Summer 2009
Pippa Calland (Culinary ’94) and Abe Lopez (Culinary ’97) were victors on Chopped on Food Network, where each took home the $10,000 prize! Raymond Jackson (Culinary ’95) was also a contestant, and Marc Murphy Culinary ’90), chef/owner of Landmarc Restaurants and Ditch Plains, was one of the judges.
Kathleen Lucier (Culinary/Management ’08) took home the silver medal at the LG Electronics International Cooking Competition, held in Dubai last week.
Anthony Ricco (Culinary ’01) has been promoted to chef de cuisine at Jean Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market in the Meatpacking District.
Besides managing the bars at both Savoy and Back Forty and teaching at ICE, Michael Cecconi (Culinary ’05) recently appeared on The Today Show for Valentine’s Day Cocktails . He also writes a weekly blog for The New Yorker online on libations and literary characters.
Dina Cheney’s (Culinary ’03) second book, Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Salads, has just been published. She continues to write articles for magazines, such as Everyday with Rachael Ray and Coastal Living; and offers guided tastings—usually of chocolate—to groups.
Tara Berman (Culinary/Management ’02), managing partner of Tara Paige Consulting and CMD instructor at ICE, is the one of the recipients of the 2009 Committee Contributors of the Year from Women's Food Service Forum and will be honored at the 2009 annual leadership development conference in Dallas, TX.
Leigh Koh (Pastry/Management ‘08) checks in from London, where she is a pastry commis chef with Sketch UK, the acclaimed Michelin-starred restaurant of Chef Pierre Gagnaire.
Brandon Johns (Culinary ’95) is now chef/owner of Vinology in Ann Arbor, MI.
Jose Quinones (Culinary ’08) has joined the opening kitchen team at Boqueria in Soho.
Mark Metzger (Pastry ’00) is now the executive pastry chef of the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa in Vail, CO.
Fadi Jaber (Pastry/Management ’06) has opened a new location of his concept Sugar Daddy’s Bakery in Beirut, Lebanon. The original bakery is in Amman, Jordan, and it will be joined by yet another location shortly in Dubai, UAE.
Heidi Kohnhorst (Pastry ’02) is pastry chef of Fishtail, David Burke’s new restaurant. Maria Taylor (Pastry ’07) joins her there as a pastry assistant.
Priscila Brunsfeld (Pastry ‘07) checks in from Brazil where she’s opened a busy custom cake business, called Make the Cake Atelier .
James Holmes (Culinary ’01) is chef/owner of a successful new restaurant, Olivia, in Austin, TX.
Mark De George (Culinary ’07) has landed a position as product developer at the Center for Culinary Development in San Francisco, where he develops new and trendy products and refines existing ones.
Los Angeles-based Eva Simons (Pastry ’07) has launched a cake business called Urban Sweets Bakery .
Anita Tomczyk (Pastry ’08) accepted the position of production assistant for Jacques Torres Chocolate.
Jennifer Bunce (Pastry '08) is the co-pastry chef at Sweetiepie in the West Village.
Carmen Lopez (Pastry '08) is pastry assistant at A Voce.
Perri Newman (Culinary ’08) has opened a catering/private cheffing company in the NYC/Tri-state area called Perri’s Plates .
Catherine Olate (Pastry '07) participated in the Food Network's, "Blind Date Challenge" with her place of employment, The Pink Cake box in Denville, NJ.
Giuseppe Cosenza (Culinary ‘08), is now general manager of Grace's Marketplace LI, the retailer’s newest location in Greenvale, Long Island.
Diane Weintraub Pohl (Culinary ’02) has two monthly columns, “What's in Season” and “Food Trends,” and additional features in www.westchestermagazine.com .
Gerry Biordi (Management ’01) just opened a meal delivery service called Sarabella Cooks .
Linda Dekonski (Pastry ’07) is the new baker at Flour & Sun Bakery in Pleasantville, NY.
Hesham Darwish (Culinary ’08), Harry Marsales (Culinary ’08), and Patty Lopez (Pastry ’08) have all been recruited to be part of the opening team of Da Caino in Miami. They will first spend the summer training at the flagship Da Caino restaurant in Tuscany, then relocate to Florida for the Fall launch
Clara Park (Culinary ’05) is the new anchor/host of “Food News” on Devour, a web-based food channel.
Robert Murphy (Culinary and Management 03) has launched Robrox, his personal cheffing website.
Rich Balogh (Culinary ’03) has relocated to Buffalo, NY, where he has recently taken on the position of executive chef of The Chocolate Bar.
Lebby Campbell (Management ’08) landed a cafe associate position with Kenneth Cole.
Denisse Oller (Culinary/Management ’05), and guest instructor at ICE, has launched Boca Dulce, her new line of gourmet delights with a Latin twist.
Melissa Ricketts (Culinary ’07) and her team were one of 12 finalists in the 2008 Brooklyn Business Plan Competition. Her team was selected from 75 entries for their concept for Tahini, LLC, a fast food establishment that will provide healthy, gourmet snacks and meals.
Chris Fragetti (Culinary/Management ’07) is now a working partner in Mara’s Desserts, a 25-year-old bakery in Morristown, NJ. The business also operates another bakery/café location in Denville.
Ryan Shepherd (Pastry ’07) checks in from the Tap & Mallet, where he is a line cook. The Rochester, NY, restaurant was just named Best New Restaurant for 2008 by City Newspaper.
Daniel Kyse (Management ’04) has been hired by M. Tucker as an account executive.
Abbie Hagopian (Culinary ’08) has accepted a prep cook position in Bumble and Bumble's corporate catering department.
Harrison Blundell (Culinary ’08) is the chef de cuisine at Table Mesa Bistro in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Martha Artaega (Pastry ‘06) is doing pastry production and service at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain .
Amanda Elliott (Culinary ’05) is working for The Dish’s Dish as a personal chef and has also started her own personal chef business, The Rustic Supper .
Dorean Fazio (Culinary ’07) has been hired as a line cook at Stew Leonard’s in Yonkers.
Anthony Albanese (Pastry ’08), while an extern at Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ, helped to design, execute and present Britney Spears her birthday cake on “Good Morning America” for her "Circus" CD launch/birthday party.
Winter 2009
Gina DePalma (Culinary ’94) is the recipient of Bon Appetit’s 2008 Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef.
Elisa Strauss (Pastry ’01) published her second book, Confetti Cakes for Kids, this past fall.
Missy Robbins (Culinary ’95) has taken on the executive chef position at A Voce, and will also oversee the Time Warner branch of the restaurant when it opens shortly.
Tim Healea (Culinary ’98), a member of the 2002 Silver Award-Winning Team USA for the World Baking Cup, has opened his own artisanal bakery in Portland, OR, called Little T American Baker.
Colin Alevras (Culinary ’94) is in the process of opening two new restaurants, Permanent Brunch and La Otra, both in the East Village
Matthew Weingarten (Culinary ’96) is executive chef of the recently opened restaurant, Inside Park at St. Bart’s.
Cricket Azima (Culinary ’00), food editor of Kiwi Magazine and founder of The Creative Kitchen, recently published Everybody Eats Lunch, an interactive, lunchbox-shaped kids’ cookbook with international recipes.
Matt Dix (Culinary/Management ’02) has been named food and beverage director for ACE Hotel, the new Manhattan outpost of the Seattle-based boutique hotel group.
Rick Mast (Management ‘06), along with his brother Michael, has opened Mast Brothers Chocolates, a “bean to bar” chocolate business in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Cathy Berg (Culinary ’03) is now national manager of curriculum and training for Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline programs.
Seth Caro (Pastry ’04) has assumed the role of executive pastry chef for Grayz.
David Lee (Culinary ’02), previously of sous chef of The Bar Room at The Modern, was recently named the new executive chef of Mai House in Tribeca.
Margot Olshan (Culinary ’97), chef/owner of Margot Café & Wine Bar in Stamford, CT, appeared on the “Martha” Show in the Fall. She will also appear as a host of the new season of “Everyday Food.”
Mary Beth Henson (Culinary ’07) has been named vice-president of finance for the non-profit group City Harvest.
Juli Roberts (Culinary ’08) landed an editorial assistant position at Fine Cooking magazine.
Pastry ’03 alum Bob Conway opened Brownie Points in Summit, NJ.
Boris Zarate (Culinary ’08) has been promoted within Flik to become the new executive chef for the Movado Group account.
Kevin Nurse (Culinary ’08) is working at the Four Seasons-New York Hotel as a cook. He also appeared on Bobby Flay’s new Food Network show, Grill It.
Jake Cerrone (Management ’06) opened The BluGrill in Kent, CT, with fellow ICE alumnus Jason Pierre (Culinary ’00) as executive chef.
Matthew Hayes (Culinary ’01) has appeared on the CW 11’s morning program, demonstrating healthy recipes.
Benjamin Root (Culinary ’06) has been named chef de cuisine of Macondo restaurant on Houston Street.
Amy Monheit Gerson (Culinary ’03) has accepted the position of catering director for NBC Universal in Rockefeller Center.
Angela Lau (Culinary ’08) landed a position with Google as culinary food services coordinator, liaising with their various corporate dining operations across the East Coast.
Billy Humble (Culinary '07) is currently working for KlickKitchen (fellow ICE alum Jordan Glaser’s company) as consultant advisor.
Clifford Saladin (Culinary ’00) landed the executive chef post at the Tarrytown Sheraton Hotel in Tarrytown, NY.
ICE® ALUMNI WINS BIG ON FOOD NETWORK
1997 ICE® Alumni, Michelle Bommarito, is a world-class cake designer and Food Network reality show competitor. Her most recent competition was a lucrative one, she competed and won the $10,000 wedding cake design contest featured on Food Network Challenge.
The contest involved a couple on the eve of their wedding and judges who picked a few top-notch cake designers from around the country to compete on their wedding cake. Michelle's winning creation was a tiered cake of many flavors, tiers of rich chocolate cake frosted with vanilla butter cream, a banana cake tier, and another of carrot cake.
Fall 2008
Kendal Duque (Culinary '96), executive chef of Sepia in Chicago, has been named a StarChefs 2008 Rising Star Chef.
Dan Segall (Culinary '02), is the executive chef of Zuma Hong Kong, which has been included in the annual World's 50 Best Restaurants, presented by S.Pellegrino – a truly outstanding achievement for a restaurant just shy of its one year anniversary.
Marissa Masajo (Culinary '06) was awarded the ICEX Culinary Scholarship to intern in Spain at the Michelin-starred restaurants El Chaflan and Akelarre.
Justin Philips (Management '07) has opened Beer Table, an intimate drinking and eating room in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Robert Pecorino (Culinary '07/Management '08) has accepted a chef de partie position at Alain Ducasse's Benoit Bistro.
James Raffaniello (Culinary '03) was promoted to chef de cuisine of Petrossian in New York City.
Anya Sacharow (Culinary/Management 02) checks in from the UK, where she is senior producer at UKTV in London and is in charge of running the website www.uktvfood.co.uk
Youngsun Lee (Culinary '05) has opened up Persimmon in the East Village, featuring traditional Korean cuisine with a twist.
Sohui Kim (Culinary/Management '02), chef/owner of The Good Fork Restaurant, beat out Bobby Flay in the dumpling challenge on Throwdown with Bobby Flay on Food Network.
Rick Coffey (Culinary '02) has opened The Coffey House B & B on Long Island's North Fork.
Samantha Hoyt Lindren's (Pastry '04) culinary book shop, Rabelais Books, was included in a Saveur magazine article on 10 Top Cookbook Stores around the world.
Lora Krulak (Culinary '98) is a contributing food and health expert to Life and Style magazine.
Daniel Kim (Culinary/Management '01) was promoted to food and beverage director for Asia de Cuba at the Morgans Hotel.
Paula Villas Boas (Culinary '02) checks in from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she is the new executive chef of Café Santo Grao.
Jonathan Lemon (Culinary '04) is now chef de cuisine at Fireside, the new restaurant in the Omni Berkshire Hotel in Midtown.
In addition to being the food stylist for The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on Fox, Ulli Stachl (Culinary '93) is also the food stylist for the new Wendy Williams Show on Fox.
Sean McClintock (Pastry/Management '07) is the pastry sous chef at Café Juanita in Kirkland, WA, where he works under chef/owner Holly Smith who won the 2008 James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest.
Karla Vega (Management '07/Pastry '08) has accepted the head pastry chef position at The Olde Mill Inn & Grain House Restaurant in Basking Ridge, NJ
Mark Wilson (Culinary '06) checks in from Houston, where he has been named pastry chef of Hotel Zaza, a luxury 350-room boutique hotel on Hermann Park
Tammy Nester (Pastry '00) has accepted the head pastry chef position at The Settlers Inn in Hawley, PA.
Jarod Zelaya (Management '03) has opened J & K Steakhouse, an upscale steakhouse in Dover, NJ.
Jonathan Pal (Culinary/Management '04) purchased Atlanta Bread Company in Toms River, NJ.
Robert Murphy (Culinary/Management '03) is the corporate chef for J.R. Miller Enterprises, which operates several luxury ranch properties.
Paul Wilson-Young (Culinary '98) is the executive chef at the Cantankerous Fish in Mountain View, CA.
Anne Horstmann Iyer (Culinary '04) is sous chef at Vidalia Restaurant in Washington, DC.
Jamie Tiampo (Management '06) is a partner in the popular West Village restaurant Dell'Anima.
Timothy Koch (Pastry '96) has accepted the Pastry Chef position at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey.
Matthew Hayes (Culinary '01) of NYC Fitness Solutions discussed and demonstrated healthy breakfast alternatives in a cooking segment on the CW11 Morning Show.
Richard Balogh (Culinary '03) was featured in The New York Times' Connecticut edition, discussing his personal cheffing/catering business Rich & Delicious.
Matthew Sigel (Culinary '00) was a contestant on this past season's Hell's Kitchen.
Margot Olshan (Culinary '97), chef/owner of Margot Café and Wine Bar in Stamford, CT, was featured on the Martha show.
Spring 2008
Rachel Yang (Culinary '01) is the executive chef and co-owner of Joule in Seattle, WA.
Colin Alevras (Culinary '94), chef and owner, along with wife and manager Renée Alevras (Culinary '94), of The Tasting Room, has been nominated as "the best celeb chef who is actually cooking" in the Time Out New York 2008 Eat Out Awards.
Richard Beichner (Culinary '91) is the executive chef at the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa in Vail, CO.
Mark Metzger (Pastry '00) joins him there as assistant pastry chef.
Allison Vines-Rushing (Culinary '01) is co-executive chef, along with husband Slade Rushing, of MiLa in New Orleans, LA.
Nicole Kaplan (Pastry '97) has been named Pastry Chef at the Plaza Hotel.
Frank DeCarlo (Culinary '86), chef/owner of Peasant, has opened Bacaro, a Venetian small plates restaurant/wine bar.
Scott Campbell (Pastry '84) has been named executive chef of New Leaf Café.
Mory Thomas (Culinary '98) has been promoted to manager of culinary product development for Food Network Kitchens. He works on all brand extension projects that have to do with recipes, food products, and cookbooks.
Patrick Bek-gran (Culinary/Management '01) has opened a restaurant in Key West, FL, called Opera.
Jonathan Seidt (Culinary/Management '05) was promoted to sous chef at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Colorado.
Dennis Gardon (Culinary '06) was part of the opening team at Nobu San Diego.
Marissa Drago (Management '04) was promoted to regional catering sales manager north for Balducci's.
Lyssa Nguyen (Culinary '06) has been promoted to chef de cuisine at the Chocolate Bar in Henri Bendel.
Kim O'Donnel (Culinary '97), WashingtonPost.com food writer, will now have her work appear regularly in a new food blog on RealSimple.com.
Melissa Gaman (Culinary '03) has accepted a full-time position in the Woman's World test kitchen.
Samantha Rifkin Garelick (Culinary '06) was featured on the cover of the premier issue of Jewish Living. She also was profiled in the Los Angeles Daily News.
Nicholas Lee (Culinary '00) has joined the pastry team at the Four Seasons New York Hotel.
Janice Fryer (Pastry '07) has co-authored a well — reviewed cookie decorating book called Cookie Craft.
Shepherd Lee (Management '03) is now working as assistant manager at the new Magnolia Bakery on 69th and Columbus Avenue.
Masae Kusada (Pastry '02) joined Artisanal Premium Cheese Center as events coordinator.
Leitha Matz (Culinary/Management '02) taped a "Thanksgiving Leftover" cooking segment on CW11 for FreshDirect.
Trevor Hardwick (Culinary '06) received an honorable mention for a recipe called Flavors of the World-Chocolate Flight in the recent Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest.
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