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 Paul Canales, Executive Chef, Oliveto Restaurant
Tara Duggan, Food Writer, San Francisco Chronicle
Bruce Mason Hill, Owner/ Exective Chef, Bix and Restaurant Picco
Sho Kamio, Executive Chef, Yoshi's
Ravi Kapur, Chef de Cuisine, Boulevard Restaurant
Staffan Terje, Chef Owner, Perbacco
Rona Tison, Senior VP Corporate Relations, ITO EN (North America) INC.
 Paul Canales
Executive Chef
Oliveto Restaurant
5655 College Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618
http://www.oliveto.com/
Paul Canales is the Executive Chef of Oliveto Restaurant in Oakland, California. Chef Canales came to Oliveto in 1995 as an extern from the Culinary Institute of America. He was immediately taken with the restaurant's commitment to the finest seasonal ingredients and authentic, regional Italian cooking that was developing in the restaurant's kitchen. After he completed his externship, he returned the CIA to complete his studies, and graduated at the top of his class. While at the CIA, he received many scholarships and awards, including the Escoffier Award for Leadership and Academic Excellence and the Wine Spectator Award for Excellence.
During his time in New York, he had the good fortune to work with Louis Fessy (Four Seasons), Roland Shinu (Le Pavilion, Le Cote Basque, and Le Chantilly), and Andre Soltner (Lutece), three of the finest French chefs from the heyday of haute French Cuisine in Manhattan. He returned to Oliveto in the fall of 1996 as a line cook, and attained the position of sous chef by the beginning of 1997. In the year 2000, Chef Canales was appointed the position of Chef de cuisine. Since that time, he has been responsible for all aspects of the kitchen, including menu development and evolution for the Restaurant and Café, sourcing and developing a community of producers of organic and sustainable ingredients, food and labor costs, staffing, and personnel development. He was named Chef in 2005 and became Executive Chef in 2006.
Chef Canales majored in literature, philosophy, political science, and history and graduated with honors from California State University Fresno. During his time at CSUF he was elected student Vice President and President, and received numerous awards, including the Leon Peters Award for Leadership and Academic Excellence. In addition, he spent time studying in Italy, England, and Taiwan, and completed a Congressional internship in Washington D.C.
After university, he was hired by Pacific Bell to participate in the Accelerated Management Program, designed to move young management talent into mid and upper level positions in relatively short time. He was promoted quickly through the line disciplines of sales and marketing, and did staff tours in strategic planning and finance. He was recognized with many awards during this time and was given opportunities for advanced business studies at Stanford University. In his last position prior to leaving Pacific Bell, he was responsible for all of sales, marketing, and strategic and business planning for the Bay Area.
During his years in the business world, he traveled extensively in Italy, France, and Spain, further deepening his love for culture and cuisine. After eight and a half years, he chose to leave the corporate world and follow his passion for cooking.
Tara Duggan
Food Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Tara Duggan writes Food and Wine features as well as the bi-weekly "Working Cook" column, offering readers quick-cooked meals with fresh, seasonal ingredients. She's collected many of these columns into "The Working Cook Cookbook" available online at SFGate.com. A 2002 James Beard Foundation Award-winner, Tara is also a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and the University of California at Berkeley.
 Bruce Mason Hill
Owner/ Exective Chef
BIX
56 Gold Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
http://www.bixrestaurant.com/
Pizzeria Picco & Wine Bar
320 Mangolia Avenue, Larkspur, CA 94939
http://www.pizzeriapicco.com/
http://www.restaurantpicco.com/
Bruce Hill, a San Francisco based chef started cooking when he was 18 years old in kitchens in Washington, DC and San Francisco. A self-trained chef, he has worked at many of the finest restaurants in San Francisco including Stars, Aqua, Oritalia, The Waterfront and BIX. His newest venues are Picco and Pizzeria Picco & Wine Bar.
Bruce was a sous chef at Stars with Jeremiah Tower in the mid 1980's, Sous chef at Aqua in 1991 and then brought Oritalia to fame in 1993 with his first chef post. He was recruited to transform the Waterfront Restaurant in 1997, In 2000 Bruce joined forces with Real Restaurants, consulting at Betelnut, Buckeye Roadhouse, and Fog City Diner. He took on the executive chef /partner role at Bix in 2002. Bruce, as chef /owner opened Picco and Pizzeria Picco in 2005.
Pizzeria Picco has received many accolades in the press including Michael Bauer from the San Francisco Chronicle; "Pizzeria Picco serves the best pizza in the Bay Area” and from the esteemed Mario Batali in the April 2006 Gourmet Magazine that Pizzeria Picco is "the best in the country. His Margherita pizza is so good; it's enough to make you cry.”
All of Bruce's 3 restaurants are named in the SF chronicle's top 100 list.
In 2007, Bruce served as culinary Ambassador representing San Francisco with a delegation celebrating the 50 year sister city relationship with Osaka, Japan.
Bruce lives in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco with his fiancé, Kim.
When not in the kitchen he enjoys mushroom foraging in Sonoma and Mendocino.
 Sho Kamio
Executive Chef
Yoshi's
1330 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115
http://sf.yoshis.com/sf/restaurant
Originally from the countryside in Sendai, Japan, where fresh meats, vegetables, and fish are part of daily life, Shotaru Kamio started to learn the culinary art as an apprentice in his teens. After holding positions at several top restaurants in Tokyo, Kamio moved to San Francisco in 2001, and burst onto the restaurant scene. Since then, Chef Shotaro "Sho” Kamio has redefined Japanese cooking, and by his second year here, was voted best rising chef by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Under his leadership, Ozumo Restaurant became tremendously popular and in 2004 was awarded three stars by the San Francisco Chronicle, and voted one of the top 100 restaurants in 2005. Then, in 2005 Sho opened a restaurant in Sacramento, CA, which won praise by the Sacramento Bee.
In the summer of 2006, Chef Sho accepted the opportunity to become Executive Chef of Yoshi's Jazz club & Japanese Restaurant. After reinventing the menu at the Oakland Location, Chef Sho designed his dream kitchen at the San Francisco location, which opened in July 2007.
In 2008, Yoshi's was chosen as one of the top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area and one of the Top 10 Bay Area's best restaurants in 2008 by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Chef Sho donates his time for various charitable events, such as Make a Wish Foundation and Meals On Wheels, as well as for children at schools in Contra Costa County.
 Ravi Kapur
Chef de Cuisine
Boulevard Restaurant
1 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
http://www.boulevardrestaurant.com/
Born of Indian and Chinese decent and Native to Hawaii, Ravi has always been exposed to the freshest ingredients since his youth. "We would shop at the local farmer's markets, in China Town and at the road side stands, we knew where our food came from.” Kapur's innate love of diverse cultural influences comes from his growing up on Hawaii where the culture and cuisine is a melting pot of Eastern and Western influences.
Chef Kapur believes his exposure to different people and cultures through his extensive travels around the globe have opened his mind and spirit to the nature of cooking. He tries to use that energy at the restaurant on a daily basis to make a better dining experience for his guests.
Ravi has been at Boulevard since the Spring of 2002. As Chef de Cuisine he is responsible for the daily operations of the kitchen as well as development and implementation of new dishes on the ever changing menu. Chef Kapur is constantly working with purveyors, farmers and gatherers to bring in new and fresh ingredients to the restaurant.
Currently Kapur is working on a new restaurant project, Prospect, where he will be the Executive Chef. Set to open in the Spring of 2010 at the Infinity in San Francisco Prospect will showcase Modern California Cuisine in a comfortable vibrant atmosphere.
 Staffan Terje
Chef Owner
Perbacco
230 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
http://www.perbaccosf.com/
After cooking in restaurants throughout Europe, Staffan Terje found his culinary love in Italy and his culinary home in California where he was reunited with the fresh produce and prime meats of his childhood on a farm in Sweden. After stints at the original Piatti in Yountvillle and Scala's Bistro in San Francisco, Terje's talents are fully realized at the acclaimed Perbacco in San Francisco where as Chef Owner he oversees a menu based on the dishes of Piemonte, his favorite region in Italy. His many accolades, include a three-star review by Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle who noted, "It is inspiring to see a talented chef. . .now break into his own.”
 Rona Tison
Senior VP Corporate Relations
ITO EN (North America) INC.
http://www.itoen.com
Rona Tison is the senior vice president of corporate relations at ITO EN (North America) INC. with expertise in retail operations and merchandising, public relations, food and beverage management, customer relations, and sales and event planning.
Tison has extensive experience in the tea industry and has received Green Tea Certification from ITO EN. At ITO EN, she is responsible for maintaining and developing the company's corporate image through branding, public relations and promotional events. Tison also helps to generate business opportunities related to ITO EN by securing new beverage distribution channels and communicating with restaurant and distribution partners. In addition, she spearheaded the launch of ITO EN's first flagship store in New York City, voted ‘top tea store' and ‘best overall' in the Zagat New York City Gourmet Shopping & Entertainment Guide for four consecutive years (2005 – 2008).
Tison is a member of the US Tea Association, the Specialty Tea Institute and the Asian Art Museum and Japan Society. She has spoken at the World Tea Expo from 2002 through 2007 discussing branding and marketing, the Japanese Business Lecture Series at Carnegie Mellon University and the 2007 Smithsonian Lecture Series. Tison has also presented at the James Beard Foundation Dinner, was a panel judge for "Accent on Design” at the New York Gift Show and served on the Advisory Panel for Retailer's Roundtable for Gift & Decorative Accessories in 1999.
Prior to joining ITO EN, Tison worked extensively in the hotel and service industry where she served as director of operations at the W Hotels The Court and The Tuscany, executive vice president at the lifestyle store Felissimo and rooms divisional manager at Le Parker Meridien, all in New York.
Tison received her bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley where she majored in Oriental Literature. She currently lives in Sonoma, CA.
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