To reserve your tickets for the 3rd Annual YSF Gala, please follow the link below:
https://theyoungscientistfoundation.org/donate/

Third Annual YSF Gala and Silent Auction

March 23, 2015

Ritz-Carlton Battery Park, New York City
Cocktail hour – 6:30 pm
Dinner – 7:30 pm
Available Sponsorship Levels

Participating Chefs

Floyd Cardoz(White Street)

Floyd Cardoz is a celebrated Indian-American chef and executive chef / partner at White Street, which opened this September in TriBeCa. At White Street, Cardoz joins media figures Dan Abrams and Dave Zinczenko and downtown restaurant veteran Christine Cole (BondSt) to introduce diners to a new American restaurant with an old New York feel. His menu highlights seasonal produce and the bright, flavorful cooking for which he is known.

Prior to opening White Street, Cardoz worked with restaurateur Danny Meyer for 17 years at acclaimed restaurants Tabla and North End Grill in Manhattan. He is a four-time James Beard Award nominee, recipient of the first-ever “Humanitarian of the Year Award” from Food TV and Share Our Strength in honor of his continued commitment to community engagement.

Cardoz attended culinary school in his native Bombay, India, and apprenticed in the kitchen of the Taj Mahal Intercontinental Hotel. To broaden his familiarity with classic culinary technique, he moved to Switzerland to study at Les Roches, a hotel management and culinary school in Bluche, where he received his diploma in Hotel Management and Administration. While in Switzerland, he cooked at local French, Italian and Indian restaurants to hone his skills. An opportunity to work under chef Gray Kunz at Lespinasse led Cardoz to New York City, where he rose from chef de partie to chef de cuisine in five years.

In 1997, Cardoz partnered with Union Square Hospitality Group’s Danny Meyer to open Tabla, a beloved restaurant celebrating his “new Indian cuisine,” that married the sensual flavors and spices of his homeland with Western technique. With Cardoz at its helm, Tabla received numerous accolades including a three-star review from The New York Times. After twelve successful years, Tabla closed its doors in December 2010.

In 2011, Cardoz competed on and won Season Three of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. Cardoz used his $110,000 in winnings to support the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund at New York’s Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. The now independent foundation, which is referred to as the Young Scientist Foundation (YSF), is an organization that enables high school and college students to work alongside accomplished researchers to develop new treatments for diseases and remains an essential focus of Cardoz’s charitable contributions.

In 2012, Cardoz opened North End Grill, a seasonal American restaurant in Battery Park City, again with Union Square Hospitality Group and partner Danny Meyer. After establishing North End Grill as a downtown Manhattan favorite, in 2014 Cardoz left the restaurant to pursue new projects including Bombay Canteen, a restaurant in Mumbai that will open in early 2015.

Cardoz is the author of One Spice, Two Spice (2006, William Morrow Cookbooks) and the upcoming A Time to Cook, which will be released by Artisan in early 2016. In addition to his fine dining establishments, in 2008 Cardoz launched a line of convenient“4-Minute Meals” and “Ready to Cook” entrées in collaboration with gourmet online grocer Fresh Direct. The same year he became the culinary director and creator of Union Square Hospitality Group’s El Verano Taquería, serving authentic Mexican tacos and salsas at the New York Met’s Citi Field and Washington’s Nationals Park.

Chris Jaeckle (All’onda)

Chris Jaeckle, co-founder/executive chef and proprietor/chef of Manhattan restaurants Uma Temakeria and All’onda, respectively, knew early on that he wanted to be a chef. Originally from Long Island, New York, Jaeckle worked as a busboy and attended Westbury Vocational School for the Culinary Arts throughout high school. After graduation, he furthered his culinary career at Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, graduating with a B.A. in Culinary Arts.

Jaeckle’s first job in the field was at Larry Forgione’s An American Place. Following that, he spent the next seven years working for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, splitting his time between Tabla and Eleven Madison Park.

His interest in Asian flavors then drew Jaeckle to Morimoto, where he served as sous chef. Working to prepare sushi rice and compose temaki family meals for the staff, Jaeckle developed the precision and reverence for the process required of Japanese cuisine, experimenting with the many possible flavors and textures of temaki.

Next on the culinary horizon was joining Michael White and team at the Altamarea Group. Under Jaeckle’s direction as Chef de Cuisine, in 2011 Ai Fiori was awarded a Michelin star as well as a three-star review from The New York Times.

In 2014, he moved on to open All’onda as proprietor and chef, which has been heralded by Thrillist as one of New York City’s 11 Best Restaurants of 2014. Jaeckle was also just recently named as Eater’s 2014 New York City Chef of the Year.

 

Jaeckle’s passion for Japanese cuisine led him to open Uma Temakeria with co-founder Cynthia Kueppers as its executive chef.  Uma Temakeria is the nation’s first fast-casual style eatery featuring fresh, customer designed temaki, cone-shaped “hand roll” sushi. Follow him @cjaeckle and see what’s up at his fine fast-casual temaki shop @UmaTemakeria.

George Mendes (Aldea)

George Mendes is the chef and owner of NYC’s Michelin-starred Iberian and Mediterranean restaurant, ALDEA. Named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2011, George released his first cookbook, My Portugal: Recipes & Stories, in October 2014, and has made numerous television appearances on the TODAY Show, CBS This Morning and Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. aldearestaurant.com, @geomendes

Tracy Obolsky (North End Grill)

Tracy Obolsky’s unlikely path to pastry began in the art world, where she graduated from Pratt Institute in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. After her time at Pratt, Tracy began experimenting with her grandmother’s recipes. Although she was very young when her grandmother passed away, Tracy found a way to connect with her through following her grandmother’s carefully typed recipe cards for French Coffee Cake, Prune Cake, and a multitude of other 1950s-style desserts. Her background in design slowly began to emerge via her budding passion for pastry, which eventually led her to attend the French Culinary Institute in 2007.

Tracy’s first pastry position was Pastry Sous Chef at Borough Food and Drink, where she quickly ascended to the role of Pastry Chef. She moved on to Madison and Vine, where she oversaw all pastry production and later helped establish the pastry department for the first Five Napkin Burger. After a stint at Cookshop in 2008, she joined the team at General Green in Brooklyn, where she developed the recipes for Greene Ice Cream, which The New York Times dubbed “the holy grail of all ice creams in New York City.” In 2010, at the age of 27, she assumed the position of Pastry Chef at Esca, where she worked for four years before becoming Pastry Chef of North End Grill in 2013.

When she’s not in the kitchen, Tracy enjoys snowboarding, surfing, watching the Rangers, playing with her dog, listening to live music, and hanging out in Brooklyn.

Carmen Quagliata (Union Square Café)

At Union Square Cafe, with the Greenmarket at his doorstep, Executive Chef and Partner Carmen Quagliata explores and develops his passion for his native Italian cuisine in one of the country’s most beloved restaurants. Carmen’s culinary style was formed by the Sicilian matriarchs of his family, who made sausage and bread by hand and grew pole beans from seeds carried across the Atlantic by their Italian kin.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Carmen became an apprentice at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia under Chef Hartmut Handke. Three years later, he headed west to work for Michael Chiarello at Tra Vigne in Napa Valley. There he quickly advanced from Sous Chef to Executive Sous Chef to Executive Chef/Partner.

In 2001, Carmen was hired to work for Lydia Bastianich at Felidia in New York City. He then moved to Boston and became Chef at The Vault, which quickly earned three stars from both the Boston Herald and Boston Globe. After researching opening a restaurant in Boston, Carmen realized his heart lay in New York, and a fortuitous introduction brought him to Union Square Cafe.

It was immediately apparent that Carmen was the perfect complement to Chef Michael Romano’s kitchen, and in January 2005, he was hired as Chef de Cuisine. Carmen was promoted to Executive Chef in September 2007. Within a year the restaurant received four stars from Time Out New York, and reclaimed the title of New York City’s Most Popular Restaurant from the Zagat Survey – an honor Union Square Cafe has received an unprecedented nine times. Carmen’s cooking continues to show his respect for all that has come before at USC, as well as his creativity, taste and appreciation for the seasons, as he shapes the restaurant’s future.

Jonathon Sawyer (The Greenhouse Tavern)

As a proud Clevelander, award-winning Chef Jonathon Sawyer has worked tirelessly to help elevate the culinary landscape of his hometown with his distinctive restaurant concepts, including his newest concept, Trentina, an intimate, fine-dining restaurant focusing on the cuisine of Trentino in Northern Italy, where Chef’s wife, Amelia Sawyer, and her family originate. Trentina adds yet another highlight to Chef Sawyer’s growing list of acclaimed Cleveland culinary destinations, including his flagship, The Greenhouse Tavern, a French and seasonally inspired gastropub named by bon appetit as one of the “Best New Restaurants” in 2009; and Noodlecat, a mash-up noodle house focusing on local ingredients, sustainability, and top-tier ramen, with locations at Public Square and the historical West Side Market. In addition to his stand-alone concepts, Chef Sawyer has also made an impact on the stadium foodservice scene with two restaurants launched in 2012: Sawyer’s Street Frites, football fare with a twist at the Cleveland Browns’ First Energy Stadium; and SeeSaw Pretzel Shoppe, serving Bavarian-style bretzels at the Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Prior to establishing his Cleveland businesses, Sawyer gained cooking experience across the country. The Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts graduate began his culinary career at The Biltmore Hotel in Miami before working in New York City alongside Charlie Palmer at Kitchen 22. Chef Sawyer worked as chef de cuisine for his friend, colleague, and fellow native Clevelander, Michael Symon, and then became Chef Symon’s executive chef at Parea in New York, receiving a two-star review from The New York Times. He moved back to Cleveland in 2007 to partner with a local entrepreneur to open Bar Cento, a modern Roman enoteca in the Ohio City neighborhood, before he went on to launch his own culinary empire, which now includes a product line.

The self-professed “vinegar-obsessed” Chef pioneered this passion in the vast cellar of his century home, fermenting more than 300 gallons of single-origin, single-varietal, and barrel-aged wine, beer, and malt vinegars to launch Tavern Vinegar Co. in 2008. Tavern Vinegar is available online and in specialty shops around the country, including Publican Quality Meats in Chicago, Room Service in Cleveland, and Revival Market in Houston.

Chef Sawyer’s passion, skill and creativity have been rewarded greatly since he arrived on the culinary scene. In 2010, Food & Wine magazine named him a “Best New Chef” and he’s been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2013 and 2014. In addition, Chef Sawyer has made several national television appearances including Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Iron Chef America, Dinner Impossible, Unique Eats, and Best Thing I Ever Ate.

When Sawyer is not in the kitchen, he is surrounded by his family: his wife, Amelia; son, Catcher; daughter, Louisiana; dogs Potato and Vito; and chickens Acorn, Bunny, Bear, and Squid. He is an avid cyclist, as well as a tireless supporter of local agriculture and sustainable businesses both in Northeast Ohio and around the country.