Chris Shepherd is a James Beard Award-winning chef who transformed Houston’s culinary scene with Underbelly, opened in 2012. The restaurant earned national acclaim as a James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant and was named one of Bon Appétit and Esquire’s best new restaurants. Shepherd was named Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in 2013 and won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. In 2024, he was named Editor in Chef for Food & Wine and joined Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 list. He co-founded Southern Smoke Foundation, which has provided over $16 million in emergency relief for food and beverage workers.

Buddha Lo is a two-time Top Chef winner—the only chef to claim back-to-back victories in Seasons 19 (Houston) and 20 (World All-Stars)—and the Executive Chef and co-owner of the Michelin-starred Huso in Tribeca, New York, renowned for its innovative, caviar-focused tasting menus blending precision, luxury, and global influences. Starting his career at age 12 in his family's Chinese restaurant in Port Douglas, Australia, he trained at elite venues including three-Michelin-star Gordon Ramsay in London and Eleven Madison Park in NYC.

He will be leading the Culinary Masters cooking class, sharing his acclaimed expertise and boundary-pushing techniques with participants.

2025 James Beard Foundation “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic” semifinalist, Chef Matt Conroy, is The Popal Group's award-winning chef behind three of DC's best restaurants: Pascual, Lutèce, and just-opened Maison Bar à Vins. Pascual, TPG's hearth-focused Mexican restaurant that he opened in 2024 alongside the Popal family and spouse Chef Isabel Coss, received national best/best new restaurant recognition in Eater, The New York Times, Robb Report, and the #1 spot in The Washington Post. Lutèce, the group's French neo-bistro in Georgetown, is a New York Times “America’s Best Restaurants” 2022 and one of RESY's "Top 100 Restaurants" for '25. Maison Bar à Vins, which opened in late 2025, is a European-style wine bar + restaurant set in a three-story, historic brownstone in Adams Morgan. Maison is a current James Beard Best New Restaurant in America nominee and the highest rated restaurant to date from The Washington Post's food critic, Elazar Sontag.  

Chef Isabel Coss is a Mexico City native best known for landing on FOOD & WINE’s list of the eleven "Best New Chefs in America" class of 2023, as a 2025 James Beard Foundation "Best Chef Mid-Atlantic" semifinalist, and one of “100 Latino Leaders in the United States.” She moved to Washington, DC in 2020 to join The Popal Group at Lutèce where she led the team as Executive Pastry Chef for several years. She is now the Executive Chef of the group's Pascual. 

Three-time James Beard nominee and TIME100 Next honoree Chef Serigne Mbaye is chef-owner of Dakar NOLA, a New Orleans tasting-menu spot reimagining modern Senegalese cuisine as pescatarian. It features Gulf seafood and South Louisiana produce, bridging Dakar and New Orleans coastal traditions. Born in Harlem and raised in Dakar, he trained beside his mother, graduated top of his class from New England Culinary Institute (2016), and worked at Commander’s Palace, Atelier Crenn, and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Launched as a 2020 pop-up, it opened permanently in 2022. Highlights: No. 6 on North America’s 50 Best 2025, Best in South USA, James Beard Best New Restaurant 2024, and Eater’s most essential U.S. restaurants list. Praised by NYT, Bon Appétit, Garden & Gun, and more—it’s one of New Orleans’ hottest destinations.

Tavel Bristol-Joseph is Chef and Chief Operating Officer for Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group’s eleven concepts in Austin and San Antonio. He leads the 20-seat dessert bar Nicosi at Pullman Market and oversees upcoming Houston opening in 2026. Born in Guyana, he began baking with his aunt and moved to the U.S. at 17, training at New York Restaurant School. After years in New York and Tucson—where he met Chef Kevin Fink—he co-founded Emmer & Rye in Austin in 2015. Acclaimed openings include Hestia (#1 Best New Restaurant 2020, Robb Report) and Canje (Bon Appétit Best New 2022). Bristol-Joseph earned FOOD & WINE Best New Chef 2020, Esquire Pastry Chef of the Year 2024, and 2026 James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef semifinalist. The group holds multiple MICHELIN honors, including Stars for Hestia, Isidore, and Nicosi. 

Dario Montelvere is a veteran Four Seasons executive chef with over 20 years of experience. Born in Rosario, Argentina, and raised in Australia, he holds degrees in Commercial Cookery and Design & Technology. He began his career at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney in 2002, later working with renowned chefs like Tetsuya Wakuda and Neil Perry. His path led to Toronto (collaborating with Lynn Crawford and cooking for founder Isadore Sharp), Lanai (Restaurant Chef at Kailani), and Peninsula Papagayo (opening Cena Sociale and earning a James Beard House invitation). Today, at the Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans, Dario crafts celebratory, indulgent dishes inspired by the city’s joyful spirit and his global travels.