WINNER!: Diane DiMeo
Age: 42
Title/Job: Chef for Red Box – supper club
Location: Brooklyn, NY
I've been cooking professionally for about 22 years. It started off when I first moved to NY from LA when I had just turned 21. I thought I'd become a model. So I got a job as a manager at a restaurant and within a week I fired the cook because he was drunk and was being obscene. I took over the dinner service. I always lived on the edge. That was my first introduction and after being in the managing side of things for a couple of years, I decided that I wanted to be in the kitchen. So I moved back to my parents' ranch in LA. It has about 3000 fruit trees with all kinds of varieties of fruits. We sold them to top restaurants all over LA. So I started getting involved with chefs and started foraging for restaurants. I'd go to the greenmarkets and getting them the freshest produce. Then I came back to NY and worked at different restaurants and opened my own espresso bar in Carol Gardens, BK. Sold it and eventually opened up my own restaurant in Brooklyn and built up a following. And now I invite these people to my dinner parties.
Simon Lange
Age: 27
Title/Job: Executive Chef of Apartment 138
Location: Brooklyn, NY
I’m from Key West. I started washing dishes at 13 when my older brother who worked in a restaurant needed help. I was in and out of restaurants for a couple of years and got back into it in high school. I went to college for a little while, and still had a couple of restaurant jobs at different restaurants. I ended up getting my foot in the door cooking at a place in Key West called 915. Martha Hubbard was the chef and she opened up my passion for cooking. About four years ago I decided to expand my resume and come up to NY. I got a job at a restaurant in Park Slope as a sous chef for a year. Eventually I became the chef at another restaurant and it was really hard work, but I did well and after 8 months I was offered a partnership in the restaurant, and I’m still here – I’m stuck now.
Amitzur Mor
Age: 36
Title/Job: Executive Cher, VU Hotel
Location: New York, NY
I was always interested in food. In high school I loved skateboarding and surfing and needed to find a job to support my hobbies. So I started working at Pizza Hut and Burger King in Israel and discovered that I enjoyed being around food. When I was doing service in the army, sometimes we couldn't bring a chef with us so I started cooking. They told me not to leave the kitchen. After the army, I went to law school. But I didn't enjoy it so my friends pushed me into turning my love of cooking into a profession. After 3 weeks in culinary school, I knew it was my calling. After graduating, I worked in two of the top restaurants. The first was French Middle Eastern techniques and the second was a small restaurant with super high quality for food. The chef told me to go abroad to learn more, so I went to NY and worked at Gramercy Tavern, Bouley, Payard for five and a half years, and then I decided to go away from fine cooking and make some more money. I went to work at another French restaurant and then I was offered the executive chef position at the VU hotel. Meanwhile, I'm doing consulting work.
Rory O'Farrell
Age: 32
Title/Job: Executive Chef at Ayza Wine and Chocolate Bar
Location: New York, NY
Growing up, I had a passion for cooking. I was always in the kitchen during the holidays with my family, and just kept going with it. It was strange initially, because no one else in the family has gone this route, but it was definitely supported by my mom and the rest of my family.
When I was twelve, my dad decided to buy a boat and go to Canada on a trip. While we were on the boat, I somehow fell into the role of making sure everyone had something to eat, and it snowballed from there. It felt right and so I struck with it and went on to culinary school upstate and finished some classes at ICE and just got into the field from there with the guys from Blue Ribbon. After that I worked at Clementine, Citarello, Vento Trattoria and Meet, with positions ranging from saucier to sous chef to pastry chef. I just kept learning from all the great chefs I encountered from then on.
