Blake Cressey

Chef @ Tasty Treat Food Truck

Blake Cressey is New Orleans born and raised. In 2014, Blake started selling hot plates from her home, attracting customers from far and wide, and eventually expanded to the Tasty Treat food truck – a dream come true. Traveling New Orleans day and night and being located at New Orleans hottest nightclubs, Blake decided she needed a brick and mortar and in 2017, opened the doors to her own restaurant. Blake has had plenty of success, including being named a 2019 ACFNO Best Chef of Louisiana, and in her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family, being an active community leader, encouraging the youth, fishing, and learning new cooking techniques. Blake currently has one location in New Orleans located at 1900 N. Claiborne Ave. and still manages her food truck, which she calls “the Cadillac of food trucks.”

Blake Cressey's Shrimp Etouffee

Jordan Ruiz

Chef @ The Munch Factory

Chef Jordan Ruiz was born and raised in New Orleans. He learned to cook in his mom’s kitchen, making gumbo, red beans and étouffée. He began working in kitchens when he was 16 years old. His love of cooking brought him to the Culinary Institute of America where he honed his skills even further. Upon returning to New Orleans, he worked in some of the best restaurants around the city. One day, he and his wife, Alexis, decided to venture out on their own and started The Munch Factory. The Munch Factory is based off of beloved Creole dishes, but with a twist. Everything is Creole-inspired, but he uses his love of all foods, to create unique, inspired comfort food.

Watch Chef Jordan's Recipe Video

Isaac Toups

Chef & Owner @ Toups Meatery

Three-time finalist for James Beard “Best Chef: South”; Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” season 13 “Fan Favorite;” and author of The New York Times’ “Best Cookbooks of Fall,” Chasing the Gator – Isaac Toups & the New Cajun Cooking (October 23, 2018 Little, Brown and Company), Chef Isaac Toups exemplifies the new guard of Cajun chefs and is Chef/Owner of Toups Meatery in New Orleans. Born and raised in Rayne, Louisiana – the heart of Cajun country – Toups is known for his “born and braised” culinary style. His unique combination of childhood roots, heavily influenced by both grandmothers, along with honing his skills in some of New Orleans’ most acclaimed restaurants – including a decade of fine dining experience in Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans kitchens – gives Chef Isaac Toups a cutting-edge that is unrivaled.

Beer and Hot Sauce-Braised Pork Ribs and Double-Dill Pickles

Corey Duckworth

Chef and Owner of Sassafras Creole Kitchen

Corey Duckworth is a self-made chef in the heart of New Orleans who specializes in Creole soul cuisine. Chef Corey has made over one million meals in his young, 20-year career and has catered in almost every venue available in New Orleans. He is the owner of Sassafras Creole Kitchen, Creolicious Concepts – a food production company – and The Chef Ducky Experience –a private chef event service.

Trout and Broccoli Stir Fry

Gillie Houston

Food Writer, Photographer, Recipe Developer & Editor

Gillie Houston is a Brooklyn-based food writer, photographer, recipe developer, and editor who has written for a wide variety of publications including Food&Wine, Travel + Leisure, Cherry Bombe Magazine, MUNCHIES, Tasting Table, and more. She has traveled to nearly 50 countries around the world in pursuit of all things delicious. 

Nacho Chilaquiles

Lisa Nelson

Chef @ Queen Trini Lisa

A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Lisa Nelson, better known as Queen Trini Lisa has been bringing her award-winning Trinbagonian Island Soul Food to New Orleans through her pop-up restaurant Queen Trini Lisa. She is known for her presence at many pop-ups and for partaking in festivals around New Orleans. Her menu includes Doubles a famous vegan street food, her award-winning BBQ Jerk Chicken, curries, stews, and sandwiches.

Watch Chef Lisa's Recipe Video

Tia Henry

Chef and Owner of Café Dauphine

Considering herself a self-made chef, Tia Henry, chef and owner of Café Dauphine, a beloved neighborhood restaurant in the Holy Cross District of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, has been serving up Southern and Creole specialties since 2012. She is a Louisiana native, born and raised in Cajun Country, now a longtime resident of New Orleans. Inspired by her roots, her cooking style reflects southern, soul food with five-star flair! Most recently this summer, Chef Tia was featured along with 28 fellow female chefs on WYES PBS 26-part cooking series, Kitchen Queens New Orleans, spotlighting women who are changing the culinary landscape of New Orleans.

Crab-Stuffed Salmon with Honey and Hot Sauce Glaze

Bricia Lopez

Co-Owner of La Guelaguetza

Bricia Lopez is an entrepreneur, cultural ambassador, and a key figure in Los Angeles’ gastronomic scene. Through her family’s James Beard award-winning restaurant, Guelaguetza in Los Angeles’s Koreatown, she and her siblings have put Oaxacan cuisine and culture at the forefront of today’s dynamic culinary scene. Her influence extends to the beverage industry too. The New Yorker called Bricia the “Queen of Mezcal.” This year she opened Vegas’s first ever mezcal bar – ‘Mama Rabbit” inside The Park MGM. Her cookbook – OAXACA, Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico – was released on October 22, 219, and available everywhere books are sold.  More recently, she expanded her success into the digital world by launching the Super Mamas Podcast with her sister, Paulina, that has become a lifestyle media company, complete with annual events, and corporate partnerships with major brands. Bricia and her siblings also founded I Love Micheladas, a direct to consumer proprietary michelada cocktail mix. Their product can also be found in hundreds of retailers across California. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son, and travels frequently to Oaxaca.

Bricia Lopez was appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles to the Board of Convention and Tourism Development on March 2019.

View Bricia's Recipe

Peter Nguyen

Chef @ Banh Mi Boys

In 2016, Peter Nguyen opened up Banh Mi Boys in Metairie, a sandwich shop that would sell traditional Banh Mi and Po Boys side by side along with new fusion creations. New Orleans has been embracing Vietnamese cuisine for some time now and when Peter’s time came to give what he had to offer, he wanted to provide something different, something refreshing for the Vietnamese food scene. That’s when he decided to go head on and specialize his interest in “Banh Mi,” also known around New Orleans as the Vietnamese Po Boy. Overall, Peter’s goal is to offer great delicious sandwiches whether it be his Banh Mi or Po Poys.

View Chef Peter's Recipe

Nina Compton

Chef & Owner of Bywater American Bistro

Winner of the 2018 JBF Award for Best Chef South, Nina Compton is Chef/Owner of Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro. At Compère Lapin, she melds flavors of her Caribbean upbringing, love for French and Italian cuisine and Louisiana’s beautiful indigenous ingredients. At Bywater American Bistro, she features contemporary American fare focusing on seasonal ingredient-driven cuisine in a casual, convivial setting.

View Chef Nina's Recipe Video

Mason Hereford

Chef and Owner of Turkey and the Wolf

Mason Hereford is the chef and owner of Turkey and the Wolf, a counter service-only joint that Food & Wine and GQ both listed as one of the most important restaurants of the decade. He also owns Molly’s Rise and Shine, a new breakfast spot nearby listed by Food & Wine as a 2020 Best New Restaurant. He credits his 3 Beard noms to the wildly imaginative, caring people that actually run the restaurants and inject them with their character. He was born and raised in rural Virginia, lives in New Orleans, and will never leave.

View Mason's Recipe