Celebrity Chef
2012 Celebrity Chef
Born in 1978 in Chicago, IL, Jeff Mauro was instantly into making Sandwiches. One of his first creations was a 'Mother's Milk Grinder', made with wilted arugula, seared fig and a wonderful balsamic reduction. All kidding aside, Jeff spent his formative years focused on drama, performing in school plays, Second City Chicago youth programs, and attending acting classes - all the while feeding his enormous appetite.
After attending Bradley University, he opened up a deli with his cousin while performing nights as 'Tony' in the Chicago production of Tony and Tina's Weddings. With both his professional cooking knowledge as well as his acting and improv skills polished, he moved to Los Angeles to attempt to meld his two loves - cooking and comedy. After a few years on the scene, he threw in the towel and enrolled in culinary school. Jeff decided to return to Chicago, where he worked at local restaurants, got married, had a baby, and landed himself on Season 7 of Food Network Star, which he in turn won.
Jeff Mauro is now the host of Food Network's Sandwich King, where he showcases the art form that is sandwich making by turning any sandwich into a meal, and any meal into a sandwich. He loves to play the guitar, with his three year old Lorenzo, and of course, eating sandwiches.
2011 Celebrity Chef
In August 2010 Aarti Sequeira competed on and won Season 6 of Food Network's
number-one series, The Next Food Network Star, landing the ultimate
dream culinary job: her very own Food Network show. A dedicated foodie all her
life and a journalist by education and trade, Aarti successfully combines these
passions in her entertaining blog and online cooking-variety show, Aarti Parti. Now
she takes her food knowledge, love for cooking, and enthusiasm for sharing
information to the masses in her Food Network cooking series, Aarti
Party. On this show she surprises viewers with unexpected flavors and
techniques to expand their palates and culinary repertoire by imparting her
knowledge of Indian cuisine and putting an approachable spin on all-American
classics.
You can see Aarti at Our Valley Cooks Food Expo on Saturday March 19th!
She will be performing two food demonstrations throughout the day, 11:00am and at 3:00pm.
2010 Celebrity Chef
In August 2009, Melissa d'Arabian won season five of The Next Food Network Star, beating out thousands of hopefuls for the ultimate dream job: her own Food Network show. As a wife and a stay-at-home mother to her four preschool-aged daughters, Melissa embodies family home cooking at its finest. On her daytime cooking series, Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d'Arabian, she shares her tasty recipes and $10 promise: four people, ten bucks, infinite possibilities.
