Sissy Sonnleitner & Sissy Sonnleitner Restaurant
Chef Biography Sissy Sonnleitner was born in 1953 as the youngest of four daughters to the innkeeper couple, Elisabeth & Herbert Rainer, in Mauthen. As a teenager, she had no ambitions to keep the family tradition, but in 1978, with her three older sisters departing, she and her husband Kurt, ran the "Inn Basement Wall". By 1982, she [...]
Suzana Davila & Cafe Poca Cosa – Tucson, AZ
Chef Biography Suzana Davila was born in Guaymas, Sonora, in northern Mexico, where her father Luis Davila owned and operated the first drive-in restaurant. He advised his daughter not to get involved in the restaurant business, too much work and long hours. In the 1980's, she found herself in Tucson as a model (think Calvin Klein) and [...]
Olivier Ramos & Barcelo’s Formentor
Chef Biography Olivier Ramos was born in France, and started out as a waiter in Provence while going to school, from 1986 to 1990 while he apprenticed and began climbing the culinary ladder in the south of France from Le Petit Nice in Marseille, to the Hotel Majestic in Cannes as commis de cuisine in the late 1980s. In [...]
Mark Hetzel & Moon Rabbit Foods
Chef Biography Mark Hetzel attended the CIA in 1980 under the watchful eye of Chef Albert Kumin, and after graduation in 1981, he went to Paris to apprentice at Lenôtre. He later returned to the United States as pastry chef at the Four Seasons Inn on the Park in Houston, Texas. Rockefeller's Rock Resorts then hired [...]
Helmut Lengauer & Hotel Sacher
Chef Biography Helmut Lengauer was born in 1961 in Scheibbs, Austria. Following school in 1976, he went to train in Baden, and apprenticed from 1978-1983 in Gostling and Neuhofen, receiving his certificate as pastry chef in 1983. In 1984 he worked at Blaschke in Traiskirchen before moving to Vienna. In 1985, he was invited to [...]
Scott Williams
Chef Biography Scott Williams was born in April of 1968 in London, and did his schooling and apprenticeships at Wollaston Comprehensive School and Northhampton College. His first job was commis chef at the Capitol Hotel (1987-89); then chef de partie at Hambleton Hall (1989-91); pastry chef at Feathers Hotel (1991-93); sous chef at Criterian Restaurant Piccadilly (1993-95); and [...]
Michael Kornick & MK The Restaurant – Chicago
Chef Biography Born in the Midwest, Michael Kornick started his own catering company at age 16, graduated from the Culinary Institute in 1982, and apprenticed at the Quilted Giraffe in New York City, then went on to become executive sous chef at the Windsor Court in New Orleans. He then moved back to Chicago to revitalize Gordon's [...]
Tom B. H. Wong & CIA – Greystone
Chef Biography After graduating from school in Hawaii in 1979, Tom Wong joined the U.S. Air Force. Upon his discharge in 1983, he worked as a baker at the Napoleon Bakery, and Dot's Inn in 1984, while obtaining his Culinary Arts Certificate from Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu. In 1985, he attended the CIA and [...]
Jean-Pascal Bodevier & Le Blue Bay
Chef Biography Pascal Bodevier was working as sous chef in the kitchens of the Majestic Hotel in Cannes, France, when the television crew of Great Chefs showed up to tape the executive chef, Bruno Oger, in the summer of 1998. When Chef Oger's wife was rushed to the hospital, rather than canceling the filming, Chef [...]
G. Scott Philip & Hurricane Café / Juno Beach, FL
Chef Biography Scott Philip was born and raised in Kansas City, and knew when he was in high school that he wanted to be a chef. He went to the CIA, and while there he won a gold medal in the Taste of Canada Culinary competition. After graduation in 1985, he worked in hotels in [...]
