Judges & Emcee
Evan Kleiman
Evan Kleiman is the owner and executive chef of Angeli Caffe in Los Angeles and author of many popular cookbooks, including “Cucina Fresca” and “Pasta Fresca.” Before Evan began her successful culinary career, she studied film and Italian literature at UCLA. She also had a short stint in the film industry before she joined Mangia as a night chef.
Evan currently hosts the weekly radio show Good Food on KCRW, where she shares her discovery of great restaurants as well as the exploration of cultures through food and customs. On the show, she has reported on street food in LA, including vendors on Bread Street, Kogi truck, and Dim Sum truck. Evan is also an avid gardener and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Farmers’ Market.
Javier Cabral
Javier Cabral, better known as “Teenage Glutster,” started his blogging career at the tender age of 15. While his classmates went straight to the nearest fast-food joint after school, Javier began exploring different ethnic foods in his neighborhood.
Javier has been a guest judge on Hell’s Kitchen 2 at the age of 17 and freelanced his first piece for Lateen Magazine when he was 18. He has written many pieces about street vendors, including his experience of street food in Mexico City. Now just 21, he wrote two articles for the recent Saveur magazine special issue on Los Angeles. He also taught Chef Ludo, of Top Chef fame, to make Zacatecano mole. Javier is currently studying culinary arts at Pasadena City College.
Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo
Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo opened Animal restaurant in June 2008 to widespread acclaim. In less than two years, the duo has been awarded Food & Wine Best New Chefs of 2009, received a James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant and most recently Rising Star Chefs by Star Chefs. They have been profiled in numerous publications and have appeared on The Morning Show, Last Call with Carson Daly and NPR’s Good Eats as well as on Iron Chef America and their own Food Network show, 2 Dudes Catering. Their first book, Two Dudes One Pan, was voted one of NPR’s “10 Best Cookbooks of 2008”.
Jon and Vinny met while attending culinary school at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Their first job together was in the kitchen of famed chef Michelle Bernstein at The Strand Restaurant in South Beach. They continued to work in numerous other top kitchens in south Florida, Vail, and LA before launching their own catering endeavor and ultimately their first restaurant, Animal.
Bill Esparza
Bill Esparza is the founder of Street Gourmet LA, the only blog in Los Angeles that focuses on Latin American and other ethnic street cuisine. A professional musician, Bill spent decades performing all over the world, especially in Latin America, where he became an “accidental” expert on Latin American food.
In July of 2009, Bill was asked by the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau of Tijuana to lead 27 journalists, restaurateurs, bloggers, and chefs on an epic journey to Tijuana, Ensenada, and the Valle de Guadalupe. He will be appearing on the 2010 season of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern as an onscreen guide for a street food segment in Baja California. He will also appear as a judge in the current season of Top Chef Masters as a judge in a “quick fire” challenge. Currently, Bill is leading tours into Mexico, is the founder of the LA based Taco Task Force, and is developing a food and travel show that will focus on Latin American street eats.
Emcee: Jeff Miller
Jeff Miller is a native Angeleno (big ups to Van Nuys!) and lifelong eater who currently is the editor for Thrillist LA, the indispensible daily guys’ guide to food/drink/events/what have you. In addition to reporting on every new food wagon/snack stand for Thrillist, he also has freelanced for such publications as The LA Times, Variety, and Maxim, for whom he once had to endure sharing an In ‘N Out burger with a lingerie model.
