chefs

Ted Allen, Food and Wine Ambassador for Discover Wine with Robert Mondavi
Rodelio Aglibot, Sunda
Jerome Bacle, Courtright's Restaurant
Jimmy Bannos, Heaven On Seven and The Purple Pig
Jimmy Bannos Jr., The Purple Pig
Rick Bayless, Frontera Grill/Topolobampo/XOCO
Carlyn Berghoff, Berghoff Catering & Restaurant Group
Graham Elliot Bowles, graham elliot
Frank Brunacci, Sixteen
George Bumbaris, Prairie Grass Café/ Prairie Fire
Niall Campbell, Firefly Grill
Gregory Carso, Metropolitan Club
Michael Cisternino, Tavern at the Park
John Coletta, Quartino
Federico Comacchio, Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush
Judy Contino, Bittersweet Pastry Shop and Cafe
Cat Cora, Bon Appétit
Chris Curren, Blue 13 Restaurant & Bar
Christophe David, NoMI
Radhika Desai, English
Stephen Dunne, Paramount
Dirk Flanigan, The Gage/ Henri
Phillip Foss, Lockwood
Jo-Marie Frigo, Nonna Santi's Biscotti
Klaus Fritsch, Morton’s The Steakhouse
Dirk and Terry Fucik, Dirk's Fish and Gourmet Shop
Gale Gand, Tru
Jose Garces, Mercat a la Planxa
Luigi Garcia, RIVA Restaurant
John Gatsos, Tavern on Rush
Carlos Gaytan, Mexique
James Gottwald, Rockit Bar & Grill
Laurent Gras, L20
Koren Grieveson, Avec
Mark Grosz, Oceanique
Kevin Hickey, Four Seasons Hotel
John Hogan, Keefer’s
Sandra Holl, Floriole Bakery
Tony Hu, Lao Szechuan
Brian Huston, The Publican
Stephanie Izard, The Girl & The Goat
Randal Jacobs, Elate 
Paul Kahan, Blackbird
Gene Kato, Japonais
Paul Katz, Harry Caray's Restaurant Group
Bill Kim, Belly Shack
Dian Kochilas, Avli and Pylos
Eddie Lakin, Edzo's Burger Shop
Mariano Lanfranconi, 5411 Empanadas
Bernie Laskowski, Park Grill
Chan Le, Le Colonial
Dale Levitski, Sprout
Joshua Linton, Aja
John Manion, Branch 27
Tony Mantuano, Spiaggia
Shawn McClain, Spring Restaurant Group 
Michael McDonald, One Sixtyblue
Jason McLeod, Balsan at the Elysian Hotel
Nathaniel Meads, Fritz Pastry
Mario Navarro, Gene & Georgetti
Martial Noguier, Café des Architectes
Chris Nugent, Les Nomades
Terry Opalek and Michael Frontier, Terry's Toffee
Chris Pandel, The Bristol
Nicole Pederson, C-House
Ryan Poli, Perennial Restaurant
Tony Priolo, Piccolo Sogno
Toni Roberts, C-House
Thierry Rautureau, Rover's Restaurant
Alain Roby, Hyatt Regency Chicago
Arun Sampanthavivat, Arun’s
Marcus Samuelsson, C-House
Patricio Sandoval, Mercadito
Mario Santiago, May St. Cafe & Catering
Mindy Segal, Hot Chocolate
Alex Shalev, Sola
Jackie Shen, Red Light
Mike Sheerin, Blackbird
Patrick Sheerin, The Signature Room at the 95th
Bruce Sherman, North Pond
Michael Shrader, N9NE Steakhouse
Art Smith, Table fifty-two
Mark Sparacino, Prosecco
Chad Starling, aria
Sarah Stegner, Prairie Grass Café
Todd Stein, Cibo Matto
Giuseppe Tentori, Boka Restaurant
Jacques Torres, Jacques Torres Chocolate
Rick Tramonto, Tramonto's Steak and Seafood/ RT Sushi Bar & Lounge
Jared Van Camp, Old Town Social
Paul Virant, Vie
Randy Waidner, Gibsons Restaurant Group
Carol Wallack, Sola
Stephen Wambach, Epic
Michael Wisner, Zapatista
Takashi Yagihashi, Takashi
Shelley Young, The Chopping Block
Andrew Zimmerman, Sepia
Randy Zweiban, Province

master
sommeliers

Serafin Alvarado, Southern Wine & Spirits of Illinois
Frederick Dame, Icon Estates
Doug Krenik, Dr. Loosen Wines
Geoff Kruth, Farmhouse Inn and Restaurant
Alpana Singh, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

speakers

Bridget Albert, Southern Wine & Spirits of Illinois
Barbara Fairchild, Bon Appétit
Andrew Knowlton, Bon Appétit
Lori Tieszen, Wines of Chile
 

John Coletta

Quartino

First generation John Coletta was born in New York City in 1957, the year after his Mom and Dad emigrated from Italy. His dad, a chef, was from Rome, and his mom, “a great cook,” was from Campobasso. He grew up eating seasonal foods (fresh vegetables in spring and summer), celebratory foods (panettonne at Christmas), and sometimes not eating foods (no meat during Lent, only fish on Friday). “The food was good, and honest, and fresh, and gave me lifelong memories: aunts and uncles and their recipes, going with my dad in summer to buy tomatoes and bringing them home to can. Getting bushels of tomatoes and sprigs of basil into jars for the winter was a three-day process,” he says. His dad and mom never wanted him to make cooking--too hard a life--his work. “But to able to replicate those dishes with integrity and to pass them on—that was something significant,” says Coletta. “I never considered doing anything else.” Today, after more than 30 years as a chef, Coletta says,” It’s an endless, exciting journey. If I live 200 years I will still be learning.”

First step: Waldorf Astoria. After graduating from New York City Technical College with a degree in hospitality management, Coletta apprenticed for four years at the Waldorf Astoria in the luxury hotel’s heyday under legendary executive chef Arno Schmidt. Next stop was New York’s famous Four Seasons restaurant where he worked under executive chef Seppi Renggli, the pioneer of American spa cuisine.

From cook to chef: After working for two years as cook at Le Coup de Fusil a cutting edge French restaurant in New York City, Coletta, became the chef at Kings Crown, a restaurant in Captiva, Florida. By the time he was 25 years old he was chef de cuisine at Nicolai’s Roof in Atlanta, an extravagant, fine-dining restaurant that earned a Mobil four-star rating during his tenure.

Around the world: Coletta has trained under Alain Ducasse at Louis XV in Monte Carlo and Joel Robuchon in Paris, been the opening executive chef of Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel (1987) and the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers (1991). For the next four years he was the executive chef of Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, a 1,500 room hotel-casino with nine restaurants, room service, and a 400-cook staff that produced 11,000 meals a day. From Caesars Palace Coletta traveled to Singapore in 1995 where he spent two years as executive chef of the five-star Shangri-la Hotel, and the Sydney Morning Herald dubbed him one of the four “big guns” of Asian hotel cuisine. Back home in 1999, he opened Caliterra in Chicago’s Wyndham hotel and the Chicago Sun-Times named it one of the city’s ten best Italian restaurants. In 2002, after five years, Coletta joined the Carlucci Hospitality Group and designed and opened Carlucci Downers Grove restaurant. It received three stars from the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times.

Medals, media and awards: Every four years chefs from all over the world travel to Frankfurt, Germany, to compete in the International Culinary Olympics. They go as national teams, regional teams and individuals. In 1984 Coletta went to Frankfurt as an individual competitor and won a gold medal. In 1992 he went again and lead Team Central USA to another gold medal. And he was a finalist in the 1994 Bocuse d’Or culinary competition in Lyon, France. That same year he was named one of fifteen “America’s Rising Star Chefs” selected for a PBS television series and companion cookbook. And at the 1997 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, Coletta was featured along with Julia Child and Paul Bocuse as part of the Visiting Masters from the World of Foods program.

Husband and father: Coletta and his wife Jenifer have been married for 22 years, and they have a son and a daughter. Jenifer, like his mother, is, he says, “a great cook.”

Good Italian food and wine for all: When Coletta joined Hugo Ralli, Steve Lombardo and Larry Shane as Executive Chef/Managing Partner of Quartino, which opened in December, 2005, it was a kind of homecoming. “Quartino gave us an opportunity to prepare simple Italian foods with a high level of execution and integrity for everyone to enjoy, not just a select few,” he says. “Quality foods and wine should be accessible to everyone—not just those with means.” Italian food, he says, is popular, because it is “food that you can eat every day. Pasta, pizza, simple roasts, vegetables and cheese—simple preparations that people gravitate to daily. These are foods we used to eat at home but now are too busy to cook.” However, he hope that home cooks will find the time to use and enjoy the simple but authentic pasta cookbook he is writing that will be published next year.