By Lynn Schwartz

With more than 30 years in the business, Chef Philip DeMaiolo of New York’s Pier Sixty and The Lighthouse thrives under the pressure of making each event memorable.

“There is a single opportunity to create a memory,” says Philip DeMaiolo, the executive chef of Pier Sixty and The Lighthouse, two upscale catering venues in New York City. This might be a statement about any meal in any restaurant, but DeMaiolo is referring to the wedding meal. And the fare must not only be memorable, but perfect. The food, presentation and service need to exceed all expectations of the bride and groom, their families and their guests.

By John Paul Khoury, CCC, www.preferredmeats.com, www.preferredmeatsblog.com

Now at Tyler Florence’s Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco, Thiemann thrives on energy and is having fun.

From a kid playing drums in a Sacramento band to just over a decade later being Tyler Florence’s chef de cuisine at the Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco, Mike Thiemann’s journey has been a series of choices that he felt driven to make. He took time out of his schedule to explain:

What drew you to the industry and why become a chef?
Well, it was 1995 and I was a just a kid playing drums in a band when I got a job at Greta’s Café in Sacramento. What a great job, I learned so much under Greta. I started washing dishes and then ended up in the deli, then baking, making soups, etc.

This is where I learned to sweat off mirepoix, and making soup from scratch, building flavors. It was great, like school really, I mean this is how anyone really learns. I was there for five years, until 2000 when the place was sold to Chipotle’s.

By Lynn Schwartz

Daniel Holzman of The Meatball Shop in Manhattan doesn't miss the pressure of fine dining. That's partly because he's smiling all the way to the bank.

Daniel Holzman makes meatballs. Lots of them—beef, spicy pork, chicken, vegetable and a daily special ball, which one can customize with sauce—tomato, spicy meat, mushroom gravy, Parmesan cream or pesto. Holzman, executive chef, and Michael Chernow, general manager, own The Meatball Shop, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The two born and bred New Yorkers have set out to give the customer a ballistic food adventure in their "fuss free kinda joint." A limited, meatball-focused menu offers up simple, sustainable eats with no strings attached (like an expensive bill) until 4 a.m. With an impressive upscale culinary background, Holzman had plenty of options, and the meatball business is no accident. It's a calculated choice. A choice designed to incorporate a satisfying lifestyle, good-quality food, customer value and fun.

By John Paul Khoury, CCC, www.preferredmeats.com, www.preferredmeatsblog.com

An interview with Jackie Lau, corporate chef of Roy’s Restaurant Group.

Jackie Lau began as a pastry chef at Roy’s Restaurant in Honolulu, her first job out of culinary school. She quickly mastered Hawaiian fusion cuisine and became chef de cuisine; later, Roy Yamaguchi sent Lau to open his restaurants in Japan and Guam. Lau has participated in many prestigious culinary events including the Aspen Food and Wine Festival, The James Beard House and The World Gourmet Summit. She has had the opportunity to cook with some of the best chefs in the world, including Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck. Lau was featured on the TV series “Great Chefs of the World.” Here is her story:

What drew you to the industry and why become a chef?
Well, I‘ve actually always wanted to be a chef; in fact, I told my folks when I was 4 years old that I wanted to be a chef! I am from a Mexican/German background and was raised on excellent food, especially Mexican fare. I grew up on a farm in California’s central valley outside of Merced. We raised a lot of our own food, always had people over, everyone in my family loved to cook—food and hospitality was really an integral part of my everyday life from early on. This farm lifestyle also really prepared me for the restaurant business in that it was a lot of work, so you get used to working hard, but also raising your own food gets you used to a certain elevated quality of product, which translates well into the restaurant industry, especially when you are focused on quality fine dining.

By Lynn Schwartz

Thanks to Whole Foods Market, Scott Crawford is able to utilize all of his skills while practicing what he believes in.

Scott Crawford works for a company that has a strong commitment to sustainable agriculture. The company searches for the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and naturally preserved foods. They believe that food in its purest state is the best tasting and most nutritious. Based on this commitment, one might assume that Crawford works for a small, high-end restaurant, but actually, this is the philosophy of Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market. And Crawford is the prepared-foods coordinator of the mid-Atlantic Region. The company’s dedication to food, people and planet, unique for the grocery industry, is what gave Crawford the courage to change his culinary direction and join an organization with 54,000 team members (their term for employees) and more than 300 stores.