Chef Floyd Cardoz is a celebrated Indian-American chef in New York City, India, and throughout the world. Cardoz attended culinary school and began his career in his native Bombay, India, and after studying in Switzerland at Les Roches, he moved to New York City to work under Chef Gray Kunz at the venerable Lespinasse.

In 1997, Cardoz partnered with Union Square Hospitality Group’s Danny Meyer to open Tabla, a contemporary Indian restaurant celebrating his groundbreaking cuisine that expertly married the exotic flavors and spices of his native land with Western techniques. He later moved on to open North End Grill and White Street in downtown Manhattan and The Bombay Canteen in Mumbai, India.

In the summer of 2016, Cardoz opened Paowalla, a casual modern Indian restaurant in Soho, NY, which celebrates his Goan-Indian heritage and showcases his seamless integration of Indian flavors and techniques with local ingredients.

Cardoz’s first cookbook, One Spice, Two Spice (William Morrow, October 2006) includes his favorite recipes while demystifying Indian flavors, and his second cookbook, Floyd Cardoz: Flavorwalla (Artisan, April 2016), was published in spring 2016. Cardoz is a four-time James Beard Award nominee and regularly works with Share our Strength, City Harvest, C-CAP: Careers through Culinary Arts Program, and Madison Square Park Conservancy, among others. In 2012, Floyd won Season 3 of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters.

Chef Ariane Duarte’s love for cooking began as she was growing up, watching her grandmother cook the family dinners. She applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Upon her graduation, she was hired as a sous chef at the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange.

Two years later she accepted a line cook position at The Terrace in NYC. After three years, she accepted a position as the lead grill cook at Dallas’ prestigious Star Canyon. Here she met her husband, Michael, with whom she moved to Chicago to cook in his family’s restaurant.

While in Chicago she broadened her culinary knowledge by taking a position at Trio, and as an assistant for one of Charlie Trotter’s cookbooks. She moved back to NJ and accepted the position as opening chef de cuisine for Vine. Within eight months she was given the title of Executive Chef. During the same time, Ariane was also running her own catering company, CulinAriane, in New Jersey. When Vine closed its doors, Ariane and Michael opened CulinAriane.

Presented with the opportunity to be on Top Chef Season 5, Ariane jumped at the chance. In 2013 she competed and won the premiere season of "Cook Your Ass Off." With appearances on the Today Show, Iron Chef and the Tyra Banks Show she has not stopped. She has also been a contributing chef for several magazines. In December 2015, Ariane competed on a special holiday episode of Food Network’s "Beat Bobby Flay," defeating Moroccan French chef Adil Fawzi for the chance to go up against Flay and eventually conquering chef Flay to win. Ariane opened her restaurant Ariane Kitchen & Bar in Verona, New Jersey in the fall of 2014.

Through her work in professional restaurant kitchens, as a food television personality and now author, Amanda Freitag has become more than a chef, she is The Chef Next Door. While the moniker is derived from the title of Amanda’s first cookbook, The Chef Next Door: A Pro Chef's Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking (Houghton Mifflin; 2015), it also aptly conveys both her professionalism and warm, accessible personality. These traits have served the Cedar Grove native well as a judge on Food Network’s hit series, "Chopped", and as the co-host of Food Network’s "American Diner Revival" with Ty Pennington.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Amanda worked at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Vong and Diane Forley’s Verbena, before becoming chef de cuisine at Cesca and the executive chef at The Harrison in TriBeCa, earning it a two- star review from Times’ restaurant critic, who lauded Amanda’s work as "exemplary."

In 2008, Amanda joined the judging panel on Food Network’s competition series "Chopped" where she currently still serves as a judge. In May 2015, she launched "American Diner Revival", lending her expertise to struggling classic diners across the country. She has competed on "Iron Chef America", "America’s Next Iron Chef", and has made numerous other guest appearances on national broadcast television.

As the Executive Chef of Union Square Cafe and Daily Provisions, Carmen Quagliata explores and develops his passion for his native Italian cuisine in one of the country’s most beloved restaurants. Carmen’s culinary style was formed by the Sicilian matriarchs of his family, who made sausage and bread by hand and grew pole beans from seeds carried across the Atlantic by their Italian kin.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Carmen became an apprentice at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia under Chef Hartmut Handke. Three years later, he headed west to work for Michael Chiarello at Tra Vigne in Napa Valley. There he quickly advanced from Sous Chef to Executive Sous Chef to Executive Chef/Partner.

In 2001, Carmen was hired to work for Lydia Bastianich at Felidia in New York City. He then moved to Boston and became Chef at The Vault, which quickly earned three stars from both the Boston Herald and Boston Globe. A few years later, Carmen moved to New York and assumed the role of Chef de Cuisine at Union Square Cafe, working under Chef Michael Romano. He was promoted to Executive Chef in September 2007, where he has remained at the helm, eventually transitioning the restaurant from its original home on 16th Street to its new location on 19th Street in 2016. Soon after relocating, Carmen and his team earned three stars by the New York Times.