CELEBRITY GUESTS

José Andrés

José Andrés is an internationally recognized culinary innovator best known for bringing both traditional and avant-garde Spanish fare to America.

José is chef / owner of THINKfoodGROUP, the creative team responsible for some of Washington’s favorite dining concepts: Café Atlantico, Jaleo, Zaytinya, Oyamel and the critically acclaimed minibar by josé andrés. In 2008, José and THINKfoodGROUP partnered with SBE Hotels and designer Phillippe Starck to create The Bazaar at the new SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, a luxury hotel brand built around the food and beverage concepts.

Andrés is the host of José: Made in Spain, the PBS television series focusing on Spain’s wine, food and travel and author of the companion book, as well as Tapas: a Taste of Spain in America.

In 2007, José was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, by the James Beard Foundation joining only 191 members for this prestigious recognition. In 2004 alone, Bon Appetit magazine named José Chef of the Year, Food & Wine included José in their 35 under 35 Tastemakers list and Saveur included José on their Saveur 100 list. In 2003, José won the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of the Mid-Atlantic Region.

For many Americans the exuberant Spaniard is Mr. Spain thanks to frequent spots on NBC’s TODAY Show, his victory on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America and his appearance on CBS’s the Late Show with David Letterman. On PBS, José has been profiled on Chef’s Story, Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie and Bittman Takes on America’s Chefs. José has also appeared in major national media such as NPR’s All Things Considered, Food Arts, USA Today, FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace and Gourmet.

José lives in Maryland with his wife and three daughters.

Anthony Bourdain

Born in 1956, Anthony Bourdain attended Vassar College and graduated from the world-renowned Culinary Institute of America in 1978. For the next 20 years, he worked in, and then began running, kitchens in New York restaurants such as Supper Club, One Fifth Avenue, and Sullivan’s. He was chefing at Brasserie Les Halles in 1999 when The New Yorker published his tell-all article, Don’t Eat Before Reading This, about the seamier side of New York’s restaurant kitchens, to incredible reviews. His full-length book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, soon followed, and his life hasn’t been the same since.

In 2002, he debuted on the Food Network with A Cook’s Tour, which became a 22-episode series featuring Bourdain circling the globe and feeding his adventure eating habit with the most extreme cuisine the world had to offer. In 2005, he moved to The Travel Channel with his current show, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

His writings have been published in The Times, New York Times, Observer, the Face, and he is an ongoing contributor and authority for Food Arts magazine. Bourdain was named Food Writer of the Year in 2001 by Bon Appétit magazine, for Kitchen Confidential. A Cook's Tour was named Food Book of the Year in 2002 by the British Guild of Food Writers. The Beirut episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, which he filmed during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007. His blog for the reality competition show Top Chef was nominated for a Webby Award in 2008.

Bourdain’s fictional works include Gone Bamboo (1997), Bone in the Throat (1995) and The Bobby gold Stories (2001). Other works include Tyhoid Mary (2005), Les Halles Cookbook (2004), The Nasty Bits (2006), and No Reservations (2007).

Bourdain and his wife Ottavia Busia live in New York with their three-year-old daughter Ariana.

Ted Allen

Emmy Award winner Ted Allen is host of Chopped a primetime series on Food Network. He was a judge on the first four seasons of Bravo’s Top Chef and Food Network’s Iron Chef America, and was the food and wine specialist on the groundbreaking, Emmy-winning Bravo series Queer Eye which had a 99-episode run. He is author of The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes, a cookbook that features easy, all-natural recipes.

Allen co-wrote the New York Times Best Seller Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five’s Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better.

Since 1997, Allen has been a contributing editor to Esquire magazine, where he writes about food, wine, style and everything else the American man needs to know. He was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his Esquire feature on the little-known phenomenon of male breast cancer. He also writes for such publications as Bon Appétit and Epicurious.com. Before joining Esquire, Allen was a senior editor and restaurant critic at Chicago magazine.

Ted holds an M.A. in journalism from New York University, with an advanced certificate in the school’s Science and Environmental Reporting Program, and a B.A. in psychology from Purdue University. He lives in New York with his longtime partner, Barry Rice.

Ted Leonsis

After surviving an airplane crash landing in 1983, Ted Leonsis drafted a list of 101 things to do in life. One of them was owning a sports franchise, a promise he has kept as majority owner of the NHL’s Washington Capitals. Through his company, Lincoln Holdings, he also has ownership stakes in the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the Verizon Center and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster franchise.

Before retiring in 2006, Leonsis spent 13 years with AOL after they acquired his company, Redgate Communications. He now serves as vice chairman emeritus of AOL. Other business interests include Clearspring Technologies and Revolution Money.

Leonsis has become involved in film investing as a philanthropic interest, which he calls "filmanthropy". "The driver of filmanthropy is that the world is more screwed up every day and people want to call attention to issues," he told the Financial Times. His first production was the documentary Nanking which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. In 2008, Leonsis produced Kicking It, a documentary about the 2006 Homeless World Cup, featuring homeless athletes from Afghanistan, Kenya, Ireland, the U.S., Spain and Russia. He is also chairman of SnagFilms, a social media website that lets viewers watch and share documentary films.

Leonsis is a contributor and an active participant in a number of charities. In addition to his support of DC Central Kitchen, he gives back to his community through Hoop Dreams, Best Buddies, the See Forever Foundation and YouthAIDS, as well as through his own Leonsis Foundation. He sits on the Board of his alma mater, Georgetown University. Leonsis was named Businessperson of the Year in 2001 by Washington Business Journal and Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian.

Eric Ripert

Antibes-born chef Eric Ripert first learned to cook from his mother and grandmother, who inspired him to start his formal culinary education at the age of only 15. His first job out of school was at La Tour d'Argent, the famous Parisian restaurant founded in 1582. From there, he moved on to Jamin with Joël Robuchon. In the late ‘80s, he came to Washington for the first time to join Jean-Louis Palladin at Jean-Louis, a transition he described as "leaving Catholic school for Woodstock." Then on to New York and Le Bernardin, where he became Executive Chef in 1994 and co-owner in 1996. Under his leadership, the restaurant earned a four-star rating from the New York Times, and became one of only four Big Apple restaurants to be awarded the maximum 3 Michelin stars for excellence in cuisine.

Ripert has lent his name, talents, and several members of his team to the Ritz-Carlton’s Blue and Periwinkle on Grand Cayman, which were the first restaurants to bear his name. In 2007, he added DC’s Westend Bistro at the Foggy Bottom Ritz-Carlton, followed in 2008 by 10 Arts in Philadelphia.

Ripert has made many guest appearances on cooking-based television shows, including four seasons of Bravo's Top Chef. He is the author of Le Bernardin Cookbook (co-authored with Maguy Le Coze), A Return to Cooking (with Michael Ruhlman) and On the Line: The Stations, the Heat, the Cooks, the Costs, the Chaos, and the Triumphs (with Christine Muhlke).

His awards include 1994 Best Restaurant in America (GQ), Best Food in New York City, 2000-2007 (Zagat), multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, including 1998 Outstanding Restaurant of the Year, 1998 Top Chef in New York City, 1999 Outstanding Service Award, 2003 Outstanding Chef of the Year and Gayot’s Top 40 Restaurants in the US 2004-2008.

In addition to his support of DC Central Kitchen, Ripert is the Chair of City Harvest’s Food Council in New York and is President of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation. For the past three years, Le Bernadin has hosted the Tibetan Aid Project's Taste & Tribute New York benefit dinner.

When not in the kitchen, Ripert enjoys good tequila and peace and quiet. He lives on the Upper East Side and Sag Harbor with his wife Sandra and their young son Adrien.

Carla Hall

Carla Hall, the Howard accounting major turned model (Paris, Milan, London) turned chef, took a summer off from her Silver Spring catering company to compete as one of 17 contestants on Season 5 of Bravo's popular Top Chef, where she made D.C. proud, cooking her way into the final three.

Her first business venture was called The Lunch Bunch, a catering business that targeted the African-American community, showing her customers that they could enjoy great food without using beef or pork. After four years of self-study she enrolled in, and is a graduate of, L’Academie de Cuisine. In 1996 Hall served an externship at the Henley Park Hotel, then joined a sister hotel, The State Plaza, as Executive Chef. She then moved to The Washington Club, a private social club, as Director/Executive Chef.

In 2003, Hall started her own catering/private chef/culinary instruction company – Alchemy Caterers, which she now hopes to expand with a downtown kitchen with catering in the back, flex space in the front for a chef’s table and classes, and some retail space for her Sweet and Savory Petite cookies. A restaurant? No, "but if I could have my druthers, I would have people come in and do a tasting with me. I'd tell them when they could come and I'd tell them what they’re gonna eat. That's the perfect world, right?!"

Hall’s food balances the heart and soul of the South and the refinement of her classic French training. She enjoys creating memorable comfort dishes with fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. She approaches each event as an opportunity to make a connection with the client and change the way they experience food. She firmly believes "If you're not in a good mood, the only thing you should make is a reservation."

Jonathan Umbel

In 2007, Jonathan Umbel launched Pure Hospitality in Washington DC’s influential and social Georgetown neighborhood. True to its name, Pure Hospitality’s focus is just that - pure, simple and consistent, with the highest quality ingredients.

At both Pure Hospitality restaurants, the side-by-side Hook and Tackle Box, Umbel and his partners offer delicious food with precision and great service. Both restaurants have garnered accolades from The Washington Post as well as praise for their dedication to local sourcing, sustainable seafood and the community. Example: last year, Hook’s menu featured 68 different species of fish!

Hook is also the recipient of the 2008 National Restaurant Association Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year award and received a Seafood Champion Award from Seafood Choices Alliance.

After college in 1985, Umbel began his hospitality industry career working for restaurant groups in the Mid-Atlantic region, rising to Vice President of Operations for Boston Market, where he directed the opening of over 175 quick service units and managed over 50 restaurants. From there, he moved on to Tuscan Oven, with Italian trattoria-style projects, and then to CBH Consulting Group, overseeing a group of boutique fine dining restaurants. Pouring passion, dedication and energy into each endeavor, his focus consistently produced the highest level of service in his restaurants. Taking a break from multi-unit operations, he developed management teams at various concepts in New York City before coming to DC.

Keep a look out for future projects for Georgetown and the District for new ventures, powered by Umbel’s never-ending sense of dedication and creativity.