Rick Bayless, Wylie Dufresne and John Folse are just a few of the celebrity chefs who will be showing off their skills at this year’s National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show. The World Culinary Showcase provides event attendees an interactive setting to soak up the passion, innovation and inspiration shared by these world-class culinary masters as they perform live on stage. NRA Show 2011 will be held May 21-24 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
The World Culinary Showcase, running all four days of the NRA Show, will feature:
Rick Bayless, chef/owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago – television host, author, champion of Mexican cuisine, and winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters Season 1.
Wylie Dufresne, chef/owner, wd~50 in New York City – leading American proponent of molecular gastronomy and chef/owner of wd-50 in New York City.
Tiffani Faison, chef/owner, Workshop & Mercantile in Boston - contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef Season 1, and recently on Top Chef All-Stars.
John Folse, executive chef, Restaurant R’evolution – Louisiana’s culinary ambassador to the world.
Gale Gand, partner and executive pastry chef, Tru in Chicago – television star and cookbook author.
Marcus Samuelsson, chef/owner, Red Rooster in New York City– Bravo’s Top Chef Masters Season 2 winner, and guest chef for the first Obama Administration state dinner.
Kevin Sbraga, chef/restaurateur – winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 7.
Rick Tramonto, executive chef, Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans – award-winning cookbook author and James Beard Award winner.
A special session, “An Inside Look at Innovation in Chains and Independents,” will be held in the World Culinary Showcase on Monday, May 23. Moderated by The Culinary Edge Founder Aaron Noveshen, the session will feature Wylie Dufresne and McDonald’s Director of Culinary Innovation Dan Coudreaut sharing insights on the similarities and differences between chains and independent restaurants in terms of the role that innovation plays in menu development.
Additional chefs will be added to the World Culinary Showcase lineup this spring. Several of these chefs will also be signing their latest books in the Celebrity Book Signing area of the NRA Show, including Bayless, Folse, Gand, Samuelsson and Tramonto. For a full schedule of the World Culinary Showcase and Celebrity Book Signings, visit www.restaurant.org/show.
The annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is the largest and most comprehensive global gathering of restaurant, foodservice and lodging professionals. The event attracts tens of thousands of attendees and visitors from all 50 states and 100+ countries, and showcases more products, services, innovative ideas and other growth opportunities than any other industry event. For more information, visit the Show website at www.restaurant.org/show.