The Judges
Chris Macdonald | Donna Dooher | Krys Hines | Stuart Ross | Mark Krause | Lesia Burlak | Claudio Aprile
Christopher McDonald is one of Canada's most respected chefs, known for a creative, first-principles approach to cooking, and an exceptional knowledge of the intricate relationships between food and wine.
Born in Toronto and growing up in New York and later Toronto, his childhood and early interest in food was conditioned by his mother Marion Grudeff’s career as a concert pianist and Broadway musical writer in New York. After returning to New York in 1979 to work in Dodin Bouffant, one of the city's finest French restaurants, McDonald embarked on what would become a 15-year educational odyssey of learning both the spoken and culinary languages of the world's great cuisines, studying at the famed La Varenne Cooking School, travelling to Verona, Italy, where he worked as the chef of La Bottega del Vino, and opening the kitchens of two world-famous luxury hotels in Mexico. His international travels also took him to San Francisco, where he cooked at both Stars and Chez Panisse, and to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he worked at the renowned Coyote Café for Mark Miller, for whom he developed the menu at Coyote Café's Las Vegas incarnation.
In Canada, McDonald has been influential in bringing his experience to several acclaimed projects, acting as chef at the VIP lounge of the Ontario pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver; as chef de cuisine at Centro, a project that introduced the emerging California cuisine to Toronto; as opening chef at Santa Fe Bar and Grill in Toronto, a highly successful project showcasing his southwestern and Mexican culinary skills; and at Massimo Rosticceria in 1990, which drew on an intensely personal vision that grew out of his experience in Italy.
After spending 15 years refining his craft in the finest restaurants throughout the world, chef Christopher McDonald opened Avalon restaurant in Toronto in 1995. Avalon was McDonald’s 11-year project investigating the culinary boundaries of urban fine dining. Two years after Avalon's daily a la carte menu opened to rave reviews in 1994, McDonald introduced an ambitious six-course gastronomic menu. Avalon continued to push culinary boundaries with the addition of the "Adventure Menu," a perfectly orchestrated sequence of several small plates incorporating exceptional ingredients, each reflecting a different method of cooking and paired with wines that together created a symphonic progression of flavours. In 2004, Avalon introduced its own artisanal cured-meat program, a labour-intensive and delicious exploration that was expanded at Cava.
Cava, which opened in May 2006, grows out of McDonald’s desire to return to the exploration of more rustic culinary themes, and to establish a neighbourhood restaurant with a more casual tone.
Donna Dooher Chef, restaurateur, author and Food Network personality
Donna Dooher is North America’s leading advocate of the ‘return to the kitchen’ whether it’s dining in the ever-popular Mildred Pierce Restaurant or participating in a hands on cooking event in the Cookworks Cooking Studio. With her 25 years of experience as a chef, partner of Mildred Pierce Restaurant, founder of The Cookworks Cooking Studio and as a television personality, Donna has been the leader in helping people “discover their inner chef.”
In developing The Cookworks concept, Donna Dooher was the first to recognize how great cooking can inspire, how a return to the kitchen can be the best stress reducer, and how entertaining the stove can be. She not only teaches participants in her classes to think and cook like a chef, she instills a new sense of camaraderie while you cook, excellence of a job well done…all with good humour and great taste. Her style of entertaining cooking has taught thousands of corporate and individual clients to discover their culinary creativity, their “inner chef.”
The Cookworks with Donna Dooher brings the engaging formula to television, with regular appearances on Food Network Canada and the Food Network in the United States. Her best-selling cookbook “Out to Brunch,” co-authored by Claire Stubbs, won Cuisine Canada’s English Language cookbook of the year Award 2003. Donna is a strong proponent of culinary excellence and achievement through her memberships in the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Institute, the Canadian Food and Restaurant Association, Slow Food, Cuisine Canada and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs.
Chef Donna Dooher, originally from Ottawa, graduated with honours in Culinary Arts at Algonquin College and has completed the University of Guelph’s Hospitality Manager’s Development Course. She is married to Kevin Gallagher, her Mildred Pierce business partner.
Krys Hines is first & foremost a happily married father of a new baby girl. He is a former coffee roaster and retailer, with many years of espresso machine sales and technical support. Krys is an avid cyclist and a former bicycle designer & frame builder, and is currently involved in medical equipment sales.
Stuart Ross owner of Bull Dog Coffee in downtown Toronto. www.bulldogtoronto.com
Bull Dog Coffee is Toronto's first latte art coffee shop, we have made a name for ourselves for serving traditional espresso made drinks. We opened our doors December 2003. I competed and became Toronto's first Central Region Canada Barista Champion. And place 4'th in 2005 in Canada's National Barista competition. Bull Dog is known for having fully trained certified barista's serving you the best of the best.
