National Chef Awards Visit Atlanta For The First Time

StarChefs.com, the online magazine for culinary insiders, visits Atlanta for the first time to celebrate the StarChefs.com Rising Stars Chef Awards on October 10. Antoinette Bruno, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of StarChefs.com explains, "We are excited to finally make our way to Atlanta's burgeoning culinary scene. The city has really developed its own identity in the food world with a lot of great chefs, restaurant concepts and flavors have ventured out from there. We expect to see big things from these Atlanta award recipients in the future." The StarChefs.com Rising Stars Revue is a national award that recognizes chefs from around the country as they come into their own as young leaders in the culinary field. Rising Stars candidates were recommended for consideration by the StarChefs.com Advisory Board, and final choices were made by StarChefs.com's editorial team based on in-person tastings and interviews. The staff interviewed and tasted from over 60 ! restaurants in the area to determine the Atlanta line up.

The StarChefs 2007 Atlanta Rising Stars include Chef Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene, Chef Hector Santiago of Pura Vida Tapas, Chef Drew Van Leuvan formerly of Saga, Chef Hugh Acheson of Five and Ten, Chef Drew Belline of Floataway Cafe, Chef Mihoko Obunai of Repast, Sustainability Chef Dave Larkworthy of 5 Seasons, Pastry Chef Chad Guay of Table 1280, Pastry Chef Joe Treux of Repast, Hotel Chef Nick Oltarsh of Lobby at TWELVE, Bar Chef Erick Simpkins of Trois, Sommelier Vajra Stratigos of Fifth Group Restaurants, Rising Star Restaurateur Kevin Rathbun of Rathbun's, Krog Bar and Kevin Rathbun Steak and Rising Star Restaurant Concept JCT Kitchen and its chef, Ford Fry. The Mentor Award Winner, voted by the Atlanta Rising Stars winners and candidates, will be announced the night of the Gala. This mentor chef is recognized for his or her integral role of educating young chefs while helping them succeed! in their local market.

The StarChefs.com Rising Stars! Revue i s a walk-around tasting gala featuring signature dishes from each chef, as well as premium wine pairings, spirits, and entertainment. The event is the kick off gala for the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) Show and will be held at the Georgia Aquarium at 225 Baker Street from 7 - 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $95 per person and are available at www.starchefs.com/risingstars or by calling 212-966-3775. VIP tickets are $150 each and include a pre-Gala champagne and caviar reception featuring Nicolas Feuillatte 1997 Palmes d'Or Champagne.

Atlanta is the 19th Rising Stars Revue held since the award's inception in 2003 and will be the last stop in 2007. In support of the local food community, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Atlanta Community Food Bank who currently distributes almost 2 million pounds of food and other donated grocery items monthly to more than 800 nonprofit partner agencies in 38 counties in Metro Atla! nta and North Georgia as part of America's Second Harvest.

Lead sponsors of the 2007 StarChefs.com Rising Stars Revue include Hobart, Jade Range, Nespresso, Winston Industries, Regal Ware, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Pacojet, Wisconsin Cheese, Vita-Mix, The Sam Tell Companies, Bauscher, Molteni, Cervena Venison and S. Pellegrino. Partners of the Atlanta Rising Stars Revue include NAFEM, TWELVE Hotel, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, and Le Cordon Blue College of Culinary Arts.

StarChefs.com is an award-winning online culinary magazine, serving the foodservice industry and food aficionados since 1995. It is both a backstage pass to the celebrity chef world for food and wine-savvy consumers and an essential information resource for professional chefs. StarChefs.com features 25,000 published pages of original, chef-focused culinary content and generates monthly traffic of over 20 million hits a month. It has won Best of the Web