Larry Lipson - Costa Rica Larry is the former food critic of the Daily
News and reports weekly on Wine and food discoveries from his retirement home in Costa Rica.
Executive Chef Toshiya Nemoto - Benihana
"Executive Chef Toshiya Nemoto, better known as “Chef Tony,” is Benihana’s foremost culinary master. He has served as a standout star of the Benihana family for more than 30 years, since being handpicked by founder Horaki “Rocky” Aoki at only 18 years old when he was discovered in Hawaii.Emily Ellyn - Food Network’s, “Next Food Network Star”
Emily Ellyn currently divides her time between finishing up her Ph.D in Food Service Education at University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management in Orlando, teaching food and beverage classes, doing consulting work for Teak’s Restaurant in Orlando and Sublime Doughnuts in Atlanta, working on developing her Retro Rad culinary TV career after competing on The Food Network’s, “Next Food Network Star.” Emily Ellyn earned her bachelor’s degree in Restaurant Management at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and worked as a teaching assistant at the CIA until moving to Paris to attend graduate school. During the next two years, she earned two Master’s degrees in Hospitality Management -- one in Paris and one from UCF’s Rosen College in Florida. She is currently finishing up her Ph.D degree in Food Service Education at the Rosen College. Emily Ellyn’s food philosophy, evolved out of her hometown values and culinary education and can best be described as “wholesome with an edge.” She takes the retro, remixes it and makes it rad. She urges everyone to dig through their mom's recipe boxes, dust off their pressure cookers and crock pots and learn how to take the old and make it new through retro re-dos.