sustainable, fresh foods, and offers American cuisine with French influences.
	Tony Maws Craigie on Main Tony Maws’s ideology—that local, seasonal and sustainably sourced ingredients are intrinsically better—fuels his culinary creations. He combines Parisian “slow-food” cooking philosophy with ingredients from New England. He has been named one of America’s top 10 new chefs by Food & Wine magazine and Boston’s best chef by Boston Magazine. Maws has appeared on NBC’s Today Show and Fox News. At Craigie on Main, the Cambridge restaurant that opened in 2008, Maws’s earthy side and his mad-scientist side combine to create a menu best described as “refined rusticity.” Craige on Main is a newer, more spacious incarnation of Craigie Street Bistro, Maws’s first labor-of-love which opened in 2002 on Massachusetts Avenue.
	Mark Sapienza Cafe Fleuri, Langham Hotel Mark Sapienza is the executive chef of The Langham, Boston, overseeing award-winning culinary endeavors at Café Fleuri, BOND restaurant and lounge, Saturday Chocolate Bar, and Sunday Jazz Brunch. Sapienza spent time working at the world-renowned Claridge’s hotel in London, England, before returning to Boston to become executive sous chef for the Boston Harbor Hotel, a five-star property. He has received numerous accolades from colleagues and food critics, including an invitation to present a dinner at the James Beard House in New York. Sapienza passion lies in marrying seasonal New England ingredients with modern French cooking.
	Robert Sisca Bistro du Midi Robert Sisca is the executive chef of Bistro du Midi, in Boston’s Back Bay. Sisca was most recently a sous chef at Le Bernardin, where he helped the restaurant earn a coveted three stars from Michelin and four stars from the New York Times. A graduate of Johnson & Wales, Sisca worked his way through New England, including Gracie’s in Providence and Bosun’s Bistro in Nantucket. Next in his native New York, first at One if By Land, Two if By Sea and then on to Le Bernardin with Eric Ripert. At Bistro du Midi Sisca celebrates the food of Provence, also know as the Midi Region. The menu reflects authentic Provençal style cuisine, ingredient-driven and complemented by tradition and technique.
	Brooke Vosika Bristol Lounge, Four Seasons Brooke Vosika is the executive chef at the Bristol Lounge and Four Seasons Hotel Boston. Vosika’s culinary career began as a line cook at Four Seasons Washington, DC. And during his record 29 years with the company, he has worked at Four Seasons Hotels in Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, and New York before assuming his current position in Boston. The James Beard Foundation award winner has cooked for Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Bush, and his dish earned the title of “Boston’s Best Burger” by Boston Magazine. Vosika’s love of local, artisan products contributes to a memorable culinary and dining experience.

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