If you would like to sit with friends who purchased tickets in a seperate order, please email us at info@vlfoodwine.com no later than 3 days before the event, so we can try our best to accomodate you. If you or anyone in your party has dietary restrictions, please email us no later than 3 days before the event, so we can try our best to accomodate them.

About Chef Ryan Ratino

Chef Ryan Ratino is the Executive Chef and owner of two starred Michelin concepts – One MICHELIN-starred Bresca and Two MICHELIN-starred JÔNT, and the newly opened MAASS at Four Seasons Hotel and Residences in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is also the recipient of the MICHELIN Guide 2023 Young Chef Award for D.C.

Bresca is inspired by the European movement of “bistronomy”, a movement characterized by a vibrant, experimental and informal approach to cooking where the focus is all things culinary, bold flavors and the feelings that these combinations evoke. His first solo project and restaurant after having worked in some the nation’s capital's most exciting concepts (Ripple- where he received RAMW’s 2017 Culinary Rising Star of the Year, the renowned L’Auberge Provençale in White Post, Virginia, etc) resulted in Michelin Guide One Star for 2018 (retained currently), a nod in the Washington Post’s Fall Dining Guide, as well as OAD’s Top 100 in 2020, plus other noted accolades.

JÔNT is a Two MICHELIN-starred restaurant inspired by the simple culinary principle of “time” – the beauty, leisure and satisfying process of making a great meal. With time-centric elements including dry-aged meats, vinegars, lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables, and more, Chef Ratino and his team challenge the seasons, navigate beyond the limits of time and break with tradition— getting playful with process and tricky with techniques at the intersection of place and possibility. The restaurant opened during the pandemic, and a short time later in 2021, received its two star accolade from Michelin Guide, and in 2022, was named a World’s 50 Best Discovery Restaurant.

At 33 years of age, he is one of the youngest chefs in America to hold a two-starred Michelin restaurant and two Michelin starred concepts under the same roof.

Chef Ratino owns a diverse set of skills and a passion for cooking built in some of the most lauded restaurants in the country. During several years in New York City, he was the Executive Sous chef at the Michelin one-star restaurant Caviar Russe, which consequently earned three stars from The New York Times. His fast-track career also landed him several stage opportunities including Wylie Dufresne’s innovative, norm-challenging WD-50 as well as Dovetail NYC and minibar by José Andrés.

A native of Medina, Ohio and a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, Florida, Ratino launched his culinary career as a junior sous chef at Shula’s Steak House at the Four-Diamond AAA award-winning Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort. After a three-year tenure working under Todd English at Bluezoo where he advanced quickly to serve as the destination restaurant’s executive chef. Under his direction, the restaurant was named one of the “10 best foodie spots in Orlando” by USA Today.

An advocate of environmentally-friendly practices, in 2018 Ratino enlisted Bresca as the first and only carbon neutral restaurant in the nation’s capital by joining ZeroFoodprint, the nonprofit organization aimed at helping restaurants and diners reduce their climate impact. As part of this initiative, Chef Ratino and the team work to interlace sustainability into the daily practices of restaurant operations such as recycling, composting and sourcing products from purveyors who prioritize sustainable practices.

About Chef Doug Psaltis

Michelin-Star Chef Doug Psaltis has worked in many of the world’s most esteemed kitchens alongside the industry’s celebrated chefs and is the hit-maker behind many of Chicago’s most lauded restaurants. He believes that remarkable dining experiences come from the serving the purest ingredients delivered in a supremely thoughtful, welcoming and hospitable manner.

Psaltis is the co-founder of Eat Well Hospitality and Chef Proprietor of a trio of award-winning Chicago restaurants including Michelin-Guide recognized Andros Taverna, contemporary Greek restaurant serving contemporary Mediterranean food cooked from the soul; highly-acclaimed Basque-inspired Asador Bastian, named one of the New York Times 25 Best Restaurants 2024, ranked the #14 Best Steakhouse in the World 2024 and voted the Best New Restaurant in American 2023 by Esquire; and traditional Italian neighborhood trattoria, Mano a Mano.

The skills Psaltis honed at a young age, cooking alongside his grandmother at his grandparent’s Queens New York diner, first led to a position at Long Island’s top eatery, Panama Hattie’s. This opened the door to a stint with Wayne Nish, the Chef and Owner of March restaurant in Manhattan. In 1999, Psaltis worked with David Bouley to launch Bouley Bakery, followed by three years working under Alain Ducasse at Essex House, which earned four stars from The New York Times in 2000. Ducasse rewarded Psaltis’s talents with the opportunity to study at three-star Michelin restaurant Le Louis XV in Monaco and later appointed him chef de cuisine for Ducasse’s New York restaurant, Mix. Psaltis was the first American to be given the position in any Ducasse kitchen.

Psaltis headed West to help run Thomas Keller’s acclaimed French Laundry in Napa Valley – considered one of the best restaurants in the world. There he met his now wife and business partner Pastry Chef Hsing Chen. He returned to New York to open Geoffrey Zakarian’s Country as Executive Chef. Country received a three-star review from The New York Times and earned a Michelin star each year of Chef Psaltis’s three-year tenure. Psaltis memorialized his experience, along with an inside look at the restaurant industry, in the book he wrote with his brother, “The Seasoning of a Chef: My Journey from Diner to Ducasse and Beyond.”

Psaltis opened Andros Taverna in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood in 2021. Inspired by the cosmopolitan taverns of Greece, Andros Taverna is a story of his culinary heritage, purity of flavors, and warm hospitality. The restaurant’s menu is rooted in tradition while highlighting quality products with updated classic mezzes, crisp salads, responsible meats and wild seafood cooked over glowing embers of charcoal. Opened in 2023 in a refurbished 1883 River North townhouse, steakhouse Asador Bastian merges asador-style cooking (cooked on a spit over an open fire) with the classic Chicago steakhouse experience. The latest in Psaltis’s Eat Well Hospitality portfolio, Mano a Mano was launched in 2024 and offers regional Italian comfort food inspired by the couple’s travels to Italy.

About Asador Bastian

Asador Bastian is a Chicago chophouse with Basque influences from acclaimed Chef Doug Psaltis. Located in the iconic "Flair House" originally built in 1883, this historic townhouse has been revived and brought back to life with culinary inspiration from the great asadors of San Sebastián, Spain to serve the world's best boutique beef without compromise. The most remarkable dining experience comes from the purest ingredients delivered in the supremely thoughtful, welcoming and hospitable manner. This ethos has directed every aspect of the experience at Asador Bastian, whether you’re joining us for small bites and libations in our Bar Room or for a more intimate experience in our Dining Room.

About Chef David Brito

A native of Santa Ana, CA, Chef David grew up in Phoenix, AZ where he graduated from the Arizona Culinary Institute. He quickly started his cooking career at the Omni Resort in Paradise Valley, AZ cooking under 2-Michelin Starred Chef Alessandro Stratta as a Chef de Tournant. After a few stints at local restaurants, he later rejoined Stratta as a Sous Chef. Gaining a vast amount of cooking knowledge for a few years, Brito joined Kai Restaurant, Arizona's only Forbes 5-Star and AAA 5-Diamond restaurant in the Sheraton Grand Resort as a Chef de Partie. Following 2 years there, he became a Sous Chef at Reserve, a new 14-course tasting menu concept in Scottsdale, AZ. Quickly climbing the ranks to Chef De Cuisine in one year, then Executive Chef of Reserve and sister restaurant, Cafe Monarch the following year. His unique cuisine of Mexican and Native heritage cooking landed him the Executive Chef position at the historic landmark, The Wrigley Mansion. As his career continues to excel he now helms the position of Executive Chef at MAASS restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL under 2-Michelin starred Chef Ryan Ratino.

Collaboration Dinner at Michelin-Starred MAASS with Asador Bastian