Celebrity Chefs Support 2011 St. Croix Food & Wine Experience

Nov. 23, 2010 - PRLog -- Celebrated chefs, winemakers and culinary enthusiasts are signing up to support The St. Croix Food & Wine Experience, an annual series of events that support the St. Croix Foundation. The fundraising fete will take place April 10-16, 2011 on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Program details are available at www.stcroixfoodandwine.com.  

Guest chefs for the 2011 St. Croix Food & Wine Experience include Anita Lo, Tim Love, Ana Sortun, Liza Shaw, Kevin Rathbun, and Roberto Treviño. Guest chefs judge the culinary competition, hold cooking demonstrations, compete in a fun event against local chefs and prepare intimate dinners at spectacular homes. Dannielle Kyrillos, Editor-at-Large of DailyCandy.com and judge on Bravo TV’s Top Chef “Just Desserts”, will be a guest judge for the culinary competition and hold a cooking class for kids.  A detailed schedule of events will posted on www.stcroixfoodandwine.com as times and dates are confirmed.

About the Chefs
Anita Lo (New York) - Chef and owner of Annisa in New York City, Anita Lo, a graduate of the prestigious Ritz-Escoffier school in Paris, is one of the most respected female chefs in the country. Named one of ten “Best New Chefs in America” by Food & Wine magazine (2001) and listed in Crains New York's "100 Most Influential Women in Business", Lo is known for her contemporary American cuisine that blends her Chinese-American upbringing and classic French training. Lo competed on the first season of “Top Chef: Masters” and beat Mario Batali on “Iron Chef America”.

Tim Love (Texas) - Owner of Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Love Shack and White Elephant Saloon in Ft. Worth Texas, Tim Love appeared on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” in a victorious “Chile” battle against Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Love also competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Masters”, and has been featured on Food Network’s “Challenge: Hawaiian Luau Beach BBQ.”

Ana Sortun (Boston) - James Beard winner and owner of Oleana in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ana Sortun has been called one of the country’s “best creative fusion practitioners.” Sortun’s cookbook, SPICE; Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean, was nominated for Best Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and is a best seller according to the Boston Globe and LA Times. Ana, who competed on last season’s “Top Chef: Masters”, first cooked on St. Croix more than 15 years ago as a guest chef at Villa Madeleine.

Liza Shaw (San Francisco) – Liza Shaw, the chef and owner of A16 in San Francisco and in Tokyo, was recognized as Restaurant Hospitality’s December 2009 Rising Star, is a member of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs and an active supporter of Chefs Collaborative. She contributed to the writing, recipe development and food styling of the award-winning A16 Food + Wine cookbook. Shaw is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont and the California Culinary Academy.  

Kevin Rathbun (Atlanta) - Winner of Iron Chef America (he beat Bobby Flay), and owner of three nationally acclaimed restaurants in Atlanta (Rathbun's, Krog Bar, Kevin Rathbun Steak), Kevin Rathbun was nominated for a James Beard Foundation "Rising Star Chef" and has earned numerous awards and accolades including “Best New Restaurant” nods from Bon Appetit, Esquire, Travel & Leisure and AOL, to name just a few. Rathbun, one of the original founders of Share Our Strength, an organization that focuses on ending childhood hunger in America, supports numerous charities including the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Atlanta Zoo, and the St. Croix Foundation.  

Roberto Treviño (Puerto Rico) – Roberto Treviño has been featured in Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, Bon Appétit and top culinary TV shows. He battled Mario Batali on Food Network's “Iron Chef America”, has prepared a dinner at the James Beard House and is the chef/owner of the fabulous Budatai in Puerto Rico.

Tickets to the St. Croix Food & Wine Experience go on sale in March 2011 and will be available at www.StCroixFoodandWine.com. Hotel packages are available now. Patrons wanting guaranteed access to all events can easily become sponsors.  For more information on sponsorship opportunities please contact Roger Dewey at 340-773-9898.    

About The St. Croix Foundation
Proceeds from The St. Croix Food & Wine Experience are donated to The St. Croix Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on community revitalization, economic development, youth programs, education and additional needs in the community. The culinary event has raised more than $750,000 for The St. Croix Foundation over the past nine years. For more information visit www.stxfoundation.org.

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The St. Croix Food & Wine Experience showcases the diverse cuisine and wine available on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The multi-day event includes gourmet dinners, wine seminars, wine auctions, and the annual culinary competition, A Taste of St. Croix.