James Beard Award–winning chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are the owners of Joint Venture Restaurant Group, which includes animal, Son of a Gun, Jon & Vinny’s Fairfax, Jon & Vinny’s Brentwood, helen’s, Trois Mec, Petit Trois, Petit Trois le Valley, Kismet, and Kismet Rotisserie. The duo has been credited with innovating and changing the dining scene in Los Angeles through their roster of critically-acclaimed restaurants. Their partnership began over a decade ago when they met in culinary school at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. While at school, they worked for Michelle Bernstein at The Strand and Mark’s Place by Mark Militell. After graduation, they traveled west and worked at The Wildflower in Vail, CO. In 2002, they landed in Los Angeles and worked at Chadwick for Benjamin Ford and Govind Armstrong, which would inspire them to launch their initial catering company, Carmelized Productions.

Shook and Dotolo have received many nominations and awards including Food & Wine’s 2009 “Best New Chef,” StarChefs’ 2008 “Rising Star Chef,’ and nine James Beard nominations including 2009’s “Best New Restaurant” for animal, 2011’s “Best Chef Pacific,” 2015’s “Best New Restaurant” for Petit Trois, “Outstanding Restaurant Design” for Jon & Vinny’s in 2016 and for Kismet in 2017, and “Best Chef West” in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. The duo took home their first jointly won James Beard Award in 2016 for “Best Chef West.”

Michael Solomonov is the executive chef and co-owner of Philadelphia’s pioneering Israeli restaurant, Zahav, and the co-author of three cookbooks. He is the 2011 James Beard Award winner for “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic,” a 2016 James Beard Award winner for “Best International Cookbook” and “Book of the Year” for his and business partner/co-author Steven Cook’s first cookbook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, and the 2017 James Beard Award’s “Outstanding Chef.” In 2018, Zahav was recognized by Food & Wine Magazine as one of “The 40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years.” In May of 2019, Zahav was awarded “Outstanding Restaurant” by the James Beard Award Foundation.

In addition to his duties at Zahav, Chef Solomonov co-owns Philadelphia’s Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Abe Fisher, and Goldie. In 2019, Solomonov brought another slice of Israeli food culture to Philadelphia with K’Far, an Israeli bakery & café, and Merkaz, an Israeli pita sandwich shop. In 2020, the pair opened Laser Wolf, an Israeli shipudiya restaurant in Philadelphia. Since 2017, Solomonov and the Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) are partners in championing Israel’s extraordinarily diverse and vibrant culinary landscape.

Chef Thomas Keller is renowned for his culinary skills and high standards. He has established a collection of restaurants that sets a new paradigm within the hospitality profession. Now celebrating its twenty-fifth year, Keller took ownership of The French Laundry in Yountville, CA and quickly garnered worldwide acclaim. His restaurants also include Bouchon Bistro, with locations in Yountville and Las Vegas; Per Se in New York City; Ad Hoc + addendum in Yountville; The Surf Club Restaurant in Surfside, FL; Bouchon Bakeries in Yountville, New York, Las Vegas and in the Middle East; and the Mexican eatery La Calenda in Yountville. Keller’s most recent restaurant TAK Room, celebrates Continental Cuisine and serves an iconic menu from America’s history. He is the first and only American-born chef to hold multiple three-star ratings from the prestigious Michelin Guide, as well as the first American male chef to be designated a Chevalier of The French Legion of Honor. He has received countless accolades, including The Culinary Institute of America’s “Chef of the Year” Award and the James Beard Foundation’s “Outstanding Chef” and “Outstanding Restaurateur” Awards. In 2017, Keller led a team from the United States to its first-ever gold medal in the Bocuse d’Or, a prestigious biannual competition that is regarded as the Olympics of the culinary world. For embodying the state’s spirit of innovation, he was inducted into the 2018 California Hall of Fame, and in June 2019, Keller became the first USA inductee into the oldest savory chef association in the world, The Master Chefs of France. He is the author of five cookbooks, with more than 1.3 million copies in circulation.

Celebrated chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Missy Robbins is recognized for the exemplary Italian cuisine on display at her two Williamsburg restaurants – Lilia and Misi – both of which have received three stars from The New York Times. Since opening Lilia in 2016, Robbins has become known for her passionate cooking and warm hospitality. As a result, both Misi and Lilia have quickly become distinguished restaurants within the Williamsburg community which Robbins now calls home. In 2018, she was recognized nationally by the James Beard Foundation as Best Chef New York City, for which she was named a finalist in the year prior. Following the success of her first cookbook, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner…Life! Recipes and Adventures from My Home Kitchen, Robbins is set to release Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy’s Greatest Food in October of this year. Prior to opening her own restaurants, Robbins spent five years as the executive chef of Michelin starred restaurant, A Voce, where she focused on developing her personal style of cooking. Before that, she honed her craft for five years in Chicago as the executive chef of Spiaggia and Café Spiaggia, which completely immersed her in cuisine and culture of fine dining Italian restaurants. Early in her career, Robbins spent many years training under critically acclaimed chefs in New York City, but her love of Italian culture began when she embarked on an excursion to Northern Italy. She worked in several kitchens, from family-run rustic trattorias to Michelin-rated restaurants, and grew intimate with the country’s products and cooking. Robbins quickly developed a long-lasting admiration for the simplicity, regional inspiration and innate focus on quality ingredients that characterize Italian food. She continues to highlight these characteristics at both Misi and Lilia today.