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

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

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

Jeanine Donofrio

Love and Lemons

Jeanine Donofrio is a recipe developer and author of two bestselling cookbooks, The Love & Lemons Cookbook and Love & Lemons Every Day. Her veggie-centric recipes celebrate how nourishing, fun, and delicious cooking with seasonal, plant-based ingredients can be. The New York Times described her cookbook as “Happiness itself is tossed into every bowl,” while Bon Appétit hailed it as “the most beautiful cookbook we’ve ever seen.” Jeanine has been featured in People, SELF, Oprah Magazine, and many more. She lives in Chicago with her husband Jack and two shiba inu pups.

View Jeanine's Recipe

Karly Gomez

A Simple Pantry

From her childhood home in Southern Minnesota, Karly embraces the crazy of everyday life by creating delicious dishes her family and friends love while experimenting with new flavors and techniques and photographing the results. Karly’s love for beautiful foods and joy for creating is infectious to all who meet her.

View Karly's Recipe

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

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

Terri & Jenny

Spoon Fork Bacon

Teri Lyn Fisher, a photographer, and Jenny Park a food stylist and recipe developer, together they created the blog Spoon Fork Bacon in 2011. Spoon Fork Bacon marries beautiful imagery with expertly crafted recipes. You can also find fun and easy DIYs, food centric gifting projects, and bits about their home life. They have also written three cookbooks, and have been featured on The Today Show, Domino Magazine, William Sonoma, and Good Morning America. 

Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta

David Olson

Live Fire Republic

David Olson is the creator, author, and photographer behind Live Fire Republic. A nationally recognized, award-winning recipe developer, American Culinary Federation Chef, live-fire grill master, media personality, and international adventurer-extraordinaire. David is featured annually in numerous live television segments and radio interviews, while his recipes continue to be shared across the web, social media, and in print publications from sea to shining sea.

When not cooking, filming, or spending time with family in Michigan, David can be found traveling the globe in search of epic adventure, extraordinary experiences, and in learning in the kitchens of the most talented home cooks and chefs across the globe. David is also passionate about his board position with The American Diabetes Association, volunteer work with The Kids’ Food Basket and sharing his accumulated skills and culinary passions with an attentive global audience.

View David's Recipe

Jocelyn Delk Adams

Grandbaby Cakes

Though raised in Chicago, Jocelyn Delk Adams developed what she describes as “the baking gene” from time spent in the kitchen with her grandmother in Mississippi. Jocelyn started Grandbaby Cakes as a way to share her love of cooking with her friends. Her modern twist on classic recipes passed down by her grandmother garnered her blog a devoted audience and a high demand to share her love of baking in a more tangible way.

In 2015, she released her first cookbook Grandbaby Cakes which won the Gourmand World Award for Best Blogger Cookbook and was featured as the top fall cookbook by People Magazine, Vanity Fair and Yahoo!. She now works with several brands and is a cast member on one of the Cooking Channel’s longest running and most popular shows, Unique Sweets. Grandbaby Cakes is an ode to preserving family tradition, embracing heritage and creating new family memories for years to come.

Jocelyn currently lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and daughter, Harmony.

Spicy Chipotle Fried Chicken and Cornbread Waffle Sliders

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

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

Josh Scherer

Host of Mythical Kitchen & Co-host of A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich

Mythical Chef Josh Scherer is the host of Mythical Kitchen on YouTube and co-host of the podcast, A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich. He is also the author of the Culinary Bro-Down Cookbook and he has not gone a day without consuming hot sauce since August 23, 2009. That was a bad day for him. 

Steak & Cheese Potato Skins with Roasted Garlic and TABASCO® Sauce Compound Butter

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

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