Sharon Wiest, Culinary Center in Lincoln City
Chef Sharon Wiest is the Executive Chef of the Culinary Center in Lincoln City. She relocated from Cincinnati, Ohio in 2008 to the beautiful Oregon coast (for the oysters, of course!)
Sharon has a Marketing degree from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and spent twelve years in the advertising industry. Through her experiences working on a variety of food accounts and her passion for all things culinary, she decided to change careers and become a chef.
She is a graduate of the Midwest Culinary Institute in Cincinnati. After culinary school she spent three years in fine dining at Great American Ballpark for the Cincinnati Reds, then three years as the Executive Chef at Ft. Mitchell Country Club in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. Sharon also was an instructor at Midwest Culinary Institute for several years.
Chef Wiest is committed to developing diverse hands-on and demonstration style classes, all focusing on fresh and local products whenever possible.
Rob Pounding, Blackfish Cafe & Rockfish Bakery
Chef Rob Pounding is the owner and Chef of the Blackfish Café and Rockfish Bakery in Lincoln City, Oregon. Chef Pounding is also a co-founder of the Culinary Center in Lincoln City.
He was the Executive Chef of Salishan Lodge from 1985 to 1999 and during his tenure the Lodge’s fine dining restaurant received the AAA 4 Diamond, and Mobil 4 Star Awards (the only restaurant in Oregon to do so,) as well as the DiRona Award. Chef Pounding was also selected as one of the top ten chefs in the Pacific Northwest by NW magazine.
Rob is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, a Certified Executive Chef, and was selected as a member of the American Academy of Chefs; the American Culinary Federation’s honor society for excellence in Culinary Arts & contribution to the profession.
Rob has spent many years developing working relationships with various market gardeners, farmers, and fisherman on the Oregon Coast, and has been an active supporter of sustainable agriculture & organic farming for commercial applications in Oregon.
Rob was selected to prepare a dinner at the prestigious James Beard House in New York. He has been involved in numerous promotional events, including guest Chef at the Hotel Furama in Central Hong Kong, guest Chef at the US Embassy, Hong Kong, and Chef exchange at the Hotel Fregate, Bandol, France. In 1996 he was asked to develop a series of menus featuring foods and preparations from the Pacific Northwest for the restaurants at the prestigious American Club in Central Hong Kong. Rob is active in various hunger relief efforts, including Lincoln County Food Share and Share Our Strength.
Liz Lesesne, Wandering Chef
Liz’s culinary passion has been a constant. Growing up in the South in a family of food lovers was the basis for a lifetime of culinary adventure. Wherever she goes she cooks. To take her interest to a higher level, she became a graduate of the Midwest Culinary Institute in Cincinnati. She and Chef Sharon had their first class together and have been friends since.
Whether at home in Asheville, North Carolina, or away, she finds the most interesting, freshest, local food and uses it as the basis for traditional and innovative dishes. French and Southern are her favorite styles. She has found that Oregon’s abundance of exceptional ingredients is very adaptive to all types of cuisine.
In addition to catering for weddings, art openings, galas and soirees and organizing food experiences in France, she teaches classes on both the Atlantic and Pacific coast.
Justin Wills, Restaurant Beck
Growing up in a large Italian family on the south side of Des Moines, Justin was exposed to more great food in his childhood than most are in their lives. This definitely planted the culinary passion in Justin at a very young age.
Deciding to pursue the culinary arts as a career, Justin started cooking as a teenager at a local large chain restaurant. In January of 1995, Justin enrolled in The Culinary Institute of America located in Hyde Park, New York. Following an internship at Grappa Restaurant in Park City, UT Wills graduated from the Culinary Institute in October of 1997. He cooked in great restaurants such as ¡OBA! Restaurante in Portland, and operated formidable fine dining kitchens in Denver, Dallas, New York, and Mendocino.
Justin first moved to Oregon in 2002 eventually moving to the Oregon coast in 2006. Justin and his wife, Stormee, had a dream to own their own restaurant and be able to access and prepare locally grown foods. Their dream definitely comes to life inside of the Whale Cove Inn just south of Depoe Bay with Restaurant Beck. The restaurant, named after their son Becker, opened in June of 2009 to rave reviews. Gerry Frank of the Oregonian put it best: “the fantastically located Whale Cove Inn houses Restaurant Beck where views compete neck and neck with the food.”
In 2011 Chef Wills was nominated by Food and Wine Magazine and CNN’s eatocracy blog for “The Peoples Best New Chef.”
Pati D’Eliseo, A Posto Personal Chef Services
Chef Pati D’Eliseo is the Executive Chef of A Posto Personal Chef Services LLC, a Newport, Oregon Company serving the central Oregon coast. Pati not only loves to cook for her clients, she also enjoys being a cooking instructor and sharing her knowledge and love for food through her customized cooking classes.
Chef Pati has been a passionate home cook for over 30 years; she makes dinner (along with her husband, Bruce Birt) using fresh, whole foods almost every night of the week. Her interests are varied, but her favorite style of cooking is Mediterranean. She shops the Lincoln County farmers’ markets for as long as they run, buys as much food from local producers as she can, and supports the buy local, organic, sustainable, and Slow Food movements. Pati loves the variety of coastal seafoods available at the fish markets or purchased directly from the fishermen right off their boats. Pati believes that knowing where whole foods come from, cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and eating together at the table are all part of healthy living.
Pati is a graduate of the Italian Culinary Academy (the Italian culinary program offered through the French Culinary Institute) in New York City. She spent five months in Italy learning the secrets of Italian cuisine and enjoys sharing them with her clients.
Bruce Birt, A Posto Personal Chef Services
Bruce Birt is the Sous Chef of A Posto Personal Chef Services LLC, a Newport, Oregon Company serving the central Oregon coast. He shares the same passion for food and wine as his wife, Pati D’Eliseo, Executive Chef of A Posto.
Chef Bruce is gifted in the art of salad making; his creations bring new life to an often overlooked dish. His ability to combine the flavors and contrasts of the bounty of different greens, herbs, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, nuts, and dressings is truly remarkable, and these healthy creations can either be a compliment to a meal or served alone as a main entree.
In addition, Bruce has devoted his recent culinary efforts to mastering the art of fine pizza making as found in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of pizza. His pizza making techniques include using handmade dough recipes incorporating select pizza flour, salt, and spring water from Italy, preparing pizza sauces featuring fresh herbs and the famous San Marzano tomatoes of the Sarnese-Nocerino region, and baking pizzas with artisanal cheeses and salami’s produced throughout the country’s 20 regions. These techniques and ingredients have led to a pizza ‘experience’ rarely found on the West Coast.
Bruce started his culinary career in Junior high school with ‘Boys Chef’ class. He quickly figured out that he could eat more if he could learn to cook for himself. When he met Pati in San Francisco in the early 90s he realized that he had found a kitchen ‘soul mate’. Over the years, Bruce and Pati have had the opportunity to travel to new places to learn about different types of foods, how they are prepared, as well as how they are celebrated.
Chef Graciela Polley
Graciela Albarran Polley is first generation Mexican American from Los Angeles California. She grew up in the kitchen helping her grandmother and mother make dinner every night, making rice and beans from scratch at least twice a week. She helped at every family event making tamales, barbacoa, and many other traditional Mexican foods. In high school she took a culinary arts class and was introduced to different ingredients. She decided to pursue a career in the culinary arts.
Graciela attended The California School of Culinary Arts, a Le Cordon Bleu School in Pasadena, California in 2002. After graduating she worked in many different types of restaurants all over Los Angeles, including Zucca for The Patina Corporation. In 2005 she went to work for Norwegian Cruise Lines out of Honolulu Hawaii. She worked her way from Cook to Sous Chef. In 2008 she moved to the Oregon Coast. She is currently the Pastry Chef at Salishan Golf Resort.
Linda Ziedrich, Writer, Teacher and Editor
Linda Ziedrich writes about food and rural life from her farmstead near Scio, Oregon, where she continually experiments with the produce from her orchard and large garden. The Joy of Pickling, The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves, and Cold Soups are the fruit of her empirical research as well as her studies of culinary traditions around the world.
Linda has worked as a nonfiction book editor for 30 years. The many titles she has edited include cookbooks such as Hiroko Shimbo’s Japanese Kitchen and Teresa Barrenechea’s Basque Table.
Linda met Chef Sharon at the IACP (International Assoc. of Culinary Professionals) conference in Portland, OR in the Spring of 2010. Sharon was getting her copy of The Joy of Pickling signed, and figured out that Linda was “the one” to teach pickling and canning classes at the Culinary Center. She has been a regular every fall since!
Tammi Paul, Two Track Farm
Having grown up on a farm it was only natural that I returned to farm life after finishing college and beginning a successful career teaching in higher education. Three kids later and having retired from teaching (in the more formal environment anyway), I now manage our small, sustainable family farm near Brownsville, Oregon with the help of my 6, 7 and 11 year old assistant managers and of course, my husband, the master engineer of anything needing repaired or built.
Two Track Farm raises registered Saanen and Lamancha dairy goats and registered Simmental cattle. I started making soap when we had more milk than our family could use. After several years of experimenting with different recipes, I was finally able to come up with one that met my expectations. Nine years later plus some creative marketing experience has now given rise to our soap being sold through our website, local markets and used exclusively at several B&B establishments. In addition, one of my favorite weekend activities is to attend the local farmer’s markets where I interact with people who are new to goat milk products as well as hear many great stories from people who have already used our soap or lotion.
Cheese making came as a natural next step as more and more people kept asking me if I sold goat cheese. My answer, “No, but I can teach you how to make it at home”. I am now delighted to be called the “goat lady” as I travel Oregon helping people be more sustainable in their home by using fresh, local ingredients to create artisan cheese products. Family and friends love to see what current cheese “creations” I am working on and guests in our home are always welcome to “test” some of our favorites!
Scott Neuman, ¡Oba! Restaurante
“I’ve always loved playing with my food.”
And play he does. Neuman has been cooking since he was a kid, following in the footsteps of his dad who introduced him to the smoky world of barbecue when he was in grade school. “It used to be my job to gather the hickory branches, soak them, and make sure there was a ready supply of wood chips anytime my dad wanted to fire up the grill.” He and his dad spent entire weekends cooking on the grill, sharing stories, and learning the many intricate delights of his family’s secret barbecue sauce.
A majority of his early career was spent in Texas–Austin, Amarillo and Dallas, to be exact, where he developed a love of all things Latin. After that, he moved to San Francisco, where he met Steve McLain, the owner of ¡Oba!, over twenty-two years ago. They began working together and the magic began to materialize. Neuman and McLain turned the heat up in Portland with the founding of ¡Oba! Restaurante in November of 1997.
Chef Neuman is considered the “father of Nuevo Latino cuisine in the Pacific Northwest”, and since the opening of the restaurant, ¡Oba! has received numerous honors , both locally and nationally. Over the past several years, Neuman has hosted his own radio show, “Dining Out” on Portland’s KOTK and KBNP, been invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City, been a guest chef on several local television programs, and has donated his talents to many high-profile charitable events. Chef Neuman has also been featured in such varied publications as Food Arts, Nation’s Restaurant News, Food & Wine, Chef Magazine, Bon Appetite, Vogue, Restaurant Hospitality, D-List and USA Today.
He’s still using some of his dad’s advice when it comes to roasting meat over a fire and he still calls his kitchen his playground.
Michael Valoppi, The Lodge at Suttle Lake
Michael is the Food & Beverage Manager/Executive Chef at The Lodge at Suttle Lake in Sisters, Oregon. He’s the recipient of several awards, including two ACF Medals, Chef Valoppi’s inspiration came from watching his grandmother in the kitchen as she created wonderful things out of simple parts. With the philosophy that food is the only art form where all five human senses are brought into play, he enjoys preparing simple dishes that truly speak for themselves with a splash of wow in the mix. “Every day we are here to throw the best party we can for all those who wish to visit us.”