Awards and Accolades
Kayla Pfeiffer’s ’16 Bicyclette Cookshop in Naples, FL, made USA Today’s2025 “Restaurants of the Year” list, as reported in Naples Daily News. Pfeiffer, a Chopped champion, also was named a James Beard Award semi-finalist.
Nick Rabar ’98 and the “really good friend chicken” he’s perfected at Honeybird, his fourth local restaurant launch, were featured in East Bay RI. The Emmy-nominated, two-time Rhode Island Hospitality Association Chef of the Year has also now been named a 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast.
Nick Gaido’s ’10 Gaido’s of Galveston, TX was among the six restaurants to earn the James Beard Foundation’s 2025 America’s Classics Award. The foundation highlighted Gaido’s Gulf seafood-based menu and Nick and wife Kateryna’s involvement in the community, including raising over $50,000 for Ukraine, where Kateryna is from.
Megan Vaughan’s ’05 has been nominated for the 2025 Forbes Entrepreneur of Impact Award. As The Southern Maryland Chronicle reported, her nomination celebrated the certified cheesemonger and Vaughan Cheese Counter & Barher owner’s role in “connecting artisan producers with consumers while promoting environmentally responsible practices.”
Black History Month
Hasina Crice’s ’14 Perfect Sweets concierge bakery in Newburgh, NY, was included in a roundup of Hudson Valley Black-owned businesses.
Matthew ’98 and Tia ’98 Raiford collaborated with Philadelphia’s Ember & Ash and Bokker’s restaurants for their “From Georgia with Love” events, which celebrated Gulla Geechee cuisine and ingredients grown on the couple’s Gilliard Farms. As Metro Philadelphia reported, the couple believes in cultivating the land and pioneering a return to the regenerative practices of their forefathers.
Food is Love
An article in The MICHELIN Guide highlighting three restaurants owned and operated by couples included Cedric Vongerichten ’04 and Ochi Latjuba Vongerichten’s ’04 Wayan restaurant in New York City. The story shared the couple’s journey as life and business partners, which began when Cedric was Ochi’s French tutor at CIA.
Salon published a piece on the business partnership and friendship between Susan Feniger ’77 and Mary Sue Milliken, highlighting their LGBTQ+ activism and Alice B., the newest edition to their restaurant empire.
Local Vermont publication Seven Days shared the story of Kyle Doda and Betsy Simpson ’14, the married co-founders of their new “on-farm” restaurant, Farmer’s Hand, at their 1000 Stone Farm in Brookfield, VT.
Charleston City Paper featured the opening of Christopher Garate’s ’11 and Keila Viera’s ’10 newest breakfast venture, Wakey Bakey Bagels. The couple met while at CIA and previously found success in the Charleston, SC, area as owners of BKeDSHop doughnuts.
Inspiring the Next Generation
CIA Assistant Professor of Baking and Pastry Arts Lilla Bernal ’99, took part in BakingTech 2025, the American Society of Baking’s annual conference, held February 16–18 in Orlando, FL. As bakingbusiness.com reported, she spoke about training the next generation of bakers.
On the Small Screen
TastingTable provided career updates on several MasterChef Junior winners, including Season One winner Alex Weiss ’20, who, at the time of writing, was a private chef in California.
CIA alumni and celebrity chefs Geoffrey Zakarian ’83 and Kelsey Barnard Clark ’11 appeared on Good Morning America to present nacho dishes in honor of the Super Bowl. Zakarian also spoke about his work with City Harvest.
2023 CIA Leadership Award honoree Melissa Rodriguez ’99 and her business partner, Jeff Katz, were featured on CBS Saturday Morning’s weekly food segment, “The Dish,” discussing their latest restaurant, Crane Club, located in the space that formerly housed their two-Michelin-starred Al Coro.
Openings and New Beginnings
A press release announced the release of the inaugural 2022 vintage from Trailside Vineyard, a joint venture between Carlton McCoy ’06 and partner Jeremy Seysses.
Tom Gray ’92 plans to open Electric Dough Pizza Co. as part of the historic former San Marco Theatre’s upcoming restoration, the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union announced. Gray is a Jacksonville native and two-time James Beard Award nominee.
Texas publication Local Profile introduced readers to Palate, a wine bistro that opened in November 2024, praising its menu created by executive chef Eddie Ledesma-Porter ’05, CIA Alumni Council Chair.
Diego Fernandez ’10 will be the first culinary director of Adair Concepts, a family-owned restaurant group operated a number of Houston dining concepts, according to the Houston Press.
Frank Falcinelli’s ’86 and Frank Castronovo’s (AKA “The Franks”) are bringing their F&F Pizzeria concept to Pittsburgh, PA, their first expansion outside of Brooklyn, NY. According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, thepair chose Pittsburgh in part thanks to Falcinelli’s friendship with CIA classmate Greg Alauzen ’87, who owns LeoGreta in Carnegie, PA.
Profiles and Features
An FSR magazine article on how Dave Query ’85 prioritizes community described what his Big F Restaurant Group with its 15 locations does differently to stand out, including its guiding principle, “Make it right.”
A profile in Forbes of Andrew Carmellini ’91 points out how this long-time New York leading chef with numerous restaurants under his group, NoHo Hospitality, took 30 years to open his first eponymous restaurant, Café Carmellini, in the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City.
A reporter for CT Insider toured the farm of Cassie and Rich Parentes ’00 and profiled their companion businesses Clock Tower Farm in Sherman, NY, and Clock Tower Grill in Brewster, NY, highlighting Chef Rich Parentes’ intentional approach to promoting a farm-to-table cooking.
Prateek Sadhu ’11 was featured in an Eater article about new innovations in Himalayan cuisine. The article called Sadhu’s restaurant, Naar, “India’s hottest dining destination.” In 2024, Naar was one of Time’s“100 greatest places to visit” and made Conde Nast Traveler’sbest new restaurants list.
Donna Yuen ’04, who was currently baking at the L’Auberge de Sedona resort, was on AZ Central’s list of 12 chefs to watch in the area’s growing restaurant scene.
Civil Eats profiled how Alaska native chef Rob Kinneen ’94 shared his knowledge of local ingredients and ecology to fight for food sovereignty. Kinneen, who is Tlingit, is the outreach director for Sean Sherman’s nonprofit NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), which seeks to “promote Indigenous food knowledge and access.”
Stissing House General Manager Nathan Rawlinson ’07 was quoted in a The Poughkeepsie Journal article regarding the Pine Plains, NY, restaurant’s chef and proprietor, Clare de Boer, being recently named a James Beard award semi-finalist for “Best Chef: New York State.” Rawlinson discussed his philosophy that “you don’t get the accolade…unless you treat every single person who comes in the restaurant like they’re a New York Times reviewer.”