San Francisco Bay Area Chefs Name Rising Talent

Chefs California

Michael Tusk (right) was one of five Bay Area chefs who identified upcoming culinary talent.

STORY CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Casey Thompson (Aveline + The European)

I have two in my kitchen right now who are amazing and destined for greatness. One of them is my sous chef, Blake Askew. He’s amazing, and he works very hard. We actually worked together at another restaurant and then went full-circle and met each other again to do this project. The other is Kaley Laird, who is my pastry chef. She is super, uber-creative. She’s amazing, and she’s destined for greatness. She’s young, and I’m going to do everything in my power to get her where she wants to go.

Michael Tusk (Quince + Cotogna)

In the past, I like a guy named Brandon Jew from Bar Agricole. There are a lot of different people. I have a hard time selecting one. Mindy Bebe, who’s here tonight, does a lot of the chocolate work and is one of the pastry chefs at the restaurant. Not the executive pastry chef, but right below that level. She’s definitely destined to have an amazing career. Super talented.

In the future, Johnny Black, definitely. He’s run my kitchen as chef de cuisine, and his two lieutenants, executive sous chef Adrian Garcia and Neil Stetz, they all work together as a great team. They’re all going to have super bright futures, without a doubt.

Tags:

Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

Leave a Comment