For Ryan Clark, executive chef at Tucson’s Casino Del Sol, playing a central role in fostering a burgeoning cuisine scene in the Southern Arizona city is a driving force that carries through to his work at the large casino-resort that employs him.
Being the executive banquet chef at Pechanga Resort & Casino is a study in flexibility, from executing a chocolate and wine festival in time for Valentine’s Day to summertime chili cook-offs or catering to 1,500 hungry leathernecks for the annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball, where chicken and lots and lots of sirloin are the menu items du jour for “First to Fight.”
Born in Chicago to Ecuadorian parents, Jose Garces got his early culinary chops in Spain and New York City. In 2001, he moved to Philadelphia, where in 2005 Amada, named for his grandmother, was his first venture.
A global dining capital, New York City truly stands above the rest when it comes to cutting-edge cuisine with roots that extend throughout the world. A good case in point is Mina Newman, who is of Peruvian descent and serves as the executive chef of The Edison Ballroom and new restaurant Sen Sakana, where she collaborates with Osaka, Japan native Taku Nagai to celebrate Peruvian-Japanese cuisine.
Growing up in a small town outside Frankfurt, Germany, Julian Scheibel treasured the hours he spent with his grandmother, exploring the forest and together collecting porcini and chanterelle mushrooms they’d later sell at the local market.
One may not associate the rich culinary traditions of India with Texan cuisine, but Revolve Kitchen + Bar, in Houston’s Hotel Derek, is capitalizing on both via the talents of its new executive chef as well as the city’s standing of having the largest Indian population of any U.S. city outside of New York (as well as with its Korean population).
Hailing from Nairobi, Kenya, and able to speak seven languages, Allan Wambaa, executive chef of Aramark’s pacificwild catering at Portland, Ore.’s Oregon Convention Center, is fluent in cuisine on a truly international level.
