Graduating in 2016 from the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Indianapolis with a bachelor's in culinary management, Chef Haley Garrity began a line cook job at the then recently opened East End Grill in her hometown of Lafayette, Ind. Now chef de...
Wine advice from Spring Dinner Series sommelier Ashlee Nemeth
It’s time for the Culinary Crossroads Spring Dinner Series, four weeks of collaborative chef dinners that run April 8-29 at Highland Golf & Country Club, and once again sommelier Ashlee Nemeth of Tinker Street restaurant in Indianapolis will be choosing the wine...
Cooking is who I am, says Southern Indiana chef Roza Segoviano
One of the most prominent executive chefs in Southern Indiana, Rozalind "Roza" Segoviano owns six restaurants with her Mexican-born husband, Juan. Together, they oversee a growing regional restaurant empire, Viva Hospitality Group, that includes Sleepy Rooster Kitchen...
Charter school CEO on teaching kids to cook and supporting the community
Tommy Reddicks, CEO of Paramount Schools of Excellence, launched an innovative middle school cooking program in Indianapolis last year, and a team of his Jr. Chef Academy students won first place at the World Food Championships in Dallas in November. But that’s not...
Smokin’ Barrel BBQ launches second location in New Palestine
Representing the newest generation of Indy barbecue pitmasters, Evansville native Mike McFarland is earning acclaim for his barbecuing and smoked meat skills. After graduating from Pennsylvania Culinary School, he and his wife, CJ, opened their first Smokin’ Barrel...
Travel and dining are inspiration for Indy chef James “Mackie” Jones
His Place Eatery, the popular soul food restaurant on Indy's Eastside, started as a catering business with chef James "Mackie" Jones and his mother, Jackie. During that time, he also worked for an area broadcaster in corporate sales but felt a change in his career...
Catching up with Indy chef and James Beard semifinalist Thomas Melvin
Indiana native Thomas Melvin, executive chef at Vida in Indianapolis since 2017, just received his second nod from the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Great Lakes. The restaurant, located in Indy’s historic Lockerbie Square neighborhood, has received AAA’s Four...
Cookie company founder dishes on baking, inspiration and downtown Indy
Salamat Cookies founder Michael Williams II started baking sweets to pay his rent when his photography career came to a pandemic standstill. He enlisted his Filipina mother, Odie, and the two began an Indianapolis-based bakery using traditional ingredients from the...
Talking wine and food with Kevin Geeting of Country Heritage
One sip was all it took. Winemaker Kevin Geeting's career trajectory diverged after receiving a mathematical science degree from Trine University in Angola, Ind. At a convention, Geeting gave in to a colleague's insistence on tasting a 1998 Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet...
Talking wine and food with Anderson vintner Treva Bostic
When psychologist Treva Bostic opened Cultured Urban Winery in her hometown of Anderson, Ind., as the first Black-owned farmhouse winery in the Hoosier state, she fulfilled a lifelong ambition. An avid traveler and oenophile, Bostic, who is the director of race,...
A chef “out of necessity” returns home to lead award-winning restaurant
Chef Logan Hostettler grew up in Nashville, Tenn., but was born in Clark County, Indiana, in the small town of New Washington, and until he was 6 lived across the street from the church that he and his family would one day renovate as 1894 Lodge & Catering Hall....
Local ingredients and global travel inspire Noblesville chef
Chef Samir Mohammad, a native of Taos, N.M., who studied at Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco and the well-regarded Culinary Institute of Arts in Napa, Calif., opened 9th Street Bistro in Noblesville, Ind., with his Hoosier wife, Rachel, at the height of the pandemic....
Candymaker Carrie Abbott on favorite foods, cooking for family and what’s in her fridge
In 2012, Carrie Abbott, then a caterer, tried to create a homemade Butterfinger candy bar for a wedding client, but what emerged became her signature creation – Frittle. This delightful concoction, a nostalgic fusion of peanut brittle and fudge, would become the...
Vintner Nicole Kearney on wine, food and celebrating every day
By Brian Garrido It was the gift of a wine refrigerator that led vintner Nicole Kearney to host her first home wine tasting and marked the beginning of her journey as a wine professional. Eventually, she created a tasting business featuring wines from around the...
Indiana chefs win golden tickets to World Food Championships
Three more Indiana chefs received a golden ticket to the World Food Championships recently and will be joining Team Indiana at the November competition in Dallas. Chefs Brady Foster of Foster’s Café and Catering, Dean Sample of Bonge’s Tavern and Youssef Boudarine of...