The Vendy Awards (The Vendys)

Leslie Koch

Leslie Koch, the first Vendy Awards Host Judge, is President of The Trust for Governors Island (formerly the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation/GIPEC). Governors Island is a 172 acre island in New York Harbor with historic buildings, fortifications, and open spaces. Ms. Koch is responsible for the planning, redevelopment and on-going operation of 150 acres of the Island. Under her leadership, GIPEC has developed a strategy to create world-class open spaces on the Island, expand public access, preserve historic structures, and plan for mixed-use development.

Prior to GIPEC, Leslie Koch was the CEO of the Fund for Public Schools. She developed initiatives to increase public and private sector support for public education in New York City. Under her leadership, the Fund secured nearly $160 million for system-wide initiatives.

A native New Yorker, Ms. Koch’s career has spanned all three sectors. As an executive with Microsoft, she was responsible for strategic development and marketing of several flagship products. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale College with a B.A. in history and received a Masters in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Management.

She lives in New York City.

Molly O’Neill

Molly O’Neill is the author of three cookbooks, including the best-selling, “New York Cookbook,” “A Well Seasoned Appetite,” and The Pleasure of Your Company,” hosted the PBS series “Great Food,” and was, for ten years, a reporter with the New York Times and the food columnist for its Sunday magazine.

O’Neill won the Julia Child/IACP Award for cookbooks and was awarded three James Beard citations for books, journalism and television as well as the society’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and is the editor of the Library of America’s anthology, “American FoodWriting.”

Born in Columbus, Ohio, O’Neill graduated from Denison University and attended La Varenne in Paris. “Mostly True,” her memoir of growing up in a major league baseball family was published by Scribner in May 2007 and critics have called it “a magical tale of growing up in the middle of the American dream.” Her work has appeared in magazines ranging from The New Yorker and the New York Times to Readers Digest and Life.

Her next book, “One Big Table, a portrait of American cooking” will be published by Simon and Schuster next fall.

Aarón Sanchez

The co-star of Food Network’s hit series, Chefs vs. City, Aarón is the owner and executive chef of Centrico restaurant, located in New York City. In summer 2010 he will bring a taste of Mexico to New York by opening an authentic taco truck, Senor Tacombi Tacqueria. In addition to Chefs vs. City, Aarón appears on multiple Food Network shows including, Chopped, Best Thing I Ever Ate, and Next Iron Chef. In the Fall of 2010, Aaron will be releasing his second cookbook. As a 3rd generation Mexican-American and the son of celebrated Mexican cooking authority Zarela Martinez, Aarón’s passion, commitment and skills have placed him among the country’s leading contemporary Latin Chefs.

Stephen Starr, Owner and Founder, Starr Restaurants

Stephen Starr has been a major figure in transforming Philadelphia into one of the most eclectic and vibrant restaurant scenes in the country, often bringing attention to areas of the city previously devoid of great places to eat.  After many successes in Philadelphia, Starr Restaurants expanded to New York City, Atlantic City and South Florida.  Starr’s development of numerous trend-setting restaurants earned him the titles of Bon Appétit magazine’s “Restaurateur of the Year” (2005) and Zagat Survey’s “Restaurateur of The Year” (2007).

Stephen currently owns and operates 20 restaurants including the iconic Continental Restaurant and Martini Bar, Buddakan and Morimoto.

Tanya Wenman Steel, Editor-in-Chief

Since 2005, Tanya Wenman Steel has been the Editor–in-Chief of Epicurious.com, Condé Nast Digital’s award-winning destination food Web site incorporating articles and recipes from renowned food, drink, and style authorities around the world. It is the leading food site on the Web, garnering such recent accolades as two consecutive James Beard Foundation awards for Best Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant or Nutrition; an ASME; eight Webby Awards; and four MIN Best of the Web Awards. In 2010, in recognition for making Epicurious the most award-winning site on the web, she was inducted into MIN’s Digital Hall of Fame.

Ms. Steel has worked in the publishing industry for more than 20 years. As an author she won the prestigious James Beard Foundation Journalism Award for Magazine Restaurant Review or Critique, 2003, and is a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors and a James Beard Restaurant Judge. She is the coauthor of the award-winning Real Food for Healthy Kids, published to much acclaim by HarperCollins in the fall of 2008. Prior to joining Epicurious.com, Ms. Steel was the New York Editor of Bon Appétit magazine for ten years.

Alyson Waller

We are delighted to introduce Alyson Waller as our 2010 Citizen Judge. By day, Alyson is a designer at a downtown architectural firm; by night, she is on a mission to read about and eat the best food NYC has to offer. In addition to enjoying and exploring NYC street food, Alyson has eaten her way through the streets of Paris, Amsterdam, and all over Italy. A lifelong cook in a family of food enthusiasts, Alyson makes killer homemade raviolis with homemade ricotta. Currently a resident of Prospect Heights, Alyson lived in Hell’s Kitchen for many years, and spent part of her childhood in Staten Island before moving upstate. This will be Alyson’s first Vendy Awards. After years of wanting to attend the Vendys but saving to buy an apartment, Alyson bought her ticket to celebrate her new home in Brooklyn, where she at last has a windowsill sunny enough to grow rosemary. Alyson is looking forward to participating in the 2010 Judges panel and tasting all the finalists’ food.