Milan native Riccardo Ullio has made a name for himself in Atlanta’s restaurant scene, but he didn’t start out intending to be a chef. He had his eye set on engineering, with an undergrad degree from Georgia Tech in Civil Engineering and a master’s in Environmental Engineering.

To support himself in school, he worked in restaurants — and the bug bit him. He opened his first restaurant in 1994, then traveled throughout his homeland to study regional Italian cuisine. He opened Sotto Sotto in 1999, followed by Fritti in 2000. The two restaurants have garnered numerous awards, including Restaurant of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Fritti is also one of only 35 restaurants in the country to be certified by the Verace Pizza Napolentana Association for serving authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas.

Ullio’s since become interested in regional Mexican cuisine and opened Escorpion, a tequila bar and cantina, in Midtown Atlanta this past May.

“I like the creative aspect of being a restaurateur: starting from a concept to finding a location, then working through the process of the architecture, build out and décor; creating a memorable menu; hiring the right people to enhance your vision and finally seeing all this realized on opening night,” Ullio says. “It’s very rewarding to see your vision come to life and to provide people with a new way to enjoy their life.”

Ullio was recently recognized by the Georgia Restaurant Association as a GRACE Awards Restaurateur of the Year finalist.

(Photo courtesy of Lou Freeman)

Jo Ann Herold was recently recognized by the Georgia Restaurant Association as a GRACE Awards Distinguished Service of the Year finalist.

As vice president of brand marketing at Arby’s, Herold focuses on menu strategy and product innovation that will boost the bottom line — but she also dedicates much of her time and efforts volunteering. She’s currently on the board of the Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and is working with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign through the Arby’s Foundation. As part of the effort, she’s working to redesign the company’s kid’s meal to include nutritious options for children.

Herold didn’t know it at the time, but her career started when she filled out an application for a part-time job at McDonald’s when she was 16 years old.

“Like so many other young people, that first job experience was a great backbone for my future career,” she says. “I have loved the restaurant industry from the day I started over 29 years ago.”

When asked about major trends in 2012, Herold shared the following thoughts:

• In a challenging economy, value and affordability can help restaurant weather the downturn and even increase sales.

• Dedicating time and resources to keeping concepts fresh and relevant is necessary in our industry.

• There is always a risk involved with making changes to such an established brand. It’s important to adapt to current trends without losing sight of a brand’s core value to the customer. You have to give the customer a reason to keep coming back.

Herold believes the most pressing challenges to the industry is illegal immigration: “The Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act that was recently turned into Law (HB87) poses unique challenges for our industry. It is important for us to understand [such] issues and evaluate the impact. Further, menu board legislation will involve a much higher level of scrutiny and oversight from the government to the restaurateurs. Consumers are much more educated on the nutritionals and ingredients, and are demanding transparency from restaurants and their suppliers.”

(Photo courtesy of Beth Melberg & Louise Mulherin)

Tin Drum: The Value of the Personalized Ordering Experience

By Helen K. Kelley

Increased revenue. Decreased costs. Decreased customer wait time. Increased customer satisfaction. These are the results achieved by Tin Drum Asia Café after implementing Usable Health’s SmartMenu terminal. But there was one other benefit that Tin Drum owner Steven Chan found so intriguing that he agreed to pilot the technology in his six restaurant locations.

“One of the most interesting aspects of SmartMenu is that it’s health-based. It can help the customer make better food selections by suggesting side items and other add-ons that make up a healthy meal,” explains Chan. “I don’t consider myself that knowledgeable about making healthy choices. I won’t think about how many calories are in the handful of chips I just put in my mouth. The general public just doesn’t have this wisdom. They’d like to make their own choices, but they’re not knowledgeable enough, so SmartMenu give them the tools to help balance their diet.”

It’s all about choice

SmartMenu is an interactive POS system that providers diners with a very personalized ordering experience. The self-service terminal allows customers to select their meals quickly and efficiently and, at the same time, it tracks and addresses their preferences, such as if the person is health-conscious or price-sensitive. When a diner swipes his or her card, SmartMenu recognizes the person and automatically suggests what he or she ordered on the previous visit. If the customer asks for recommendations, SmartMenu will make suggestions for selections, up-selling from the regular menu or the healthier menu based on those stored preferences.

Jiten Chhabra, founder and CEO of Usable Health, says that SmartMenu is a great help to not only health-conscious diners but also to those with specific health concerns such as high cholesterol and diabetes.

“If a customer indicates that he or she has specific health needs, the system will address those needs,” says Chhabra. “SmartMenu incorporates a ‘food swapper’ engine that will make recommendations for menu items and suggest combinations of items, such as ‘have a small salad and a small sandwich,’ to the customer. Even if a restaurant doesn’t have many healthy choices available, SmartMenu can make selections based on portion sizes.”

It’s a win-win situation — operators make more money on margins by selling combinations of menu items that wouldn’t otherwise be found by the customer, and customers are able to satisfy their taste buds and their health needs at the same time.

Customers also have a choice between using the technology or old-fashioned counter service. SmartMenu is meant to work in tandem with restaurant employees, so if a customer feels more comfortable talking to a “real” person, they can bypass the terminal and place their order with a cashier.

Personalized ordering = a healthier bottom line

Point of sale systems are designed to lower operating costs, but SmartMenu takes that design a step further.

“The traditional POS system was not designed with improving the diner experience in mind,” explains Chhabra. “SmartMenu makes the ordering process interactive so that the diner doesn’t feel ignored. It also makes the ordering process ‘intelligent’ by taking food item margins into consideration before making suggestions to the diner.”

According to Usable Health’s data, when SmartMenu is implemented, on average, operators start instantly saving at least $500 a month due to decreased labor costs, and the average increase in check size is at least 15 percent.

Chan agrees, stating that SmartMenu has definitely decreased Tin Drum’s operating costs by cutting down on labor. And since customers enter their own orders, there is less chance for cashier error — this improved accuracy makes for less waste.

SmartMenu also has increased revenues for Tin Drum. “It raises the check average by making up-sell recommendations to customers on a consistent basis,” Chain explains. “It also cuts down on customer wait time, so the orders are coming into the kitchen faster.”

Additionally, the system manages the redemption process, saving the operator valuable time.

“We don’t have to accept coupons anymore. I don’t have to count them manually and track them myself,” says Chan. “The system does it for me.”

SmartMenu as a marketing tool

SmartMenu logs a variety of data about customers including how long a person looks at a menu item and whether or not they order healthy options. This information comes in handy as a marketing tool for operators who want to target certain customers with specific offers.

“The system lets operators configure deals and promotions themselves without paying an outside vendor,” explains Chhabra. “For example, if you see that your restaurant is empty at certain hours, you can notify your customers to come take advantage of a special during that particular time and increase your business.”

Chan adds that SmartMenu has given him the flexibility to launch whatever kind of promotion or loyalty program he desires.

“In the past, restaurants had to go to the expense of printing gift or loyalty cards and setting up a program. With the SmartMenu system, I log on to my account and set up special offers for my customers whenever I like. Then, all I have to do is post the offer on Tin Drum’s Facebook page to get the word out,” he says. “And all customers have to do to take advantage of the offer is log in when they come in to one of our restaurants.”

Personal choice represents opportunity

Serving as a pilot chain for SmartMenu has been rewarding both for Tin Drum Asia Café and for Chan personally.

“In a way, I feel like I’m sort of a partner to [Usable Health] in developing SmartMenu. I can offer them opinions and share real-time experiences, ideas and suggestions,” Chan says. “I think this is just the beginning of this kind of technology. The personal choice terminal presents a lot of opportunity for both restaurants and customers.”

Tin Drum Asia Café has five metro Atlanta locations and one in Forsyth County and has begun franchising in the southeast. All locations will incorporate the SmartMenu terminals. For more information, visit www.tindrumcafe.net.

To learn more about Usable Health and SmartMenu technology and see customer and diner testimonials, visit www.usablehealth.com.

Chef and co-owner of The Blue Bicycle in Dawsonville

By Christy Simo

Guy Owens took a serpentine path to where he is now, as chef and co-owner of Dawsonville’s The Blue Bicycle with his wife, Kati. He started out as a heating and air conditioning unit designer for commercial properties, then decided to follow his passion and cook. After his first job at The Abbey in Atlanta, followed by more than 10 years working for Futren Corporation in private country club restaurants, the space for The Blue Bicycle became available. Tucked away behind the North Georgia Premium Outlets in Dawsonville, the restaurant opened in 2005.

Tell me a little bit about your restaurant, The Blue Bicycle.
It was a life-long dream to have my own place, like most chefs. This little place used to be an Italian restaurant, a mom-and-pop red sauce kind of place. They were retiring and were looking for someone to take it over, so we did. We call it a bistro. We started out with what we thought we wanted it to be, but pretty soon we found out that the customers wanted something else, and they’ve kind of dictated what we’ve become. We’ve evolved from doing real casual kind of food to a little more upscale. We don’t consider ourselves upscale. We consider ourselves comfortable food. But our clientele thinks of us as fine dining.

So tell me a little bit about yourself and your background before you opened the restaurant.
I spent about 10 years in my 20s and early 30s in an engineering business designing heating and air conditioning systems for commercial buildings. Cooking was more of a hobby, so it was a passion. It was what I loved to do. Somebody actually pointed it out to me one time, she was a grandmother. She said, “You know, God gave you a really good gift, and you’re not using it. You should really rethink what you’re doing.”

I thought about it for a little bit. Because I wasn’t what you would call passionate about designing heating and air conditioning units. It was just a job. So I took the plunge in the late 1980s and saved some money for about a year, then quit my job.

I went to work at The Abbey restaurant down in Atlanta for minimum wage. I got into the American Culinary Federation apprenticeship program, which I thought was a good way to get an education, because you learn so much on the job as opposed to going to culinary school and going into debt.

I was fortunate to have good mentors, and being a little older — I was in my 30s by the time I started this — I understood responsibility and being at work on time, and not staying out all night after work drinking. So I migrated to the top management pretty quickly.

Once I had gotten established as a sous chef and had a good reputation with some of the other chefs around town, it was pretty easy to find a good place to settle in.

So did you always know when you decided to go into the internship program that you wanted to have your own restaurant one day?
Yep. I knew that when I was 14 years old. I just didn’t pursue it at the time. I was kind of discouraged from it by my family. They said, “You won’t make any money doing that!” Because the idea then was you were a cook. The concept of executive chef was pretty far from most people’s minds. The only celebrity chefs in those days were Julia Child and Graham Kerr.

How would you describe your cooking style?
It’s Continental influence with a southern accent. We try to keep things simple. The ingredients list in many recipes, I like to keep to a minimum. I like to let the product speak for itself. I try to choose the highest quality I can get.

We try and shop local as much as we can, but we can’t ignore what our customers want. During the wintertime, I’m forced to buy tomatoes, lettuce, things like that, that I have to import from other parts of the country, because my customers demand it. They’re not satisfied eating canned green beans, even if I put them up myself during the summertime. But we still try to think locally first, then we stretch out from there.

After 5 years in business, we found somebody who can provide us with local, pasture-raised organic chickens. It’s not cheap chicken, but it’s good chicken. It’s a local farm – Joyful Noise Acres Farm. They’re out of Ball Ground, Ga. She delivers birds to us every Wednesday that were alive on Tuesday morning. That’s fresh.

What inspires you as a chef?
I like to eat, and I like to eat out. I like to see what other people are doing, and I like to be challenged.

What is the best advice or tip you ever received?
Probably local and fresh, and get the highest quality ingredients you can get — within your price range of course. I mean, the sky is not the limit. We have to be responsible to our community, and we have to fit into our community.

What is your dream splurge if you could have anything in your restaurant or kitchen?
I would gut my kitchen and I would put in all new sauté range, because we do a lot of sautéing and we only have six burners. And I would probably get an immersion circulator and vacuum seal and do a little bit of sous vide.

What’s the one item you must have in your kitchen?
Other than a sharp knife and a good pan? We work a lot on our Robot Coupe, and of course our KitchenAid mixer.

What’s the one thing you would ban from your kitchen if you could?
Anything I would ban is probably not here, because we’re a pretty small operation.

What is your favorite ingredient?
Probably pig. It’s so versatile. We’re doing osso buco right now but with pork instead of veal. We make terrines and charcuteries, things like that. I make fresh sausage every once in a while, but it’s not something that’s on the menu all the time.

What is your least favorite ingredient?
I’m not a big fan of offal, tripe and stuff like that. Duck liver and chicken liver, I like those. It’s one of those things I used to veer away from that I’ve come to appreciate. But I still can’t get into kidneys and tripe, hearts and lungs and brains. I won’t cook anything that I won’t eat.

What would you say is your favorite restaurant in Georgia outside of the ones you’ve worked at?
I really like Holeman & Finch. And Varasano’s Pizza – I really like what he does with pizza. It’s my passion at home. We make pizza almost every weekend. Chef Varasano has a link to his blog about dough making. I used to think I made pretty good pizza dough, but after following some of his advice and making some alterations, what I read on his blog improved my pizza 100%.

Who would you say is the most influential person to you in the restaurant world?
Probably Frank Stitt over in Birmingham. I haven’t met him, but I’ve dined in his restaurants on several occasions. It’s what I always wanted to do — to focus on regional food — and it’s kind of what I do here. I like the way he is able to elevate southern cuisine. He’s been doing it for so long, and he hasn’t missed a lick yet. His restaurants are really first class.

What would you say is your favorite thing about the restaurant industry overall?
The camaraderie. The teamwork. When I was 14 years old, my first job was working in a restaurant. I just had so much fun with the people that I worked with, and you spend so much time with them. So that’s probably the best part — the friendships that you make.

How is it different working at someone else’s restaurant as a chef vs. owning your own restaurant?
Well I’ve always been good about watching my boss’s nickels, but you watch them even closer when they’re your nickels.

I watch my nickels, but I also try to take care of my staff — pay everybody the best that we can, considering the business and all. I was fortunate when I was working for Futren Corporation that they taught me the business aspect of it. And that’s probably why we’re still in business today, because we’re not doing it strictly from the passion part of it, but we’re watching our dollars. It’s true what they say, that working for yourself is way different than working for somebody else. You resent that guy to some degree who’s got you working on Sunday because it’s Mother’s Day or Easter. Where now if I’m working on Mother’s Day or Easter, it’s my own choice.

What would you say is the most challenging part of being a chef/owner in the restaurant industry?
Staying afloat. Especially in the last year or so, it seems like every time I get an invoice from anybody, the cost of everything just keeps going up. But the pressure on us in the restaurant is to maintain our prices so that people still feel like they’re getting a bargain. And it’s getting harder and harder. We’ve already had to do a menu change and raise prices. And because we waited too long to raise prices, on several items we had to raise them dramatically.

What was the response from your diners when you had to do that?
We’ve had mixed things. Some people say, “Well it’s about time. We understand.” And other people are like, “You’re charging me $19 for this trout that I got two weeks ago for $16!” But prices keep going up. And there are costs built in that [trout] people don’t see. Insurance keeps going up. Every year my lease goes up 3 percent. The more people use credit cards, the more I have to pay the credit card companies.

What is your philosophy as a chef managing people?
Treat everybody with respect. Try not to order people around, but direct them and ask them politely. Use a lot of thank you’s and please’s. And then the golden rule — treat other people like I would want to be treated. Educate the younger people. I ask everybody who comes to work for me in the kitchen, what do you want to be one day? If it’s a line cook and they say, “I just see myself as always being a line cook,” well then, they’re out of the picture. But if someone says “I want to be a chef. I want to be running an operation one day.” Then that’s the one I want.

Education and respect, those are the biggest things in the kitchen. It keeps people motivated. I’ve been fortunate; I’ve had very little kitchen turnover, and I think it’s because I treat people with respect and I try to educate them. Hopefully when they do leave, they go on to something better. They’re not just going across the street because somebody’s going to pay them another 50 cents an hour more.

If you weren’t in the restaurant industry, what do you think you’d be doing?
Laying out on the beach, drinking margaritas (laughs). I really can’t see myself doing anything else at this point except for retiring.

If you could decide your last meal, what would it be?
Probably pizza. Like I said, it’s one of my passions. We don’t bake our own bread here — we don’t have the facilities for that — but I bake all our bread at home, and we make pizzas at home. So my last meal would probably be a fig and blue cheese pizza.

A Southern Chef Comes Home

By Christy Simo

Georgia’s big cities may seem to be the hubs of cuisine, but a slew of chefs are opening high-end, fine dining restaurants in smaller towns across the state. Keira Moritz, most recently of Pacci’s in Atlanta, recently moved back to her hometown of Valdosta to open a new restaurant. In September, Steel Magnolias was slated to open in the historic downtown area of Valdosta. Chef Moritz has put her heart and soul into the restaurant, purchasing the building and designing the interior herself. We talked about her new concept, her cooking philosophy and her love of lavender in this month’s Q&A.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you came to be a chef.
I was born and raised here in Valdosta. It’s been a decade since I’ve been back. I went through my first college career, then I ended up not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. So I took a job waiting tables at a dude ranch in Wyoming. One day the breakfast cook didn’t show up, and I was like, well, I might not be able to cook anything, but I can cook eggs. So I just cooked breakfast for 150 people. It was a buffet. You just go for it. They were coming one way or the other, and nobody wanted to call the ranch manager. So I ended up behind the grill. They ended up giving me his job and his great cabin. And from there, I jumped to a couple different dude ranches and decided I had found what I really wanted to do, and I should go to culinary school.  I went to Johnson-Wales Charleston followed by Johnston Wales Denver.

What is behind your decision to move back to Valdosta?
The restaurant in Atlanta, Pacci, the property itself was sold. Pacci was a really successful restaurant. I actually looked at the building I bought [in Valdosta] five years ago when it first went up for sale, and I couldn’t afford it then. It was kind of a pipe dream. Then when I was home, I happened to look and it happened to still be for sale five years later. They had rented it out but they still wanted to move the property. I put down a low-ball offer, and dang if he didn’t take it.

In the past 10 years, I’ve moved every 14 to 24 months. For 10 years. And it’s been loads of fun doing that. All the major cities I’ve done. I’ve loved it. But I guess when an opportunity arises, at least for me, to do my own on my own, and renovate it the way I want it, you don’t pass that up.

Steel Magnolias is in downtown Valdosta. We’ve got about 80 seats on the first level, banquet space for 100 on the second. It happened to be a pitched roof. Both of the buildings on either side have no windows on them, and they’re both one story higher than my building, so we’ve put in a rooftop bar. The first rooftop bar in Valdosta.

How would you describe your cooking style?
It’s changed. I landed in an Italian concept right off the bat, and that’s where I pretty much stayed. With this restaurant, I guess I’m doing my own concept. It’s Urban Southern. We’ve got pimento cheese, mac and cheese and grilled cheese. So my style would be comfortable ingredients, easily recognizable and non-confusing.

A lot of downtowns across Georgia are seeing more fine-dining options.
Yea. We have a great downtown area, and it’s beginning to pick up in the downtown. I think in the next five years, this downtown area is just going to completely change. I’m excited to have something to do with that.

What would you say inspires you as a chef?
I like to eat. I think that’s my inspiration. If I found out I had a gluten allergy or Celiac Disease, I don’t know what I would do.

What’s the best advice or tip you’ve ever received?
If you do what’s right, it will never let you down.

What would be your dream splurge if you could have anything in your kitchen or restaurant?
Could I have another hood vent and a bigger kitchen? I’d say size. I believe in functionality. I don’t need too much; I just need everything I have to be functional and get the job done. I’m very simplistic.

What’s the one item you must have in your kitchen?
It’s simple. I really have to have a grill. If I don’t have a grill, it really changes everything on my menu.

What’s the one thing you would ban from your kitchen if you could?
We don’t have radios. We’re there to do business. If you’re focusing on who’s playing in the background, then you’re not focusing on the food in front of you.

So with the new restaurant, will you be working with local farmers down in South Georgia?
Yep. We’ve got some people doing some great venison sausage, we’ve got Sweet Grass Dairy doing all of their items a town over. We’ve got a grass-fed beef company in Madison, Fla., about 45 minutes away. We’ve got a pork place headed out toward Thomasville. So we have a lot of local producers. And we have a lot of unrecognized local producers. I’ve come home to my parent’s house, and my dad is sitting there with venison summer sausage that is made out of venison that he killed. You can’t get much more local. And these people, you drive up their driveway, and they’ve got it all set up. It is some of the most amazing product I’ve ever seen or tasted.

What would you say is your favorite ingredient?
Lavender. That’s my favorite ingredient right now. I make a lavender brown sugar rosemary syrup. It’s so simple, and you don’t know what it is when you put it in your mouth. I’ve never had anyone put their finger on it, because it’s unexpected, and I like the unexpected. It’s a sweet savory note, which I love so much. I’ve got a glazed pork belly served over creamy polenta with the lavender brown sugar syrup. And then I’ve turned that around and done it on my brunch menu – a big hunk of pork belly with the glaze on it with two poached eggs and cheese grits.

What about your least favorite ingredient?
I hate fish fumet. I hate it. Lobster stock — hate it. I use lobster stock, but I don’t really use fish fumet much. I think it comes from having it spilled all over me once, and then I had to walk around the entire day smelling like it. It might slightly make me gag. Every time I’m around it.

What is your favorite restaurant outside the ones you’ve worked at?
There’s a restaurant in Oakland, California called Pizzaiola. I used to live a block from it. I got used to walking over to it and sitting at the bar to have dinner by myself or meeting friends there, and I think they do a fantastic job. The menu changes daily.

In Atlanta, 4th and Swift does a great job. JCT does a great job, and then the one place after my own heart is La Tavola, because they are a small set up and they do what they do well, and it’s consistent. I really appreciate consistent.

What is your favorite thing about the restaurant industry itself?
The amount of love people put into it. If you’re in this business, you’re in it for a reason. If you don’t love it, you shouldn’t be in it. And those who do love it put a lot into it. It’s a lot of work, and you gotta love it. So for people to have that kind of love is pretty impressive.

What is the most challenging part of being a chef in the restaurant industry?
Finding that balance. At my last restaurant, I truly achieved balance. And right off the bat at this restaurant I’ve been really focused on making sure I aim for that balance from the beginning.

How has it been different working at somebody else’s restaurant as a chef vs. owning your own restaurant now?
You know, I’m fully invested. Maybe that’s how it’s different. I’ve worked really hard and did it for so many other people. To be able to give everything that you got to get in the door and be able to do your own, that’s the love that restaurateurs have, right there. Because we could work for other people all our lives, but there’s still that one thing that says, nope, I’m working so that one day I can have my own. Then to be able to do a renovation on a place is insane — insanely fabulous. To see it come along and it be everything you’ve thought about from Day 1 with you saying you wanted to have your own. If you look at that restaurant and you look at me, you will know me. And that’s what’s done me so well in the past is that I’ve had that relationship with not only my guests, but my staff and my team.

What is your philosophy as a chef managing people?
Every place I’ve ever left, I’ve left behind a really great team, and I’ve always hated to leave the team that I have behind. That’s a really tough one, but every time I get to a new place, for some reason I build another great team.

I expect people to work hard. I expect them to enjoy coming to work. And for that I create that environment where we work hard, we take care of each other. We do what’s right. They make decisions on their own, because they’re allowed to make decisions on their own, based on the simple philosophy that I will support you if you do the right thing. I think that goes a long way with people.

Even the hiring process — I have not put a single ad out. Everybody that I’ve hired thus far has been word of mouth. Everybody has different things going on in their lives, and they all have questions about what about this for me, and what about that for me. And I say, you know what? We’re going to take care of that. Everybody here is going to be working hard. You’re going to get to do what you need to do for yourself and your family, and you’re going to be able to do it because so and so is going to do this for you, and you’re going to return the favor when it’s time to return the favor.

It’s funny, because one restaurant I worked for in San Francisco, that team was all family, family, family. And I worked at another restaurant where it was business, business, business. And then my last one really combined both. And it was a really great harmony. So it has to be a great combination of people who are willing to do within those four walls for each other, and care about each other, and work hard and enjoy working with each other. It’s mutual respect.

If you weren’t in the restaurant industry, what do you think you’d be doing?
I would be an architect or designer. I can put it together in my head and can see it. And I’ve had a great time designing this restaurant. I don’t have a designer. It’s me putting it together, and it’s going to be a really pretty place. If I could do that for a living, that could be my next life, for sure.

If you could decide your last meal, what would it be?
Fried chicken. I would probably have some fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peas. And cherry pie for dessert.

Fine Southern Food in the North Georgia Mountains

By Christy Simo

There are scores of chefs and restaurant owners across the state doing new and different things, cooking interesting food and creating exciting restaurants. This month, we talked with Steven Hartman, executive chef at Le Vigne, Montaluce Winery’s restaurant in Dahlonega. Born and raised in Nashville, Tenn., Steven has a culinary arts degree from Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon. He is also the former chef de cuisine for the Hermitage Hotel, a five-star, five-diamond icon in Nashville.

Chef Hartman has been at Le Vigne for two years. It’s a young winery and restaurant – the vines are on their sixth year of the rootstock, and the winery has only been open for three years.

Following is the highlights of our conversation. Be sure to also check out his blog, Hogballs & Mountain Dew at http://levignekitchen.blogspot.com/ or follow him on Twitter @hogballs.

Tell me a little bit about Montaluce Winery and the restaurant itself.
Monteluce Winery and the restaurant is located on 400 acres in Dahlonega. We’ve got 17 acres planted in vineyards and 2 acres for an organic garden. We’re staying true to the whole local and sustainable movement. We started with offering the local wine and vegetables from our garden. We want to stay true to that by supporting the local artisans and producers and try to do our part and give back to the local community.

Why did you decide to become a chef?
My mom is a fairly accomplished southern American cook. I spent a lot of time in her kitchen growing up, so I began to appreciate food traditionally prepared and prepared well. And I grew up with a large garden in the yard. When I was a young teenager I began working in the foodservice industry and really began to enjoy the buzz and the excitement. It’s not a desk job by any means. It’s like, what’s going to happen today? There’s always something going down.

How would you describe your cooking style?
I’d say what I do is refined Southern regional. We take elements and techniques of traditional southern cuisine and try to add a sense of refinement to these and present them in a higher-end fashion. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it makes sense.

As a chef, what inspires you?
I’m very ingredient driven, and right now it’s awesome seeing beautiful produce coming in from the garden, things I haven’t seen since last spring. I always get excited about seeing morels again.

What is the best advice or tip you ever received?
At first when I was really struggling working the line and having a hard time staying on top of things, the chef said to me, “You know, you really need to think about things and work smarter, not harder.” It’s pretty simple, but at the end of the day, I tell cooks that more than anything else.

What’s the one item you must have in your kitchen?
I would say the Vita-Prep is essential to what I do.

What would you ban from your kitchen if you could?
Aluminum sauté pans. It’s hard to replace 100 sauté pans that are aluminum.

What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
Vinegar plays a crucial role in my cuisine. Not only for preservation, but it’s a major part of the balancing act with what we do.

What would you say is your least favorite ingredient to cook with?
I really despise the smell of truffle oil. It’s one of those things. Truffles are fine, but truffle oil itself …  I don’t know if it’s too many times I’ve smelt it or too many people have overused it, but it’s just so strong that anytime anyone opens up truffle oil, it’s like, “Ahh, I wish we could just get away from this product and just use real truffles all the time.” But it’s hard for me to justify spending the money sometimes.

What is your favorite restaurant (outside your own, of course)?
The menu and style of cuisine at Holeman & Finch is fun for me as a chef and a diner. I’ve found it to be the most consistent and enjoyable dining experience in Atlanta or the surrounding area. It’s the opportunity to see chefs use products from the same producers and artisans that I use but presented in a different way. They’re using the whole animal similar to what we do here, but it’s fun seeing the different spin.

Who is the most inspirational person to you in the restaurant world?
Probably the chef I worked for at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, [Tyler Brown]. He’s the executive chef there and I was his head chef de cuisine for a number of years. We built a strong relationship and found a good cooking balance between the two of us.

What is your favorite thing about the foodservice industry?
I love and hate the hours at the same time. It’s a labor of love being here, but it’s awfully time-consuming. I love working and the challenge of working in a kitchen and the rush, but also it’s tough watching my baby grow up and think, well, I’m going to be gone for 15 hours today. My wife is going out of town this weekend to a birthday party, but I’m going to stay back and do a wine dinner tonight. So I’m really pumped up about the wine dinner, but I’d love to see my friends and family back in Nashville.

What is the most challenging part of heading up the kitchen?
I think cooks are super tough and super sensitive at the same time. So figuring out the mentality of all the different cooks is a balancing act. It’s interesting. Everybody has their own style of management, but everybody has their own learning style and respond better to different techniques and avenues.

If you weren’t in the restaurant industry, what do you think you’d be doing?
I’d guide fly-fishing trips. I’ve got a lot of opportunities for fishing up here. Our winery is located on the Etowah River, so we take clients down and do basic fly fishing casting and fly-fishing instruction, then we’ll harvest our catch . We’ll do a demonstration on cleaning and cooking the trout by the river. It’s neat and fun and something different for them to do.

If you could decide your last meal, what would it be?
Collard greens with grits and a slow-roasted pork shoulder. Hearty Southern food with a lot of flavor. I grew up eating greens but didn’t enjoy them very much, and now it’s one of those things I can’t get enough of.

Chef Jonn Nishiyama of Atlanta was recognized as the 2010 Chapter Chef of the Year during the ACF Greater Atlanta Chapter’s President’s Gala and Awards Dinner. Chef Nishiyama also received the 2010 Southeast Region Chef of the Year award during the 2010 ACF Southeast Regional Conference held at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel, Birmingham AL.

Currently Nishiyama works as garde manger chef at Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta, under Chef Kevin Walker, CMC. The Chef of the Year award recognizes an outstanding culinarian who works and cooks in a full-service dining facility. This person demonstrates the highest standard of culinary skills, advances the cuisine of America and gives back to the profession through the development of students and apprentices.

Prior to joining the staff at Cherokee Town and Country Club, Nishiyama worked as executive chef at Marietta Country Club, Keenesaw, Ga. and as executive chef at Druid Hills Golf Club, Atlanta, among other restaurants in Georgia and Hawaii. Nishiyama earned an associate degree in foodservice and a certificate in culinary arts from Kapi’olani Community College, Honolulu, in 1986, and an associate degree in culinary arts from The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1993. He has earned numerous awards throughout his career, including more than 10 gold and silver medals in culinary competitions. He is a member of ACF Greater Atlanta Chapter Inc.

Busy schedules seem to come naturally to Layla Gunn. She and her husband Mark Gunn, are co-owners of  four metro Atlanta Melting Pot locations where her main role is heading up marketing and assisting with logistics.  In addition, Gunn is a dedicated philanthropist with children charities her focus.

Gunn’s eight years in the hospitality industry have included stints as a server, bartender and manager.  She has been part of the opening team at new Melting Pot locations, lending her expertise in design and decor.

Prior to working in hospitality, Gunn worked as a pharmacist, a career she says could never compare to that of a restaurateur.

Gunn’s passion for children’s charities began with her husband Mark through their work with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital more than ten years ago. After raising more than $300,000 through fundraisers and personal donations, she decided to create a charity of their own. “I believe it’s important to teach children to be compassionate toward other children in less fortunate circumstances and pay it forward,” Layla Gunn said.

She launched Pure Imagination, a unique Atlanta-based children’s charity that encourages children to help each other. The vision of the group is built around three core values. Pure Imagination encourages children to “form lifelong friendships with other children that are chronically or terminally ill by sharing experiences allowing these children to escape hospitals, protocols, intense scheduling and difficult daily challenges and embrace hope by creating lasting memories beyond their imagination”.

Chris Coan , General Manager, Business and Government Markets, Gas South, was honored at the 2010 Georgia Restaurant Association’s Crystal of Excellence Awards (GRACE) with the Industry Partner of the Year Award.

Coan joined the Gas South team in November 2006, but his first restaurant experience stretches back to when he was in high school. He used to work Saturdays and Sundays busing tables at Veeder’s Family Restaurant in Schenectady, N.Y., to earn extra money.

Today, Chris helps restaurants with their natural gas needs as part of his job with Gas South, and knows the amount of hard work required to be a successful restaurant. He works with restaurant customers to develop creative solutions for their needs as far as rate plans and price, but also looks at ways to help expand their marketing reach. He is responsible for all industrial and governmental customers with annual natural gas consumption greater than 30,000 therms.

A graduate of the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, Chris also received an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the State University of New York and a degree in Ceramics from Georgia Tech.

What restaurant industry means to Georgia: The restaurant industry plays a key role when evaluating the strength of the Georgia economy. The industry is a large provider of diverse jobs for Georgians while bringing together community members for one of the country’s favorite shared pastimes — eating out. As such, the restaurant industry plays a key role in keeping our local economy and communities strong.

Major trends: In this economy, controlling operating costs, including those associated with utilities like natural gas, will be very important. The other trend I see is more customers asking for local produce and sustainable products served at their favorite restaurants. The GRA has seen the interest in local and sustainable issues surfaced by various roundtables, committees, and GRA partners and acted quickly to build the Green Foodservice Alliance. The GFA is a great addition to the GRA and will have a big impact on helping its members learn and implement programs that promote environmentally friendly best practices.

Industry’s most pressing challenges: Credit issues will continue to be a big challenge in 2011. It will hit restaurant owners on two fronts. Most importantly, restaurant owners will find it much harder to find capital to support expansions or to stay afloat during slow times. In addition to tight credit, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in Georgia and regulations around data security for restaurants that accept credit cards will add additional costs and risks for owners as they work to stay compliant.

Advice to those just starting out: I don’t have much advice to offer someone entering the restaurant business, but for those who are new to the GRA, I would recommend they get involved. The best way to optimize your membership is to get involved with the various committees and roundtables. Working on a committee is a great opportunity to network with restaurateurs and the vendors who support their businesses. This is a great opportunity to learn about what’s going on in the industry and a friendly environment to refine your value proposition. For anyone looking to sell their services or products to a restaurant, I recommend you go out and eat at the restaurants your want to serve. It’s always easier to start a sales call with “I really enjoyed your special last night.”

Ron Eyester, Executive Chef and Owner, Rosebud, was honored at the 2010 Georgia Restaurant Association’s Crystal of Excellence Awards (GRACE) with the Innovator Award.

Ron began his career, like most in the industry, by taking a restaurant job in his teen years. And, like most everyone else in the business, he was captivated by the energy of the restaurant and developed a passion for the industry. According to Ron, the restaurant business is like a sick addiction: once you get in; it’s nearly impossible to get out.

Ron grew up in New York and spent his college years in Charleston attending The Citadel. It was while working on his Master’s degree back in New York that Ron experienced an epiphany of sorts and decided that he would pursue a career in the kitchen.

After college, he spent six or seven years following food, eventually settling in Atlanta as sous chef to the original Food 101. In 2009, he purchased the Morningside location of Food 101 and reopened it as Rosebud, a reference to Jerry Garcia’s guitar.

Ron’s mantra is to buy local, and he consistently challenges himself to resource the freshest available products. But for him it’s not just about the food, but taking the time to develop relationships that ultimately enrich the restaurant.

And that feeling stretches to the restaurant employees as well. Ron says the people are just as important as the food served, and a sense of humor, grace under pressure, and an intense love of food are all requirements for the restaurant’s staff and friends.

He’s also known around town for his themed dinners, such as The White Dinner (themed around the Beatle’s White Album), the Jerry Garcia Tribute (each course paired with a live Grateful Dead song), and 80s Night, a six-course dinner centered around favorite dishes from the decade.

On Saturdays, Eyester also helps run the Morningside Farmers Market, which is located next to his restaurant.

Most challenging part of career: I took a very non-conventional, non-traditional pathway into business. This made “getting my food in the door” very challenging. But the biggest reward has been Rosebud.

Major trends: Casual concepts will continue to grow, “farm to table” will continue to gain momentum, and social media will emerge as a dominant marketing tool.

Industry’s most pressing challenges: Economy, and working with local government agencies to facilitate the process of actually opening restaurant and regulating certain aspects of our industry.

Advice to those just starting out: Stay committed, learn from other restaurants, support local, and make a personal/professional agenda that you don’t stray from.

Key to success: The work ethic that I learned from my father, support from my wife, almost an obsessive level of passion and a willingness to sacrifice almost anything at any given time.