Chris Cosentino is the executive chef of San Franciscorsquo;s renowned Incanto Restaurant, where he is known for his rustic Italian cuisine, and is the co-founder and owner of Boccalone Salumeria, an artisan salumi company. He was the host the Food Network show Chef vs. City and is regularly featured on episodes of the networkrsquo;s The Best Thing I Ever Ate program; he has also appeared multiple times on Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef. Chris is the spokesperson for the highly regarded line of Shun knives and is regularly featured in numerous magazines, newspapers, websites, and blogs, such as Food & Wine, Bon AppEacute;tit, Gourmet.com, The New York Times, GQ, and… Wired.Cosentino graduated from Johnson & Wales then went on to build his culinary rEacute;sumEacute; by working at a number of notable restaurants, including Red Sage in Washington, D.C. and Rubicon, Chez Panisse, Belon, and Redwood Park in the San Francisco Bay Area. His first executive chef position was at Incanto, which he joined in 2002, and his innovative interpretations of rustic Italian fare promptly earned the restaurant its first 3-star review from the San Francisco Chronicle. Since then Cosentino has gained national acclaim as a leading proponent of offal cookery. His approach is marked by a combination of sheer gusto, careful research and precise technique, and stems from a belief that no parts of an animal slaughtered for food should go to waste.
Sheri Castle is a food writer and cooking instructor based in Chapel Hill, N.C.