Location: Highlawn Pavilion, 1 Crest Drive, West Orange, NJ 07052

Date: Thursday, October 16, 2014

Time: 6:30pm - 10 pm

General Admission: $165

Table of 12: $1920

About the Chefs

Christopher Ryan Arturo, Red Eye Cafe

Chris started cooking professionally in 2009 after attending culinary school at the French Culinary Institute in SoHo. He immediately took a job at Shorty's .32, working under Chef Josh "Shorty" Eden and learned the ropes of each station. His love of Asian cuisine was fostered by the longtime Jean George's veteran.

The commute began to wear, and his next move was to Chef Mike Carrino's restaurant Passionne where he learned the values of organization, and expanded on classic French technique.  Here he first learned a love for local farms and livestock. This began a long friendship between Carrino and Arturo, who continues to look to Chef Carrino as a mentor.

Upon Passionne's closing, Arturo was recruited to open Upstairs in Upper Montclair, serving as Sous Chef to Chef David VanMorrelgem. This time was spent turning their combined love of comfort food into refined elegant dishes to compliment the beautiful restaurant and bar. Feeling the need for change again, Chris went to work for another Passionne alum, Chef Adam Rose at Nico in the NJPAC, working as a tournade helping with everything from pastry production, to designing ever changing prix fixe menus with the chef, to large format banquets and galas.

Montclair called again and he was hired as Sous Chef for the soon to open Pig & Prince to learn from and work for Chef Carrino again. This exposed Chris to more of the butchery and charcuterie that he loved so much in culinary school, as well as the new experience of running a larger house.

His first chef position came at Upstairs once again in January of 2014. Chris is currently the chef at Anthony Brinton's Red Eye Cafe focusing on a smaller, more locally sourced  dinner menu that sees weekly changes. His little time spent outside of the kitchen is taken up with reading food literature, Game of Thrones, and pursuing great ramen throughout NYC.  

Anthony Bucco, 1 Hotel Central Park

The roots of Chef Anthony Bucco’s cooking philosophy and passion come from the central role that food played in his family growing up. He is indebted to his grandmother Adrianna Bucco, who passed that heritage on to him. Chef’s passionate menus capture the season, while relying on quality ingredients and advanced technique.

Chef Bucco honed his skills working in a variety of restaurants, always with an eye for local ingredients, farmers, sustainable agriculture and bold, natural and honest flavors. With over 15 years experience in some of the best kitchens on both sides of the Hudson, Chef Bucco continues to evolve from a culinary perspective.

Chef Bucco’s resume includes leading the kitchens of The Ryland Inn, Whitehouse Station, NJ, Uproot in Warren, NJ, Provence in NYC, Restaurant Latour in Hamburg, NJ, and Stage Left in New Brunswick, NJ, in addition to opening Catherine Lombardi, while Chef at Stage Left. The techniques and insights he acquired while operating these fine establishments express themselves in Bucco’s current work. One reviewer called his food “streamlined and focused, achieved through a razor-sharp, almost contradictory balance of minimal cooking and maximum consideration of elements paired in each dish, [it's about] control of fresh ingredients and flavors, [cuisine] at the top of its game.”

In addition to a myriad of other positive reviews, Zagat restaurant Survey has awarded his food 27 points.  New Jersey Monthly Magazine honored Bucco’s food at the Ryland Inn by awarding it 4 stars and naming it one of NJ’s best restaurants. The New York Times has awarded Bucco their highest ranking and AAA has conferred its coveted Four Diamond Award.  The Star Ledger has awarded Bucco, 4 stars for his work at each Stage Left, Uproot and the Ryland Inn.

Chef Bucco is a graduate of The New York Restaurant School.

Bryan Gregg, Escape Montclair

As a keen culinary mind and a crusader for local New Jersey food producers, Chef Bryan Gregg has made his mark on the food industry by bringing farmers and artisan producers to the forefront of his concepts along with his own unique cooking abilities. Chef Gregg, a native of Pittsburgh, is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts where he found the initial building blocks to harness his passion for the kitchen and turned it into a finely honed craft. While attending school he earned the opportunity to intern and work at some of the most prestigious and highly regarded restaurants in Pittsburgh, among which were the famed Steelhead Grill at the Marriott and The Big Burrito Group. After school, Chef Gregg traveled east to the tri-state area where he sought to sharpen his already vast kitchen repertoire in the culinary mecca of the Northeast - New York City.

For the next twelve years, his ventures would lead him to dive back and forth between kitchens and farms with some of the most highly regarded restaurants and chefs in New York and New Jersey. This is how Chef Gregg discovered and developed his focus for farm-to-fork methods, cooking techniques and the associated ideology to which his passion truly lies. During this time period, Chef Gregg also had the chance to stage overseas at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants in both France and England. This experience served to further his intrigue for what beautiful bounties can come from the country side. These experiences also lead him to solidify his commitment to the farm-to-table mindset and his feelings towards head-to-tail cooking while still maintaining respect for the food he was given to work with.

In the most recent years, Chef Gregg has been on the front lines of bringing New Jersey customers and foodies the freshest and most beautifully-sourced ingredients available. His determination to bring farm-to-fork food to his guests was evident when he became the Executive Chef at the newly-renovated Ho-Ho-Kus Inn. His ever changing locavore menu and style quickly transformed Ho-Ho-Kus Inn into one of the most talked about restaurants in Bergen County and throughout northern New Jersey. At Michael Anthony’s, on the water front in Jersey City, Chef Gregg’s extreme eye for detail along with his "untraditional cooking techniques" set a dominant tone for the Newport Waterfront and brought him national recognition by being named 2013 Best Chefs America.

In 2013, Chef Gregg started a new journey with his award-winning locavore Montclair restaurant, Escape, which will culminate the opening of multiple gastro locations in and around New Jersey. With Zone 7 as his back bone for local goods and with his true-to-form innovative style, these gastro locations will focus on seasonal local bounty and will reflect Chef Gregg’s desire to serve cutting edge food to the New Jersey community at large. 

Adam Rose, VillaLobos

Adam Rose is Executive Chef/Owner of Villalobos in Montclair, NJ.  Earlier in his career, he was instrumental in the launch and day-to-day operation of Restaurant Passioné (Montclair) and Bin 14 Trattoria & Wine Bar (Hoboken), where he earned an "excellent" rating from The New York Times. Most recently, Adam was Executive Chef at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC, Newark). He attended the New York Restaurant School (now the Art Institute of NYC).  A native of Nutley, Adam presently resides in Bloomfield.

Julian Valencia, Ani Ramen House

Rachel Crampsey, Montclair  Bread Company

Rachel learned to write her name with a pastry bag full of butter cream before she could hold a pencil.  She ‘helped’ her grandmother, a wedding cake designer, in the kitchen as soon as she was tall enough to reach the counter.  During her time as an undergrad at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Rachel sold her famous Cowboy Cookies to local coffee shops to pay her rent.   Many a restaurant and bakery job later, she decided it was finally time to follow her true passion and she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America. 

During the two year program Rachel fell in love with bread baking.  Before and after classes, Rachel worked at Bread Alone in Boiceville, NY learning to masterfully shape loaves of peasant bread and sourdough.  After graduation, she went to work at Amy’s Bread managing the bread production for three retail stores and over 400 restaurants across NYC.   Rachel has baked her way up and down the east coast from Wegmans in Rochester, NY to the Ritz Carlton in Naples, FL and finally landing at Tribeca Oven in Carlstadt, NJ where she developed breads for retailers and restaurants across the US including Target, Whole Foods, Hyatt and Fresh Market.

In 2012, Rachel opened the Montclair Bread Co on Walnut St where she bakes artisan breads, croissants and specialty doughnuts.  Rachel is a two time award winner in the America’s Best Raisin Bread Contest.  She recently appeared on the Food Network’s Rewrapped and will soon compete on the Cooking Channel’s Donut Showdown.  This past June, she was selected as a semi-finalist to compete for a space on the 2016 Team USA for the Coupe du Monde de Boulangerie in Paris, France.

About the Cru & Brew

Sharon Sevrens, Amanti Vino

Amanti Vino is a hugely successful, cutting-edge wine, spirits, and specialty microbrew shop located in the heart of Montclair, NJ.

The store's hip contemporary design showcases more than 900 artisanal wines from around the world in backlit custom racking and eye-catching displays. In addition to complimentary weekly wine tastings, Amanti Vino hosts hugely popular wine-pairing dinners, classes, fundraisers and tastings in private and corporate settings. The Vinoteca (outdoor wine bar) opened in the summer of 2013 and was an instant success.

Owner Sharon Sevrens -- a former management consultant for Mercer Management Consulting and a Merrill Lynch investment banker -- opened the shop in 2005. She is a sommelier and Diploma-certified by the prestigious UK-based Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) and the Sommelier Society of America. She received her BS and MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Born in London and raised in Denver, CO and Bryn Mawr, PA, she currently resides in Montclair, NJ with her husband, two children, and two dogs. Rufus, the eldest, is an amiable yellow lab and the official store mascot.

Telegenic and knowledgeable, Sharon Sevrens' expertise  is cited frequently by the press. She's been seen on The Today Show in a July 4th All-American wine segment and About.com filmed her for their instructional wine video series. She and the store have been featured multiple times in the Wall Street Journal and on CNBC, Channel 2 News, The Star-Ledger and New Jersey Monthly.

Entertainment

John Ehlis

Guitarist, mandolinist and multi-instrumentalist John Ehlis is a local composer and bandleader who creates a blend of music beyond any single category.

Ehlis takes an “organic” approach to making music, yielding “one of a kind” performances which truly engage the listener. In addition, he is well versed in the nuances of playing in a variety of settings, whether as a soloist or sideman. 

He has performed with acclaimed artists Oliver Lake, John Tchicai, Joseph Jarman, Karl Berger and Glen Velez; as well as with many emerging artists including vocalist Olivia Foschi, Finnish saxophonist Mikko Innanen and Italian violinist Eloisa Manera.