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Chefs
 Tony Aiazzi
Following a stage at Lucas Carton in Paris, CIA grad Tony Aiazzi spent the last decade with the Charlie Palmer Group. He may have started out as an apprentice at Aureole, but within the year, the young chef was asked to move out to Aureole in Las Vegas. An innervate adventurer, the Reno native said yes, and then took a month off to travel through India.
After his Vegas stint, Aiazzi returned to Aureole as Sous Chef but was again tapped by Palmer to hit the road for another project. Stepping into a new role as chef-at-large, he rotated through the properties within the growing Charlie Palmer Group as a culinary project manager, overseeing menus and special events. He also supervised menu implementation on Palmer's collaboration with Seabourn Cruise Lines, heading out to join ships at ports around the world, from the Caribbean to Dubai.
Tony stepped into the roll of Executive Chef at Aureole New York in February of 2007.
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 Jason Hicks
Growing up on a farm in England's scenic Cotswold countryside, Orsay's Jason Hicks developed an enduring respect for nature and the bounty of each season. Gardening with his grandfather, Hicks gained an appreciation for the integrity of fresh, quality ingredients that is still evident in the care that he uses in sourcing the right ingredients to insure the authenticity of every dish. Trained in classical French technique, Hicks' cooking is also informed by his global travels and innate creativity, and all are reflected in his menu at Orsay.
Hicks says, "I like to create a dish using just a few ingredients and focus on extracting as much flavor as possible. For me, simplicity is the key to consistency and quality."
Though only 35, Hicks has held positions in Europe, Australia and the United States. His classical French training began at age 15, and by 16, Hicks attending culinary school Solihull College of Technology and working full time in London. After receiving his culinary degree, he honed his skills at some of the Britain's more prestigious restaurants, including The Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland's five-star resort; the award-winning restaurant of The Whitehall Hotel; and the one Michelin star-rated Calcot Manor.
In 1992, Jason returned to his hometown of Worcestershire as sous chef for the restaurant in The Broadway, a hotel in the countryside. Two years later by the age of 20, he opened The Queen's in Worcestershire, a small jewel of a restaurant that offered upscale modern British cuisine.
Later that year, Jason was recruited by the Princes Gate hotel group in New Zealand to act as executive chef for one of their properties, which began a three-year stint of cooking and traveling throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. While "Down Under," Jason served as sous chef at Perth's well-known Kings Street Café and at the famed Ferntree Rainforest Resort in Queensland. At the Ferntree, Hicks explored the bush cooking techniques of the Aboriginal people. "Exploring very minimal, natural cooking methods had a strong influence on my approach," states Hicks. "My travels throughout Asia also expanded my culinary horizons. I had the best meal of my life while traveling through the Golden Triangle: a perfectly prepared, vegetable curry dish cooked in a wok over an open fire inside a bamboo hut."
In 1996, Hicks moved to America and worked for the next three years as sous chef at La Goulue, the extremely popular Madison Avenue bistro. Interested in learning more about modern American cuisine, Hicks accepted a position working with Gerry Hayden at Aureole. He later helped Hayden open Drew Nieporent's East Hampton Pointe and worked as tournant for the catering division of Daniel Boulud, a former customer who became a friend. After a brief stint at AQUA in San Francisco, Hicks returned to La Goulue as executive chef in 2000. He held this position for four years before owner Jean Denoyer recruited him as executive chef for his restaurant Orsay, where he has served for the last two years.
At Orsay, Hicks prepares classical French brasserie fare that incorporates a light touch and modern approach. He has championed the renaissance of the sous vide technique as well as traditional methods of jarring and preserving. Some of his signature dishes are presented in mason jars and include savory Chicken Liver & Foie Gras Parfait with cassis jelly, Confit Tuna Niçoise and Poached Salmon with Asparagus Hollandaise. Other signature dishes include Homemade Boudin Blanc with beluga lentil salad and Calvados sauce, classic Petatou, a delicate Chatham Cod Pot Roast with lobster and artichoke barigoule, and Beef Cheek Bourguignonne with classic garnish and celery gratin.
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 Victoria A. Love
Executive Pastry Chef, Victoria A. Love graduated from Skidmore College in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Theatre Directing and Design. For the following five years, she worked as a junior talent agent at Agency for the Performing Arts in Manhattan.
But a childhood passion led her first to study at The New School's Culinary Arts Program and then to study at The French Culinary Institute where she received a Grand Diploma in Pastry with a Certificate in Excellence. After graduating in December 1998, Chef Victoria honed her cake decorating skills by interning for Colette Peters at Colette's Cakes. She assisted Colette in designing and decorating special occasion cakes for up to 650 people.
Developing an even greater love for cake production and decoration, Chef Victoria went to work at Patisserie Les Friandises as Head Decorator, where she produced and decorated all seasonal specialty items and wedding cakes. While continuing her production responsibilities at Patisserie Les Friandises, she was eventually promoted to Kitchen Manager and Assistant General Manager.
In May 2001, she was asked to be the Sous Pastry Chef at The Water Club owned by famed restaurateur Michael O'Keeffe.
Promoted to Executive Pastry Chef in July 2004, Chef Victoria manages a staff of seven employees and 4 interns. Her responsibilities include production and plating of a la carte dining for up to 300 people, a weekly Sunday brunch for up to 300 people, banquets for up to 700 people, as well as all special occasion cakes.
From May 2003 to February 2004, while continuing her responsibilities at The Water Club she also worked as Pastry Chef at Laura Belle, a private club owned by Mr. O'Keeffe, responsible for production and service of banquets for up to 800 people.
In March 2005, The French Culinary Institute where she is a guest lecturer, invited Chef Victoria to join their Pastry Advisory Board. Shortly thereafter, NYC & Company, the city's official tourism marketing organization, requested Chef Victoria to create a sugar showpiece of a New York City Landmark for the International Pow Wow event held in May 2005 at the Museum of Modern Art.
Her scale model of The Palm House at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens was graced with a branch of cherry blossoms made of pastillage, gum paste and royal icing to honor the Cherry Blossom Festival held every year at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.
Also in May 2005, Chef Victoria was honored with being selected as a finalist in the category of Cacao Noel Best Confection for PastryScoop.com's Second Annual Golden Scoop Award.
In December 2005, Chef Victoria was invited to participate in the Gingerbread Homes for Animals third annual event. Pastry Chefs from around New York City are invited to create a gingerbread house for an animal which are raffled off as a fundraiser for Rational Animal, ASPCA and The Mayor's Alliance for Animals. They were on display in the Dana Conservatory in Central Park during December. Chef Victoria decided to create a scale model of The Dairy in Central Park out of gingerbread surrounded by a menagerie of marzipan animals to commemorate The Central Park Conservancy's 25th Anniversary.
Chef Victoria's Cheesecake with Strawberry Champagne Consomme and Strawberry Mint Salad was featured on the cover of Greenwich Magazine's April 2006 food magazine "In Good Taste".
Again in May 2006, Chef Victoria was honored with being selected as a finalist in the category of Cacao Noel Best Confection for PastryScoop.com's Third Annual Golden Scoop Award for the second year in a row.
In November of 2006, Chef Victoria was awarded The French Culinary Institute's 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award for Excellence in Pastry Arts.
Gingerbread Homes for Animals invited Chef Victoria to participate again in the Fourth Annual event in December 2006, which was held in Chelsea Market. She created a gingerbread house resembling a doll's house titled "Spot and Bailey's Christmas Cottage" named after her cat and rabbit. The interior was filled with gumpaste, pastillage and royal icing furniture, a fireplace, a Christmas tree, mice in the attic, wreaths, a cat and a rabbit.
Chef Victoria was invited to be a Chef Instructor at PastryScoop's Spring 2007 Conference in May and demonstrated royal icing decorations.
PastryScoop invited Chef Victoria to return for the Fall 2007 Conference in October and she demonstrated buttercream decorations. Due to the popular demand for this class, PastryScoop has asked Chef Victoria to teach a 5 hour seminar on buttercream decorating quarterly throughout 2008.
Chef Victoria will be participating again in the Fifth Annual Gingerbread Homes for Animals event in December 2007 at Chelsea Market.
In November 2007 The French Culinary Institute asked Chef Victoria to participate
in creating the school's pastry text book, which will be a companion to the recently published "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine".
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 Galen Zamarra
In 2001, The James Beard Foundation awarded its coveted Rising Star Chef award to a relative unknown — a 25-year old chef named Galen Zamarra. Who? Well, that's what most people said. But soon they learned. Zamarra was the talent behind David Bouley — his chef de cuisine at Bouley Bakery. But just as his name began to gain recognition, 9/11 closed the restaurant.
In the years since Bouley closed its doors, Zamarra has been searching for his own place to showcase locally farmed seasonal ingredients — with Mas, he has found it.
Now all of 31, Galen has been cooking since a very young age. "My mom was a single mom, and she didn't cook," he explains, who took to the stoves to provide for himself. "I cooked a lot out of necessity, and being a chef was always something I dreamed of."
Galen, who was born in Switzerland and raised in California, began his restaurant career after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America at the original Bouley as poissonier, and was beginning to work his way up the ladder when Bouley closed the restaurant to renovate. Young, passionate and curious, Galen left the States to stage at assorted Michelin 3 Star restaurants in France — Michel Bras, Georges Blanc, and L'Arpege, where he cooked for one defining year. It was an experience that Galen explains defined him as a chef. "The restaurant's philosophy was very influential in the way I cook today," he says. "L'Arpege is French for arpeggio, a musical term that describes how notes work together to make a harmony, and that is how the chef described food, as putting the notes of flavors together to make a harmony in the mouth." After L'Arpege, Galen returned to New York and worked at Union Pacific, and then returned to his post with Bouley at the newly renovated Bouley Bakery, where he rose through the ranks to chef de cuisine, garnering critical acclaim.
At Mas, Galen combines his classical technique and modern French flavors with American products and styles to create a collection of seasonally-inspired dishes that bring the mouth to its happy place, illustrating that often the most unexpected bedfellows make the most delicious partners. Galen builds special relationships to his farmers, searches out the highest quality foods, and has special products grown to his standards.
Local, National and International press praise Mas(farmhouse) and Chef Galen Zamarra. Highlights include: New York Magazine "Best of New York", "One of the Reasons to Love New York City" and " Galen Zamarra is one of the next Jean-Georges"; Esquire Magazine "Best New Restaurant in USA"; Zagat Guide "Top Rated Food"; Michelin Guide "some of the best service in the city"; CitySearch "Best Late Night Dining"; James Beard Rising Star Chef 2001; Star Chef Rising Chef 2006; Slow Food 2006 Terra Madre Delegate at the World Congress held in Torino, Italy. In addition to his press accolades, Chef Zamarra hosted a television series "Go Ahead, Make My Dinner" on the Discovery Channel in 2006, was a featured Chef on Channel 25"Taste New York" and published an article in Gastronomica.
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