6 Questions with Claudette Zepeda You’ve worked in a variety of restaurants. Did Mexican food always feel most natural to cook? I started off at a not-so-great pizza joint, you know, like every teenager. But I was bitten with the bug of restaurants, but never saw it as a viable career. I’ve cooked Italian, French, pastries, charcuterie, but when I started cooking Mexican food, it felt like what I was…

6 Questions With Jonathan Zaragoza Inheriting a 200-year-old birria recipe seems like an origin story. Do you think this was fate? Yeah, that we inherited these goat-roasting abilities?! And with an Instagram handle like Goat Boy, it kind of begs for that. I think it was a time and place thing, like a lot of things in life are—like a Modern Adventure. The master goat roaster didn’t have any sons…

6 Questions with Andrew Zimmerman So, you wanted to be a musician. What did you play? I started playing the saxophone real early on, then I started learning the guitar. I was in a series of mostly punk rock bands, for lack of a better way to describe them, in the late ‘80s. None of them went very far—I got a free trip to Japan out of one of them—but…

6 Questions with Cheetie Kumar Why Raleigh? I loved the warmth of the people; there was a sense of community. I realized the State Farmers Market is a mile away, and it’s open every day. I saw there were so many Asian and Indian grocery stores. It felt like a place where I could build my life and figure myself out without having the pressure of living in a big…

Michael Scelfo Chef Eating in Boston at one of Michael Scelfo’s restaurants is like pulling up a chair at his own dinner table—simple dishes, quality ingredients and good conversation. The Scelfos are originally from Italy; Michael grew up slow-stirring his grandmother’s red sauce, and his Italian family has inspired his love for food. His menus offer variety—think veg-forward fare at Cambridge’s Alden & Harlow, named one of the “Best Restaurants in…

Claudette Zepeda Chef Claudette Zepeda is a San Diego-based chef and the culinary driving force behind Michelin-honored El Jardín. She has worked with some of the industry’s best and brightest, from Javier Plascencia at Bracero to Gavin Kaysen at El Bizcocho. She’s competed on two seasons of Top Chef and continually earns rave reviews—not to mention a passionate, dedicated following—for her hyper-regional Mexican masterpieces. Born in the U.S. and raised…

6 Questions with Jeremiah Langhorne How did learning that cooking was more than just recipes shift your perspective? I mean, it completely opened an entire new world to me. For whatever reason—probably because I was a 15-year-old kid—I just thought that when people cooked, they followed a recipe, and it was just that simple. But the idea that anybody anywhere could have the ability to have the creativity and to…

Andrew Zimmerman Chef Andrew Zimmerman is the five-time James Beard Award finalist behind Chicago’s Sepia and Proxi. The two restaurants have risen to must-eats of the Windy City—the former featuring elevated and stylish rustic American cuisine, the latter an itinerant ode to global delights. Aside from being named a Rising Star Chef, Jean Banchet Chef of the Year and an Iron Chef America winner, Sepia has earned a Michelin star…

Kate Williams Chef Although Chef Kate Williams’ restaurants—Lady of the House, Karl’s and Candy Bar—have only recently opened, they’re already ingrained in the Detroit community. In just a few years, she’s been named as one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs, noted among GQ and Esquire’s best new restaurants lists and was a James Beard semifinalist. No matter if you’re at her ode to family dining or her spunky and sparkly cocktail bar,…

6 Questions with Ferrell Alvarez Your Tampa love seems to exceed the normal hometown pride. Why is Tampa so awesome? I think Tampa is so great for multiple facets. In terms of a place to live, we’re close to the ocean, we have the bay and the river. For business, it’s still very affordable and there’s a lot of bloom. It provides a lot of opportunities for young businesspeople to…