Proudly born and raised in the East End of Houston, Texas, Johnny Carrabba III was raised in his parent’s family-owned grocery store, Carrabba’s Friendly Grocery, and attended St. Thomas High School. In 1986, Johnny opened The Original Carrabba’s on Kirby Drive. The second location on South Voss Road opened its doors in 1988. In 1993, Outback Steakhouse created a joint venture partnership, consequently opening over 230 Carrabba’s Italian Grill Restaurants nationwide, ten locations in Brazil, and future locations in Mexico. Johnny and his family continue to own and operate the two original Carrabba’s locations. In 2012, the family’s new fast-casual concept, Mia’s Table, opened one block behind the Original Carrabba’s on Kirby. In 2014, Grace’s, affectionately named after Johnny’s grandmother, Grace Mandola, opened its doors, forging the fourth family-owned and operated restaurant for the Carrabba family. Mia’s Table now has five additional locations and continues to grow throughout the greater Houston area. Johnny is a philanthropist at heart and gives back to the community through many venues and charities, especially those benefiting children. Johnny has two beloved children, Johnny IV and Mia. The family enjoys traveling, playing golf, and simply spending quality time together.

Katie Parla is the acclaimed author, publisher, television and podcast host, journalist, culinary guide, and educator based in Rome. She has written, edited or contributed to more than 35 books including the cookbooks American Sfoglino, Flour Lab, Food of the Italian South, Tasting Rome, and The Joy of Pizza. In 2022, Katie founded Parla Publishing, independently publishing her latest cookbook Food of the Italian Islands while establishing services designed to demystify all facets of the process for other authors, restaurants, and brands. She co-hosts Gola, a podcast about Italian food and drinks culture. In addition to appearing as an expert on television programs such as “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” and Netflix’s “Chef’s Table,” Katie hosts culinary shows on Recipe.tv including her Emmy-nominated food and travel series “Katie Parla’s Rome,” “Katie Parla’s Roman Kitchen,” and “Gola on the Road.”

Chef Greg Gatlin co-founded Gatlin’s BBQ in the Heights with his parents in June 2010 and has since established the brand as a Houston barbecue staple. Over the years, Gatlin has shaped a menu that blends traditional Texas barbecue, classic southern cuisine, and global flavors, earning accolades such as being featured in Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ Joints list in 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2021. In 2015, Gatlin relocated his restaurant to Ella Blvd and, in collaboration with Bill Floyd, expanded his influence by opening Jackson St. BBQ in downtown Houston. Greg has served two terms on the Greater Houston Restaurant Association Board and received the Golden Fork Award in 2016. Gatlin’s BBQ was featured in the 2021 Netflix documentary High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. In 2022, Gatlin opened Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers, a seafood and poultry-focused establishment rooted in Gulf Coast influences, catering to Independence Heights, Garden Oaks, and Oak Forest.

Gatlin’s impressive list of accolades includes being named the best barbecue in Houston by the Houston Press in 2011, securing the number-one position in the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 Houston Restaurants of 2015, and being featured in the New York Times’ 2022 list of the best barbecue in America. In 2023, Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers earned a nomination for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant award, was included in the New York Times’ 50 Most Exciting Restaurants in America, and ranked seventh in the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 Restaurants
for 2023.

Leonard Botello IV is the owner and pitmaster behind critically acclaimed TRUTH BBQ. Botello opened the original TRUTH BBQ Brenham in a small shack off a rural highway that runs between Austin and Houston in the summer of 2015. Armed with a used Klose pit, and as a complete unknown in the BBQ world, Botello surprised the industry in 2017 when TRUTH BBQ landed the number ten spot on Texas Monthly’s coveted Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints list.

Through the universal love of Texas BBQ, Botello has had the honor of hosting dinners for esteemed organizations such as No Kid Hungry and The James Beard House, and has appeared on Food Network’s Chopped, winning his episode. Most recently, in 2021, TRUTH BBQ rose to a top-three spot in Texas Monthly’s 50 Best BBQ Joints list, a definitive indication of Botello’s rise and a promising sign for what is still to come.

When not manning the pit room and line at TRUTH BBQ, Botello is often found cooking with friends all over the country at various food and wine festivals or starting fires and building pits in his backyard. He continues to prioritize education of live-fire cooking not only for himself, but also finds joy in sharing his knowledge with others.

Patrick Feges, perhaps best known in Houston’s culinary community as the “Whole Hog Guy,” is a self-taught pitmaster and Purple Heart recipient from injuries sustained during a tour in Iraq. In fact, it was during his recovery that he was hit with the barbecue bug. Armed with an old, worn-out Brinkmann smoker and plenty of tenacity, Patrick experimented through trial and error before deciding to attend culinary school at The Texas Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu, in Austin. There, surrounded by some of the best barbecue spots in Texas and learning classical basics in class, he began honing his approach to barbecue.

In 2012, Patrick purchased a large smoking rig and launched Feges BBQ, catering events and executing pop-ups with non-traditional smoked cuts. In the ensuing years, he continued to train in some of the city’s most acclaimed kitchens including Underbelly, Brennan’s, Killen’s Barbecue, and Southern Goods, all while building his business on the side. In 2018, Patrick opened Feges BBQ with his wife Erin Smith. Feges BBQ was named one of the best BBQ joints in America by Thrillist in 2018, 2019, and 2021, and Texas Monthly recognized it on its coveted lists of the 25 Best New BBQ Joints in 2019 and 50 Best BBQ Joints in 2021.

Classically trained in French, Mediterranean, West Indian and East African cuisine, Chef Chris Williams has made a name for himself serving up well-refined Southern food with international infusions at his nationally-celebrated Museum District restaurant Lucille’s — opened as a tribute to his great grandmother and culinary pioneer Lucille B. Smith. A decade in the making, the namesake restaurant has since morphed into Lucille’s Hospitality Group — a culmination of concepts that channel the matriarch’s historic ingenuity. Chef Williams has also served as the lone culinary cultural ambassador for the USA for three years, advancing food diplomacy in destinations like Slovenia, Croatia, and Ukraine. Williams’ most recent endeavor — his non-profit Lucille’s 1913 — mimics the ethos of his restaurant group and its namesake, functioning as a conscious community collective that is building a vertically integrated ecosystem to combat food insecurity and waste; creating training and employment opportunities in traditionally under-resourced neighborhoods; and empowering communities to discover a self-sustainable livelihood through food. To date, Chef Chris and the Lucille’s 1913 team have provided nearly 400,000 meals to Houstonians in need since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams has served as the lone culinary cultural ambassador for the USA for three years, advancing food diplomacy in destinations like Slovenia, Croatia, and Ukraine. He is also part of Restaurant Hospitality’s coveted 2021 Rising Star class and most recently was named to Bon Appetit’s inaugural “Heads of the Table” Awards List, which honors the trailblazing, community-building, future-making leaders changing the restaurant industry.

Seattle-native and Café Boulud alum Chef Aaron Bludorn has planted roots in Houston to open his first solo venture. Following a prosperous career working under Michelin-starred chefs in Napa and New York, Aaron’s career has led him to open Bludorn Restaurant, a sophisticated neighborhood eatery serving refined cuisine rooted in passion and integrity.

When not in the kitchen, Aaron is an avid outdoorsman. He enjoys bike riding, kayaking, snowboarding and hiking. Bludorn and his wife, Victoria, enjoy exploring the local farmers market and catching the occasional concert at Houston’s many venues. He and his wife have a strong community of friends and family in Houston and are expecting their first child together in November 2020.

Since her childhood cooking with her grandparents on their ranch in Victoria, Texas, Sarah Grueneberg knew she was destined to work in the culinary world. Originally from Houston, Grueneberg moved to Chicago in 2005 to join the team at the award-winning Spiaggia under the leadership of Tony Mantuano. Beginning as a line cook, she quickly rose the ranks to Chef di Cucina in 2008 and then Executive Chef in 2010. During her tenure as Executive Chef, Spiaggia was awarded one Michelin Star for three consecutive years.

After graduating from culinary school in 2001, she started her first career-changing job with a position at the iconic Brennan’s of Houston and by 2003 was named the restaurant’s youngest female sous chef. Grueneberg has traveled throughout Italy, Asia, Europe and the U.S., which has inspired her culinary approach of “following the food” and truly understanding “the dish” by knowing the people and culture that created it.

In 2017, Grueneberg received the James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: Great Lakes” and was a semifinalist for “Outstanding Chef” in the 2019 & 2020 awards. Grueneberg has been a competitor and finalist on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Texas” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef Gauntlet.” She has also been named a “Rising Star Chef” by Chicago Social magazine in 2009 and 2016 and Eater Chicago’s “Chef of the Year” in the 2011 Eater Awards.

Grueneberg is Chef/Partner of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio in Chicago’s West Loop, which she opened in November 2015 with business partner and long-time friend, Meg Sahs. The restaurant has received acclaimed reviews from various outlets, including a three-star review from The Chicago Tribune. In 2016, Monteverde was named one of Food & Wine’s “America’s Best Restaurants,” a top 50 finalist in Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurants,” Eater’s “21 Best New Restaurants in America,” GQ’s “12 Best New Restaurants,” Eater Chicago’s “Restaurant of the Year,” the “Worth the Wait” award in Chicago Tribune Dining Awards and named one of Chicago Magazine’s “15 Best New Restaurants.” In 2017, Monteverde was named one of “America’s 38 Essential Restaurants” by Eater and then awarded “Restaurant of the Year” in the 2018 Jean Banchet Awards. In fall 2022, Grueneberg will publish her first cookbook, Listen To Your Vegetables.

Aaron’s interest in barbecue started with the backyard cookouts that he and his wife and partner Stacy Franklin would throw. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into when they opened up a small barbecue trailer on the side of an Austin interstate in 2009. Today, crowds stand in line for hours for a taste of Franklin Barbecue’s mouth-watering brisket. Aaron is the recipient of the James Beard Award for Best Chef and has also been inducted into the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame for 2020. He is the co-author of New York Times bestseller Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto, as well as Franklin Steak: Dry-Aged, Live-Fired, Pure Beef and the recently published Franklin Smoke: Wood, Fire Food. Aaron has been participating in the Southern Smoke fundraiser since 2015, and Southern Smoke is one of his favorite charities to support.

Priya Krishna is a food reporter for The New York Times and a bestselling author of multiple cookbooks, including Indian-ish and Cooking at Home. She hosts an online video series for The New York Times that looks at labor in the food industry called On the Job. Priya has been nominated for a James Beard award, as well as an IACP award, and in 2021 was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. In all of her work, her hope is to expand the lens of who gets to tell stories about food and whose stories we tell.

David Chang is founder of Momofuku and Majordomo Media. Since opening his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, in 2004, he has been recognized as GQ’s Man of the Year and a Time 100 honoree. He is the host of The Dave Chang Show podcast and three documentary series: Ugly Delicious; Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner; and The Next Thing You Eat. His cookbooks and memoir are New York Times bestsellers.

Tom Colicchio is an 8-time James Beard Award-winning chef, and the owner of Crafted Hospitality, which includes New York City’s Craft, Temple Court, and Vallata; Las Vegas’ Craftsteak; and Small Batch in Garden City, New York. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Tom made his New York cooking debut at prominent restaurants including The Quilted Giraffe, Gotham Bar & Grill, and Gramercy Tavern before opening Craft in 2001. His latest book, a memoir and cookbook called WHY I COOK, has already been named one of Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of 2024.

A vocal and outspoken social justice advocate, Tom executive produced the 2013 documentary A Place at the Table about the underlying causes of hunger in the United States. This eye-opening experience led Tom on a journey to Washington, D.C. where he has been a mainstay in our nation’s capital in the years since. From holding members of Congress accountable on their voting records around food to working with former FLOTUS Michelle Obama on the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Tom has established himself as the leading “Citizen Chef” advocating for a food system that values access, affordability, and nutrition over corporate interests.

Tom is a frequent contributor on several television shows and networks, including MSNBC, CNN, ABC, and Bloomberg and is the host of the iHeart Radio podcast, Citizen Chef. Tom is the head judge and executive producer of the Emmy-winning Bravo hit series, Top Chef. He is the host and executive producer of a new interactive cooking show, The Pantry, on Spirits Network.

Tom lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their three sons. When not in the kitchen, Tom can be found tending his North Fork, Long Island garden, fishing, or playing guitar.