PAIRED®

For a chef who got into the restaurant business on a whim, Adam Branz has certainly made a name for himself.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Branz was raised in Breese, Illinois and has spent most of his life in the Midwest and Mountain West. He attended Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois before moving to Le Cordon Bleu St. Louis and graduating at the top of his class.

Branz and his wife Lauren moved to Denver so she could attend law school at The University of Denver. He has worked in all restaurants owned by James Beard Best Chef Southwest Jennifer Jasinski and her business partner Beth Gruitch settling in at Bistro Vendôme where he was named chef de cuisine in 2014. Late 2017 found Branz in the kitchen at the new Ultreia in Denver’s Historic Union Station featuring the foods of Spain and Portugal. He left to create Split Lip Kitchen after testing it as a pop-up at Ultreia. Branz returned to Ultreia in 2024 as Operating Partner.

After shift, you’ll find Branz at Nallens, a local Irish pub. On his days off, you might try Watercourse where he loves the BBQ pulled jackfruit sandwich. He lives in south Denver with his wife Lauren, their two children Belle and Arlo and their two pups.

Chef Carrie Baird has made a name for herself over the last two decades leading kitchens in some of the most highly-regarded restaurants in Denver, Colorado. Baird’s signature style fuses locally-sourced ingredients with healthy twists on classic and innovative, new dishes.

Baird competed on Season 15 of Bravo’s “Top Chef” where she quickly became a fan favorite and was a top 4 finalist. In the spring of 2019, Baird was a contestant on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” and beat him handily with her Pork Green Chili Huevos Rancheros. She was an All-Star judge on “Top Chef” Season 18, judging 8 episodes of the season.

Baird has earned numerous accolades for her work as Executive Chef of Bar Dough including being a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award, Best Chef Mountain in 2019. Bar Dough was named one of the 25 Best Restaurants in Denver in 2017, 2018 and 2019 while Baird was the executive chef. 

Baird is currently the Culinary Director for The Culinary Creative Group’s Americana division in Denver where she oversees four Tap & Burger concepts and is a Partner and Chef for Fox and the Hen.

Originally from Montana, Cody attended The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, a Le Cordon Bleu affiliate school. After completing this program, he spent a season cooking in Sorrento, Italy, then moved back to Chicago, where he worked with many renowned chefs, including James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef Shawn McClain, Paul Virant of Perennial Virant and Pat and Mike Sheerin of Trenchermen.

Cody joined Frasca Hospitality Group in 2017 and helped open Tavernetta, initially in the role of sous chef before quickly ascending to chef de cuisine then Executive Chef. Through his travels and long-standing relationships with farmers and purveyors, he brings a deep understanding of Italian culture and cuisine to Tavernetta’s menu – inspired by the honesty of regional cuisine, its simplicity and focus on quality ingredients. In 2022, Cody was nominated for the Best Chef, Mountain category by the James Beard Foundation Awards.

Chef Tom Coohill began his love affair with French cuisine at L’Auberge de Champs in Kentucky before training under Master Chefs at the Michelin 3-star L’Oustau de Baumanière in France, Mobil 5-star Le Francais in Illinois and the fabled Ma Maison and Le St. Germain in Los Angeles. He made his mark in 1992 when he introduced Ciboulette in Atlanta, a nationally acclaimed modern French restaurant which was ranked in the top 10 by Condé Nast and top 25 by Esquire Magazine. In 2009 he opened Coohills, a French-inspired restaurant in Denver with a focus on locally sourced farm fresh ingredients. Chef Tom’s passion for creating memorable dining experiences is blissfully evident to all who attend one of his thoughtfully curated wine-pairing dinners.

Since bringing his expertise to Colorado, Tom has been an integral part of the state’s culinary community. He frequently participates in prestigious events such as Aspen Food & Wine Classic and Telluride Food + Vine. He has been a guest chef at the Crested Butte Wine + Food Festival and “Table at the Lodge Guest Chef Series” at The Stanley in Estes Park. Tom has won multiple awards at the annual Beaujolais & Beyond Festival in Denver, including Best Appetizer in 2015 for his famous blue crab cake with a Champagne tarragon nage, which can still be found on the menu at Coohills. He hosted an event at Coohills in 2019 for Denver’s sister city Brest, France in collaboration with Michelin star Chef Nicolas Conraux from La Butte Restaurant in Brest. In 2019, he was invited to participate in the Chefs Club, Park 90 + Chef Tom Coohill, a four-month restaurant takeover in Aspen. The space was designed to mimic Coohills in Denver. While there, Chef Tom hosted private events for the likes of Martha Stewart and Alice Waters. Internationally, Tom was a featured chef at the 10th annual Sabor Barranquilla gastronomic festival in Barranquilla, Columbia in 2017. He served as a guest chef at the 2014 Food & Fun Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland and hosted the Taste of Iceland in Denver.

Tom was a key player in the 2017 Plate of the Union Farm Bill Summit in Washington DC. He joined other elite chefs, including Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio. Through a series of meetings with Congress, Plate of the Union addressed the country’s hunger issues with a primary focus of revamping the food labeling system and food waste.

Colorado locals and long time food enthusiasts Melinda and Amando Carbajal acquired Simply Pizza Truck in 2019 along with their partners Mary and Bronson Rose. Since then they have been named best food truck in Denver, served over $100,000 in free meals to those in need, competed in the Caputo Cup in Naples, expanded to two new sites (including the Denver Zoo), and have more on the way! As pizzaiolos they strive to bring high quality, clean ingredients, to fast service settings. Keeping community and local businesses and their products in the forefront!

Blake Edmunds is a Colorado native who continues to elevate the Colorado food scene with his passion, creativity, and dedication. Throughout his career, Blake has worked beside Colorado’s best chefs and in “acclaimed restaurants” such as Michelin-starred restaurants including La Cabro d’Or (France), Le Bernardin (New York), and the Restaurant at Meadowood (California). Blake spent more than four years working with award-winning chef Alex Seidel at his small farm-driven restaurant, Fruition. During this time, Blake advanced from line cook to sous chef, honing his skills as a creative, committed chef and as a mentor and leader in the kitchen.

Though spirit-wise he’s a Colorado boy,
Executive Chef/Owner Bill Espiricueta was
born in Austin, Texas, and has been eating,
making, and enjoying BBQ with a fiery
passion from an early age, getting his
professional start at Kansas City’s progressive
Bluestem Restaurant before jumping to fine
dining, working with Nobu Matsuhisa at
Nobu in downtown Dallas’s Crescent Hotel,
before finding his way to Colorado where
worked closely for many years with some of
Denver’s most esteemed culinary talent. In
2018 he opened the first restaurant of his
own, Smok, a barbecue spot combining
influences from the most iconic barbecuemaking regions around the country with his
own global travel and culinary inspirations
paired and executed with the sensibilities
and high expectations a fine-dining chef.

Gavin Fine developed a passion for the culinary world as a young boy growing up in Chicago. After working for Richard Melman’s restaurant group, Lettuce Entertain You, in his home town, he followed his passion to Cornell University’s Hotel and Restaurant Management School and then to Jackson Hole. While his visions of becoming a ski bum never fully materialized, Fine worked nearly every job between the front- and back-of-house, where he met his soon-to-be business partner Roger Freedman, working side-by-side in one of the area’s top restaurant kitchens. Fine and Freedman forged a friendship and decided to open Rendezvous Bistro in 2001, when Fine was just 26-years-old. After a number of years, Fine opened his second business in 2003 (Bistro Catering). Many years later, several restaurants (Il Villaggio Osteria, The Kitchen, Bin22, Bar Enoteca, Roadhouse Pub & Eatery, The Bistro), a specialty grocer (Bodega) and retail brands (Cream + Sugar artisan ice cream and Bovine + Swine craft meats) added to what is now Fine Dining Restaurant Group, Fine continues to be considered a premier restaurateur of the Rocky Mountain region. In addition to FDRG, Gavin is also the co-owner and founder of Roadhouse Brewing Co.

Tony Galzin brings years of diverse culinary experience from his hometown Chicago to current residence in Nashville.

Tony served as executive pastry chef for four-time James Beard Award-nominated chef Michael Kornick at mk from 2008 through 2012, where he met his wife and business partner, Caroline.

The two opened Nicky’s Coal Fired in December of 2016. Nicky’s is a neighborhood restaurant inspired by Tony’s own Italian family and their traditions, focusing on seasonal Italian antipasti, pasta and pizzas fired in Tennessee’s only coal burning oven. They again garnered best new restaurant from The Nashville Scene, as well as notable mentions from Nashville Lifestyles, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today, and The Tasting Table, to name a few.

Kevin Grossi is Culinary Director for The Post Colorado, West End Tavern, and Velvet Elk Lounge. A Michigan-born chef with a deep love for regional American food and a knack for making comfort classics feel exciting again.

He’s best known as the founder of The Regional, a beloved Denver and Fort Collins restaurant celebrated for its farm-driven menus. His journey within the culinary world has taken him from the East Coast cooking twice at the James Beard House and facing off on Beat Bobby Flay, to now the West, landing at the heart of Colorado’s vibrant dining scene.

Now back at Big Red F — where part of his culinary story began —he has worked diligently with local farmers and producers, building strong ties in the community to guide the group’s creative direction championing seasonal, ingredient-driven cooking at scale.

Linda Hampsten-Fox is the chef/owner of The Bindery, an all-day bakery, market and restaurant, in Denver’s historic Lower Highlands (LoHi) neighborhood. In 2024, she will open The Bindery in Concourse A of Denver International Airport.

Linda was named Chef of the Year in 2018 by the Colorado Restaurant Association and in 2023, she was chosen by the James Beard Foundation as one of the TasteTwenty Chefs for her work championing the Foundation’s mission of Good Food for Good.

In addition to the accolades earned at The Bindery, Linda has an impressive portfolio of references, including celebrities spanning the likes of Dr. Jane Goodall, Michael York, Nancy Pelosi, Dave Matthews, Melissa Etheridge, Amos Lee and Nic & Helen Foster (from the live radio show E-Town in Boulder, Colorado). Her charisma and talents in the kitchen made her a sought-after asset by a cooking school in San Jose Del Cabo, Baja Mexico, and also as a menu developer for a host of restaurants in Denver.

In her free time, you can find Linda mountain biking, surfing or enjoying meals together with her family (husband Steve, daughter Emma and stepsons Jake, Matthew, and Ben).

Jacobs and Van Rite opened DanDan in July 2016, bringing chef-driven Chinese food with a midwestern sensibility to Milwaukee’s dining scene. Shortly after opening DanDan, the duo opened a highly-acclaimed fine dining restaurant and chef’s table concept, EsterEv, inside DanDan. The restaurant, named for Van Rite’s grandmother Evelyn and Jacobs’ great-grandmother Ester, offers a globally influenced 10 course pre-fixe menu that changes weekly.

Denver is lucky to be the last stop for Tim Kuklinski. A peripatetic childhood took him back and forth across the country. Stops in Rome, New York; Pottstown, Pennsylvania; Norman, Oklahoma; Tucson, Arizona and Omaha, Nebraska preceded finally settling in Denver for his culinary school education at Johnson & Wales University.

Tim’s foray into a civil engineering degree path at University of Nebraska proved disappointing when he realized he couldn’t bring passion to the craft. Culinary school beckoned and it was on Denver’s Johnson & Wales campus that Tim found his life’s work. He met and befriended chef Jorel Pierce, another JWU undergrad, and together they advanced through the job progression at Rioja to form the backbone of the award-winning kitchen.

Others characterize Tim’s food as feminine, a description that vexed him until he stepped back and realized that his culinary influences have been predominantly women beginning with his mom who worked full time but still found time to cook “from scratch” meals every night for Tim and his family. Working alongside James Beard award-winning Chef/Owner Jennifer Jasinski and now Work + Class Chef/Owner Dana Rodriguez gave Tim the basis for his style. Constant reading of menus, cookbooks, trade publications and simply scouring the web allow Tim to continue his education, learn new ingredients and acquire innovative techniques he employs on the Crafted Concepts menus.

Tim took 6 months away from the Rioja kitchen to round out his skills at Euclid Hall, a sister restaurant serving hand cranked sausages, poutines, schnitzels and upgraded international pub food. He has also staged at Michelin-starred Grace and Graham Elliott in Chicago, then returned to Rioja as Executive Chef with a newfound sense of creativity and energy. He assumed the role of Culinary Director over all five Crafted Concepts restaurants where he manages, cajoles, encourages and monitors the chefs and cooks that create Denver’s best food.

Sheila Lucero is Culinary Director for Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar and Centro Mexican Kitchen. A Denver native, Sheila has spent more than two decades championing the finest quality seafood and the oceans that provide it. She was first introduced to culinary cuisine by her father, a foodie and cook himself. While studying biology at Florida International University, Sheila explored a wide variety of south Florida dishes before choosing to continue her culinary education at the Colorado Art Institute, where she graduated with a degree in culinary arts.

Following her passion, she helped open and lead Jax to become the first seafood restaurant in Colorado certified by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. She has lobbied Congress on marine habitat protections and is an active member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, Fish Choice and James Beard Foundation’s Smart Catch program. Sheila is as passionate about sustainability as she is about what’s on the plate so you know if you dine at one of our restaurants quality is at the forefront of your experience.

Originally from San Diego, Ruiz  began  cooking  alongside  his father, a chef for Wolfgang Puck in the 1980s, at the age of 13. Ruiz’ core values – working with fresh, local and sustainable ingredients – were ingrained at an early age as a result of his family background and California lifestyle. A graduate of the San Diego Culinary Institute, Ruiz has traveled from Mexico to Europe, including France and Spain, working in an array of restaurants, including several Michelin-starred venues. He’s also received accolades that include “32 Restaurant Stars on the Rise” from FSR Magazine, and “Denver Chefs Who Are Rising Stars” by The Denver Post.

In 2024, Leah Scurto won 3^rd place at the Caputo Cup in Naples, Italy.  She has competed in pizza culinary competitions across the United States and Italy.  She currently owns and operates PizzaLeah in Sonoma County, Ca. Since opening in March 2020, Pizzaleah has been included multiple times on the San Francisco Chronicle’s list of the 25 Top Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Leah was recently featured in Pizza Today Magazine as one of the Rising Stars of the Pizza Industry.

PizzaLeah features a rotating craft beer list focusing on Sonoma County and California with guest appearances by some of Leah’s favorite breweries across the U.S.  Leah is dedicated to being a small business owner that promotes other small businesses and their crafts whether it be beer, wine or food. 

Lars Smith is the chef and co-owner of the State of Mind Hospitality Group in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was born and raised. He opened State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria in 2018 and has since expanded to three locations with plans for more. He has been in the industry since 2002, but his love for food started as a child. He grew up cooking with his grandmothers, eager to learn as much as he could from them. At State of Mind, Lars focuses on food made from scratch featuring local and seasonal Californian ingredients.

A native of Summit County, Matt returned to the mountains after making a name for himself as executive chef at Mercantile Dining & Provision in Denver
Rootstalk is Chef Matt Vawter’s first solo restaurant; which opened in December of 2020. Rootstalk is a small, upscale, casual restaurant serving dinner located in the heart of beautiful Breckenridge, CO.

As one of the rare Colorado natives cooking in Colorado kitchens, Gabe Wyman is as scarce as the obscure varieties of oysters and seafood he sources and prepares as chef of Stoic & Genuine in Denver’s Historic Union Station.

Born and raised in Colorado, Gabe graduated from Evergreen High School and had short stints at Fort Lewis College in Durango and Johnson and Wales University in Denver. Upon returning to the mountain community, he found his calling at the iconic El Rancho in Evergreen as a pantry cook and worked his way up to sous chef with on-the-job training at every station in the kitchen. Eventually, Gabe decided that a move down the mountain to Denver was the only path to continued culinary growth.

A family connection helped Gabe find his first job in Denver, opening Vita with Chef Max Mackissock. He followed Max to the original Squeaky Bean and spent some time in the kitchen at Denver non-profit Work Options for Women. Through Max, Gabe met Max’s wife, Chef Jennifer Jasinski and joined the Crafted Concepts team at her flagship Rioja in 2008 as a pantry cook.

By the end of 2009, Gabe was in sous chef training at Rioja and was promoted to sous chef in 2010. He moved to Stoic & Genuine as Chef de Cuisine in 2015 and returned to run the Rioja kitchen in 2018. A career highlight was cooking with Jasinski at the James Beard American Restaurant at Seven Stars Galleria during Expo Milano – the Milan World’s Fair in 2015. The course he created got a standing ovation from the guests.

His kitchen rules are simple: the guest comes first and foremost; have fun while you’re at work, if you don’t like your job quit and find one you do. Cook with love and passion because the guest can taste it. Be humble. Teach someone something every day and learn something every day. Don’t forget the golden rule “treat people the way you want to be treated.”