Photo by: North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureau

Lars Kronmark in open-air kitchen

Born in Oceanside, California, Chef Keller developed his passion for cooking at age 10 when he began working in the kitchens of restaurants here is mother was employed. At 16 he trained under Gustanzo Pucillo, owner of Petite Marmite in Palm Beach, Florida. He traveled to France to complete his estagiere” internships under Roger Verge at Les Moulin de Mougins and Bernard Loiseau at La Cote d’Or, Saulieu. After opening several restaurants in southern Florida and serving as private chef for Prince Satam of Saudi Arabia, he opened Bouchon with the help of his brother Thomas, of Napa’s famed French Laundry. His hands-on approach in all aspects of the restaurant made it one of the most successful and widely acclaimed start-ups. Keller opened Como’s in 2003 and opened Bistro Zinc at Lake Las Vegas in April 2006. He has worked on the “Master Chefs” PBS series with Julia Child and received the 1999 Tastemaker of the Year award from Nations Restaurant News. Keller will be preparing a four-course luncheon paired with premier wines at Schaeffer’s Camp Restaurant at the top of Northstar Mountain, as well as leading the Blazing Pans Mountain Chef Cook-Off.

Lars Kronmark, Chef-instructor, Culinary Institute of America

A native of Denmark and longtime participant at the Lake Tahoe Autumn Food and Wine Festival, Chef Kronmark has taught professionally for more than 20 years and is chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone, Napa. He has been a guest chef at many leading restaurants and wineries and has been a member of the chef team at the Napa Valley Wine Auction for eight years. He is a member of the ACF Pacific Coast San Francisco Chapter, Les Toques Blanches International and graduated from Restaurantionsindustriens Laerlingeskole (restaurant and hotel apprenticeship school) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kronmark will be leading a seminar about “The Outdoor Kitchen – Today’s American Barbeque,” emphasizing the slow-cook technique of barbequeing, versus grilling.

Lara Ritchie, Culinary Director of Nothing to It! Culinary Center, Reno

Whether cleaning snow peas at her grandmother's kitchen table or canning freshly-picked fruit from her great grandmother's backyard, childhood memories of food and family eventually shaped Chef Ritchie’s culinary career. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ritchie earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Arizona State University and received her formal culinary training at the New England Culinary Institute in Essex, Vermont. She honed her culinary skills at La Folie in San Francisco, the Flying Fish in Seattle, and the Four Seasons in Seattle and Atlanta where Zagat Guide voted her brunch number one in Atlanta. Ritchie has had the honor of cooking at the James Beard House in New York on several occasions, while her food styling has appeared in such magazines as Art Culinaire. She is also a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Ritchie now serves as the culinary director for Nothing to It! Culinary Center in Reno and has taught more than 10,000 home chefs the secrets of cooking like a pro. Ritchie will be getting back to the basics with the festival’s first Kids’ Cooking Camp, where kids 9-18 years will learn hands-on how to make pasta and sauce from scratch. Grown-ups won’t be left out, as she will also lead a Big Kids’ Cooking Camp.


Ron Siegel, Executive Chef of The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton, San Francisco

A native of New York, Chef Siegel’s culinary career began as a butcher in a Palo Alto, California grocery store. He later enrolled in San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy where he met Chef Michael Mina, who hired him to cook at the renowned Aqua in 1991. After a brief return to New York to work with Chef Daniel Boulud at Restaurant Daniel, he was enticed back to California by Chef Thomas Keller to be the opening sous chef at the revered French Laundry in Yountville. Siegel left for the Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco in 1996, where he remained for five years. He quickly became one of the Bay Area’s rising culinary stars and has even defeated the reigning Iron Chef champion Hiroyuki Sakai on national television in 1998. Siegel was also named one of Food & Wine magazine’s “Best New Chefs of 1999.” In 2004 Siegel joined the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco as chef of The Dining Room, one of only two restaurants in California and 16 in North America, to earn Exxon Mobil’s Five Star Award for 2007. A master of modern French cuisine with Japanese influences, Siegel will lead a demonstration and reveal some of his coveted techniques.

Editor’s note: Information about the purchase of festival tickets can be accessed at www.GoTahoeNorth.com. Readers planning to visit the North Lake Tahoe area can reach links to many lodging and dining opportunities at the Resource Directory of Taste California Travel.