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LOUISIANA COOKIN’ MAGAZINE
ANNOUNCES 6th ANNUAL CHEFS TO WATCH AWARDS

Five Louisiana Chefs Honored with Prestigious Title

New Orleans — Louisiana Cookin’ magazine is pleased to announce its 6th annual Chefs to Watch awards. The award honors and highlights five great chefs who have been cooking in their current position for less than three years.

Louisiana restaurant and culinary industry leaders submit their choices from around the state in January and February each year. Louisiana Cookin’ staff anonymously visits each nominee’s restaurant to review the menu and sample the cuisine, then selects the winners. Each chef is profiled, along with a recipe for a signature dish, in the July/August issue of Louisiana Cookin’. The recipes make up a five-course dinner that the chefs will prepare and serve at a dinner benefitting Cafe’ Reconcile August 28th.

“Congratulations to these five chefs for distinguishing themselves in a state full of culinary experts, and for being a part of what makes Louisiana so great,” said Lt. Governor Mitchell J. Landrieu. “I also appreciate Louisiana Cookin’ for identifying these gifted chefs and shining the light on Louisiana talent.”

The 2007 winners are Chef Chris Nealy of Mansur’s on the Boulevard, Baton Rouge; Chef Alon Shaya of Besh Steak, New Orleans; Chef Michael Sichel of 7 on Fulton, New Orleans; Chef Guy Sockrider of Muriel’s Jackson Square, New Orleans; and Chef Stephen Stryjewski of Cochon, New Orleans.

“I think this year’s honorees represent the great strides Louisiana’s culinary industry has made along the road to recovery after the devastating 2005 hurricane season, and I’m very happy to honor them.”said Romney Richard, founder and Executive Editor of Louisiana Cookin’.

Louisiana Cookin’ is the only national publication catering to the connoisseur of Louisiana’s unique culture, cuisine, and travel destinations. Launched in 1997, it is published on a bi-monthly schedule and is distributed to better bookstores and newsstands across the United States. Find Louisiana Cookin’ online at www.louisianacookin.com.

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About the Chefs

Chris Nealy, Executive Chef, Mansur’s on the Boulevard. Nealy grew up cooking with his family in Baton Rouge. He has a dual degree in food service management and culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University. His first professional position was with the Camelot Club in Baton Rouge, then with the same organization in Nashville. He later opened the kitchen at Pavè, where he met his wife-to-be. He moved back to Charleston when his wife enrolled at Johnson & Wales and took a position at Satchmo’s. After his wife finished school, they moved back to Baton Rouge to start a family. Nealy took a position at Mansur’s and the rest is history. For more information about Chef Nealy, contact Brandon MacDonald at 225.923.3366.

Alon Shaya, Chef de Cuisine, Besh Steak. Shaya went to the Culinary Institute of America directly out of high school and began an internship at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas at the age of 19; he opened Antonio’s Ristorante at Harrah’s Casino in St. Louis 2001. He later moved on to executive chef of The Buffet at Harrah’s in New Orleans, and in early 2005 accepted the opportunity to work with Chef John Besh at Besh Steak. His respect for Chef Besh makes Shaya’s work as chef de cuisine “more a pleasure than a job.” Combine that with the rousing approval of his guests, and Shaya has to admit he must have Lady Luck on his side. For more information about Chef Shaya, contact Simone Rathlé; 703.534.8100.

Michael Sichel, Executive Chef, 7 on Fulton. Sichel began his culinary career working under Chef Alfred Portale at Gotham Bar & Grill in New York. He enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, and spent a year as an intern at Hawthorne Lane in San Francisco. After graduation he continued his quest to work for ten restaurants in ten years by moving on to Rubicon, then the Abbaye de Sainte Croix in Salon de Provence, then the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago. Sichel got his first experience with southern Louisiana cuisine as executive chef at Kean’s Carriage House in St. Francisville, LA. He then went to Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, eventually becoming executive sous chef. Sichel moved back to New Orleans in 2005 and opened Indigo only to lose everything when the levees failed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He and his wife were determined to stay and opened The Cellar at Culinaria, and he is now the executive chef at 7 on Fulton. For more information about Chef Sichel, contact Liz Goliwas Bodet, 504.897.1391.

Guy Sockrider, Executive Chef, Muriel’s Jackson Square. The son of a French mother and Swiss father, Guy was exposed to a wide variety of international cuisines at an early age. After completing his formal schooling with a degree in nutrition from the University of Chicago, Sockrider trained and worked in a variety of well-renowned restaurants such as Chicago’s Le Perroquet, Le Moulin des Mougins in France and Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. After more than 30 years in the restaurant business, Sockrider assumed the head culinary post at Muriel’s Jackson Square working closely with long-time local industry veteran and Muriel’s managing partner Rick Gratia. For more information about Chef Sockrider, contact Liz Goliwas Bodet, 504.897.1391.

Stephen Stryjewski, Chef de Cuisine, Cochon. Stryjewski is a self-proclaimed military brat whose mobile military lifestyle exposed him to many different cuisines and sparked an early interest in cooking. He enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America out of sheer curiosity after progressively responsible jobs as a teenager in the kitchen of a country club. After culinary school he traveled in Europe researching Old World Cuisine, returning to the United States for a position at Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley. After a couple of years in the Wine Country, he moved to New Orleans for a position at Commander’s Palace, followed by a stint at the Blue Point Bar and Grill in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He then moved to the nation’s capital for a position at Vidalia, finally returning to New Orleans to work at Herbsaint and a pivotal relationship with Herbsaint’s owner Chef Donald Link was formed. Together they conceived Cochon and opened the restaurant in the spring of 2006. For more information on chef Stryjewski, contact Liz Goliwas Bodet, 504.897.1391.