Equinox Executive Chef Karen Nicolas Named Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef

Food & Wine magazine has named Equinox Restaurant's executive chef Karen Nicolas one of its Best New Chefs of 2012 - one of the most coveted distinctions in the food business. This prestigious award recognizes talented chefs with a unique culinary vision. The 2012 winners will be featured in the July issue of FOOD & WINE and will also attend the 30th anniversary of the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen on June 15-17. The award recognizes up-and-coming chefs who have been running a kitchen for five years or fewer.

F&W Best New Chefs are chosen after a months-long selection process. The magazine works with restaurant critics, food writers and other trusted experts around the country to identify outstanding chefs who have been in charge of a kitchen for five years or fewer. Then the editors travel incognito to taste the food themselves.

"It is such a delight to honor these incredible chefs, who have made a tremendous impact on the culinary world in a short period of time," says Dana Cowin, editor in chief of FOOD & WINE. "They've created truly pilgrimage-worthy restaurants, whether on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest or in the heart of New York City's NoLita."

For almost two decades, Co-Owner/Chef Todd Gray has been renowned for cultivating and training the city's top culinary talent. Nicolas is yet another testimony to Chef Gray's skill as a mentor, teacher, and coach to D.C.'s next generation of chefs. Many young chefs have adapted Gray's unique style, laying the foundation for the development of their own unique style. These prodigies continue on, putting D.C. on the epicurean map, helping to secure its place as true dining destination.

Equinox and Chef Todd Gray have served as a pioneer to redefine Mid-Atlantic cooking with a commitment to the rich historic traditions of the area, "from the Chesapeake to the Blue Ridge." By paying homage to the foods that have been produced and cooked in this region, from the historic Algonquin Indian tribes of the region, through today's Chesapeake oystermen, Chef Gray hopes to create a stronger definition of Mid-Atlantic cuisine.

Nicolas moved to Washington, D.C. just last fall to inaugurate the executive chef position at Equinox. She most recently worked at restaurants in Philadelphia and Chicago and, before that, served as executive sous chef at New York's Gramercy Tavern.
ABOUT KAREN NICOLAS

BORN: 1974; Philadelphia.

EDUCATION: Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI.

EXPERIENCE: Hawthorne Lane, San Francisco; Dry Creek Kitchen, Healdsburg, CA; Gramercy Tavern, New York City.

HER START: "I used to watch the Great Chefs series on TV; I was fascinated by it. And I was taking home ec classes in high school-we'd make things like brioche and basil pesto. One day, my teacher pulled me aside after a cooking class and said, 'You're very good at this-you should pursue something in the industry.' So I started to think about it."

EARLY COOKING CAREER: "I used to throw a lot of dinner parties for my high school friends. I didn't know what I was doing; there were a lot of experiments. One of the most memorable ones was when one of my friends wanted to propose to his girlfriend. I had just gotten my first manual pasta roller. For a young, enthusiastic and novice cook, this was like getting a new car. I made my first-ever handmade raviolis: I stuffed them with chopped shrimp and garnished them with saut�ed cherry tomatoes and scallions. It turned out well, for the first time around. And his girlfriend said yes."

MEMORABLE COOKING EXPERIENCE: A week spent cooking at Rockpool in Sydney, Australia, under chef Neil Perry. "I was amazed at all the unfamiliar ingredients."

INGR