About the Chefs
Chefs' Holidays Session 4

Sara Moulton is one of the most trusted names in the food biz.  As the host of “Cooking Live,” “Cooking Live Primetime,” and “Sara’s Secrets” between 1996 and 2005, she was a founding Food Network personality. 

She’s been Food Editor of ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” since 1997.  In the spring of 2008, she hosted “Sara’s Weeknight Meals” for public television.  Sara was Gourmet’s executive chef from 1987 until the magazine was shuttered in October of 2009.  She is the author of Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals and Sara Moulton Cooks at Home.  Her next cookbook, Sara’s Everyday Family Dinners, will be published by Simon & Schuster in the spring of 2010.  For more info on Sara and recipes, please visit http://www.saramoulton.com/

Brad Farmerie grew up in Pittsburgh in a food-loving family. His mother, an avid home cook, exposed him to a variety of cuisines and insisted on home baked bread and vegetables straight from the family garden.

Farmerie enrolled at Penn State, intent on completing a degree in mechanical engineering. Two years into his studies it became apparent that the cooking he did to pay his tuition was the real source of his collegiate contentment. Thus he took a year-long hiatus from studying the principles of physics to exploring first-hand the cuisines and wines of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Antipodes.

One year turned to seven, and Farmerie's culinary wanderings turned serious when he settled in the UK in 1996, earning a "Grande Diplome" at Le Cordon Bleu. He further rounded out his education and technique at acclaimed restaurants such as Coast, Chez Nico and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. Most influential to his own style was his experience working with Peter Gordon at the Sugar Club in 1996, then assisting Gordon and Anna Hansen in the opening of the critically-acclaimed The Providores and Tapa Room.

In 2003 Farmerie moved back to the States to head up the kitchen of the AvroKO-designed PUBLIC.  There, his creative, global approach was described by the New York Times as one that "swings for the fences with each and every dish" and Michelin awarded the restaurant a coveted star in the 2009 Red Guide.  2006 saw the opening of The Monday Room, a 20-seat wine bar inside of PUBLIC which Farmerie turned into a laboratory for his most creative dishes yet, designed expressly to pair with the Monday Room's eclectic and adventurous wine selections. 

In the fall of 2008, Farmerie extended his culinary reach as executive chef of AvroKO's long-awaited two-in-one project, Double Crown and Madam Geneva, which takes as its inspiration the unique cuisine that emerged when the British colonized the countries of South Asia and the Far East.  Shortly after opening, the restaurant received a 2- (out of 4) star review from the New York Times.

BRAD FARMERIE'S AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Michelin Guide, 2009
The Michelin Guide awarded PUBLIC a star in recognition of Farmerie's "exceptional culinary achievements."  PUBLIC is the only Antipodean-inspired restaurant in New York to receive this honor.

Time Out New York, Eat Out Awards 2009
"Best Return of Fusion" awarded to Double Crown

Food Arts' Emerging Tastemakers, 2006
Farmerie was honored for his pioneering brand of global cuisine, joining an elite group of ten young chefs recognized for "influencing what, where and how we dine out on a national level."

StarChef's "Rising Star Chef Award," 2005
The StarChefs board, made up of twenty of the country's leading chefs, chose Farmerie as a rising star, based on criteria that included creativity, ambition, and exquisite presentation.

Global Magazine Top 50 "Chefs to Watch"
Global Magazine acknowledged Brad Farmerie for his unique cooking style in their "Ones to Watch" issue. Farmerie was noted among 50 chefs that will influence cuisine at a global level.

New Zealand Food and Wine Ambassador, 2006 and 2005
The New Zealand Trade Commission annually selects outstanding culinary professionals to represent their food and wine around the globe. Farmerie was selected along with Scott Bryant of Veritas and Roger Dagorn of Chanterelle.

Executive Chef, The Goat (opening early 2010), Chicago, IL

Experience
In Chicago, my restaurant Scylla and before that sous chef at La Tache, roundsman at Spring, line cook at Vong.  In Phoenix, line cook at Christopher’s Fermier Brasserie and other restaurants. In 2008 I was the winner of Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

Hometown
Born in Evanston, IL but grew up in Stamford, CT.

Education
University of Michigan, with a degree in Sociology, then headed to Arizona, where I attended the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Arizona.

Chicago Love
In a very spur of the moment decision, I decided to just pack up and move to Chicago nine years ago from Phoenix.  It is such a great food town, with a wonderful community of chefs.  I plan on staying here for a long time.

Scylla Seedling
I was working at La Tache and in charge of creating the seafood special every day.  One day a colleague told me I should open my own place, and I thought “wow, he’s right.”  I am a very spur-of-the-moment person, and when I set my mind to something, I go for it 110%.  So I quit and a year later, I was able to open Scylla.  The first time around was a one-woman battle since I was doing everything on my own, so it will be great to be able to have more resources with the next one!

The Goat
It’s definitely going to be representative of my style. There will be a lot of seafood, definitely a lot of pork products and some fun flavor combinations going on. I will take comfort-style foods and just bring them that one step further. It’s going to be a lot of tasty food.

Early Years
Growing up, my parents were very global in their cooking.  Not necessarily gourmet all the time, but every month they would have themed dinner parties where they would cook different cuisines and dress up around a certain country, so I was lucky enough to have a variety of international flavors in my youth.

Light Bulb
When I was younger I played “restaurant” with my friends and family so that I could cook for them.  Although it was always a passion for me I always thought that I should go into business or something, but I kept coming back to my love of cooking.  Finally in my junior year of college I had a long talk with my dad and he said once I graduate I should go to culinary school.  So that is what I did.

Vie, a contemporary seasonal American restaurant with an affinity for local ingredients, gets its name from the French word that means life.  Chef Paul Virant, Chef/Owner of Vie began Vie on founding philosophy that, indeed, food is life and that all of the joys that are experienced around the table – a sense of community, relationships with our loved ones and the connection that we feel with our land, lay the foundation for a full, authentic and abundant life.

 "I wanted to create an extension of my home, where people can come and enjoy good food and drink in the company of people whom they care about. My goal is to be a small part of my guests' enjoyment of every morsel and drop of life."

A career behind the stoves has, indeed, afforded Chef Virant countless opportunities to live this mantra first hand.  The result has been nation-wide acclaim for Vie and industry-wide respect and admiration for this amiable Chef who brings a humility, passion, natural-born talent and genuine excitement, to all that he does. 

Virant's career began, when, after graduating from Wesleyan College with a degree in Nutrition and working in several East Coast kitchens, he enrolled himself in The Culinary Institute of America. After graduation, Virant left the Hudson Valley and moved to the culinary mecca of New York City where he worked under Wayne Nish and Hilary Gregg at March. Two years later, Virant returned to the heartland to work at Charlie Trotter's and later Ambria, Everest and Blackbird. 

After working in so many celebrated kitchens in Chicago, Virant decided that the time was right to strike out on his own. In 2004, he opened Vie in downtown Western Springs, Illinois -- a nearby suburb of Chicago.   Acquiring the first liquor license in the town since Prohibition, and with nothing like it for miles, Virant's unique culinary vision was truly given a chance to shine. The culinary approach at Vie progresses from the freshest, most seasonal ingredients and showcases comforting and approachable flavor profiles that evolve into something that is delightfully unexpected.

Vie and Chef Paul Virant were quickly recognized and lauded by local and national media alike.  Winning three stars apiece from Chicago restaurant reviewers Phil Vettel (The Chicago Tribune) and Pat Bruno (Chicago Sun-Times) and recognized by Food & Wine Magazine as a 2007 Best New Chef, Vie and its proud Chef were on a clear path to living a life-long dream in the making.

Celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2009, Vie continues its mission to promote farm-to-table dining every day, based on the belief that the best quality and most delicious ingredients are locally and sustainably raised. Embracing the Midwestern seasons and utilizing methods of preservation allow guests to always expect a menu that showcases local flavors and ingredients in abundance.