Chefs' Conclave
Since 1988, American Airlines has enlisted the expertise of some of the most prominent and wellrespected chefs in the United States to help define the direction of our inflight food service.
The Chefs’ Conclave has influenced every American Airlines menu. In addition to their role as
educators in food safety, culinary trends and advances in technology, our chefs have been
instrumental in product sourcing and process improvements.
Initially, the chefs were extremely instrumental in developing the American Airlines food
philosophy. Their advice was: Balance menus toward healthy, lighter fare. Do only what can be
done well inflight. Provide simple, recognizable food, and use only fresh, quality products, when
available.
American selected the original Conclave members in order to create a team of chefs with a broad
range of expertise and culinary interests, while keeping the group small enough to remain
manageable and actively involved in our menu design process.
http://aa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2412
The current Chefs’ Conclave members are:
Nancy Brussat
Convito Café & Market
Wilmette, Illinois
Dean Fearing
Fearing’s
Dallas, Texas
Stephan Pyles
Stephan Pyles
Dallas, Texas
Chef Bios
Nancy Brussat
A member of the American Airlines Chefs’ Conclave since 1989, Nancy Brussat is a pioneer in
Chicago’s gourmet food industry. As the proprietor of award-winning food and wine markets,
Convito Italiano and French bistro Bêtise, Brussat delighted guests with her famous onion soup
gratinée, tuscan white bean soup and signature pasta dishes. Frequent trips to Italy and France,
to explore the regional wines, cuisine and character of the two countries created Brussat’s
enchantment with Italian and French cuisine.
In January of 2007, Brussat reinvented Convito Italiano. Born in 1980 as a small gourmet shop
specializing in Italian food and wine in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Nancy Brussat and
partner daughter, Candace Barocci Warner combined their bistro, Betise, and Convito Italiano to
become Convito Café & Market.
Chef Brussat has received numerous awards and honors for her promotion of Italian food and
wine including membership in the prestigious Vinarius Wine Society of Italy as “Outstanding
Italian Wine Shop.” In 1987, she became the first Midwestern to receive the “Outstanding
Achievement Award” from the Italian Wine and Food Institute and was recognized by the Institute
again in 1994 as “one of the finest ambassadors of Italy’s food and wine in America.”
Over the years the Chicago Tribune has cited Brussat for “best take-out food,” “best Italian wine
shop” and in 2005, “The Good Taste Award” for “making a difference in the Chicago food and
beverage world through her passion, vision and commitment to quality.”
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She has been featured in the “Great Cook” section of Bon Appétit as well as in publications such
as Food and Wine, Gourmet, Women’s Wear Daily, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Magazine.
Dean Fearing
The creator of “Elevated American Cuisine – Bold Flavors, No Borders” with his namesake
restaurant Fearing’s, chef/partner Dean Fearing has developed one of the hottest restaurant
concepts across the country. Named “Restaurant of the Year” and “Table of the Year” by Esquire
Magazine shortly after opening and then receiving continued praise from The New York Times,
Newsweek, Texas Monthly, among others, and a James Beard Foundation nomination for Best
New Restaurant, Fearing’s has created quite a buzz with distinct dining venues, a spectacular
farm-to-market seasonal menu, and personal presence of Fearing himself.
Long known as a “Father of Southwestern Cuisine” and now the creator of a new generation of
highly-flavorful dishes, Chef Dean Fearing has spent his life cooking for people who love good
food. After 20-plus years at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, he opened Fearing's in August 2007 at
The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. His personal vision and design, the lively, comfortable restaurant offers
seven stylish dining settings, including the most distinctive alfresco experience in Dallas and a
hugely popular interactive display kitchen offering ringside seating for true foodies.
The son of a Kentucky innkeeper, Dean Fearing grew up with grandmothers who knew all about
food and who appreciated the finer details of Southern cooking and barbecue. He still uses and
treasures their recipes, and they remain one of the most important inspirations of his culinary life.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he can be seen these days in Fearing’s wearing a
crisp white chef’s coat with colorful boot embroidery, blue jeans and brightly-hued, custom-tooled
Lucchese cowboy boots. When not in the kitchen, he is often found strumming his vintage
Fender Telecaster guitar, one of an impressive collection, with his all chef alternative country
band The Barbwires, having released their first CD “Bliss and Blisters.” He is also known to
spend his spare time searching the countryside for Texas culinary inspiration. The state’s rich
variety of peppers, dried chilies, jicama, cilantro, tomatillos, fruits and vegetables, cheeses, Gulf
seafood and Hill Country wild game play a major role in his ever-changing cuisine.
The exuberant, ever-friendly Dean Fearing was winner of the James Beard Foundation
Restaurant Award for “Best Chef in the Southwest.” People across the country are raving about
Fearing’s signature dishes such as the infamous Tortilla Soup, the Barbecued Shrimp Taco, Rib
Eye Mopped Over Live Mesquite, Maple-Black Peppercorn Soaked Buffalo Tenderloin, and Pan
Roasted “BBQ Spiced” Filet and Chicken-Fried Maine Lobster, which has been described as “a
taste of Texas,” enlivening the sense of place that Fearing set out to create.
Stephan Pyles
A fifth generation Texan and pioneer of New American Cuisine, Chef Stephan Pyles has created
14 restaurants over the past 22 years, winning praise from outlets such as Food & Wine, Esquire,
Bon Appétit, Town and Country and Playboy. Pyles has been consulting with American Airlines
since the Chefs’ Conclave inception in 1988.
A founding father of Southwestern Cuisine, he was the first Texan inducted into The James Beard
Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America” and Bon Appétit has credited him
with “almost single-handedly changing the cooking scene in Texas.” The New York Times has
called Pyles “an absolute genius in the kitchen” while Texas Monthly named Pyles one of the
“twenty most impressive, intriguing, and influential Texans for 1998.” In 2006, Esquire named
Pyles “Chef of the Year” and included the restaurant, Stephan Pyles, in their list of "Best New
Restaurants." The February 2007 issue of Texas Monthly most recently named Chef Pyles
newest restaurant, Stephan Pyles, “Texas’s best new restaurant of 2006.”
Additional accolades include the AAA Five Diamond Award; Nation’s Restaurant News’ Fine
Dining Hall of Fame Award; Restaurants and Institutions’ Ivy Award and the American Academy
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of Achievement Award. He was the inaugural recipient of The James Beard Foundation’s award
for “Best Chef in America-Southwest” in 1991 and has been given the “Outstanding Restaurateur
of the Year” award by both the Minnesota Restaurant Association and the Texas Restaurant
Association.
Author, consultant, volunteer and entrepreneur, Pyles received the “Humanitarian of the Year
Award” in 1998 from Share Our Strength, America’s largest hunger-relief organization. Chef Pyles
has authored several award-winning cookbooks including, The New Texas Cuisine, named by
Bon Appétit as one of the top ten chef’s cookbooks of the decade (1990’s). He has appeared
frequently on such national programs as Good Morning America and The Today Show.
He has now developed a restaurant that carries his name serving what Pyles calls “New
Millennium Southwestern Cuisine.” His menu is more global than in the past, representing not
only the influences of Spain on the New World, but also incorporating the cultures and flavors that
are inherently Spanish such as Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. Under the auspices of the
Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Foundation, Pyles offers a $15,000 annual scholarship in his
name to a rising star culinary student in Texas.
Celebrity Consulting Chefs
In addition to working with our Chefs’ Conclave members, American Airlines has reached out to
other celebrity chefs, who possess strong skills relevant to a specific region to consult with us and
create new entrées for specific markets.
Recently, we have worked with the following celebrity consultant chefs:
Maneet Chauhan
Vermilion
Chicago, Illinois
Sam Choy
Sam Choy’s Breakfast, Lunch & Crab
Sam Choy’s Diamond Head Restaurant
Honolulu, Hawaii
Cindy Hutson
Ortanique on the Mile
Coral Gables, Florida
Darren McGrady
Private Chef
Dallas, Texas
Chef Bios
Maneet Chauhan
Chef Maneet Chauhan graduated from India's top hotel management school, the WelcomGroup
Graduate School of Hotel Administration, at the top of her class; and from the Culinary Institute of
America in New York. Her extensive background encompasses both Indian and contemporary
culinary techniques. Maneet teaches cooking and spice classes at Vermilion as well as Sur La
Table, Whole Foods and the City of Chicago. Additionally, she led Vermilion to host three James
Beard dinners at the Foundation House in New York City.
Vermilion is an upscale restaurant in Chicago known for its innovative Indian-Latin cuisine
(http://www.thevermilionrestaurant.com). Owned and founded by the concept-creator Rohini Dey,
this restaurant is an entity led by Indian women, with Executive Chef Maneet Chauhan at the
helm of the kitchen. Rohini's vision and inspiration from travels combine with Maneet's core skill
sets to define the ongoing evolution of the cuisine at Vermilion.
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Vermilion has been recognized as "Best New Restaurant" in Town & Country, Travel & Leisure,
Bon Appétit, USA Today, and Wine Enthusiast. It has also been featured by Business Week, Wall
Street Journal, Fortune, FSB, O Magazine, Crain's Business among others for its pioneering
cuisine and women led team. Most recently, Vermillion was captured the Spring/Summer 2008
cover of Dining Out, the great restaurants of Chicago.
Sam Choy
Hawaii's Culinary Ambassador" is the official honorary title bestowed upon Chef Sam Choy by the
Big Island mayor. In the islands where school kids rush up to give him bear hugs and the name
alone "Sam Choy" is fast becoming an ingredient to the national branding of Hawaii's image, Sam
prefers to think of himself as "just a local boy who made good".
"Made good" is an obvious understatement for Chef Sam Choy. Sam is a four-time nominee for
the James Beard Best Pacific Regional chef award and in 2004; Sam Choy's Kaloko Restaurant
was the recipient of the James Beard/Gallo of Sonoma American Classics Award. He has also
authored ten top-selling cookbooks and released a national compilation of his local books titled,
Sam Choy's Island Flavors. Sam's television show, Sam Choy's Kitchen, garners high ratings on
the local NBC affiliate.
After honing his skills in major hotels and receiving increased recognition for his talent, Sam
finally opened his first stand-alone restaurant in 1991 on the Big Island of Hawaii. Today, Sam
Choy has four restaurants that bear his name, including one in Tokyo and one in Guam.
Sam summarizes his success simply, "I think of my cuisine as a melting pot of gathering the
freshest ingredients from every culture on these islands." He is exuberant when talking about
Hawaii, the local people, the aloha, "You heard that saying; 'Lucky you live Hawaii'? I say that
everyday!"
Cindy Hutson
Cindy Hutson is a self-taught chef who developed a passion for cooking at the age of nine.
Originally inspired by the “original” television culinary genius of the “Galloping Gourmet” and
“Chef Tell”, she was later exposed to Italian and Portuguese cuisine, and then procured a touch
for preparing ocean delicacies as a sport fishing captain and mate in Miami.
In 1985, Hutson opened Blue Mountain Imports, a Jamaican coffee and condiment import / export
company, and began cooking Island cuisine. She relished in the aromatic herbs and spices that
grew in the mountains, and developed her culinary skills while island hopping among the
Bahamas, Barbados, Martinique, and The Virgin Islands.
In 1993, Hutson entered the restaurant business, and has since opened many award-winning
eateries including Ortanique on the Mile, a highly-regarded restaurant in Coral Gables, Florida,
which features Caribbean cuisine and reflects Hutson’s unique style and culinary skills, which she
describes as "edible art.” The restaurant has been praised by many, including Esquire magazine,
Bon Appétit magazine, Zagat and Wine Spectator.
For more information about Hutson’s talent, visit www.cindyhutsoncuisine.com
Darren McGrady
After 15 years of royal service to Queen Elizabeth II of England and Diana, Princess of Wales
Darren is now employed as a private chef in Dallas, Texas. He has appeared as a guest on
CNN’s Larry King Live, CBS Early Show, Good Morning Texas, CBS 11 and WFAA, the BBC and
SKY television and radio in England and across Europe.
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Darren was born in Nottinghamshire, England and after graduating college with the U.S.
equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts he went on to train at the prestigious Savoy
Hotel in London.
In 1982 he moved to the Royal Kitchen at Buckingham Palace where for 11 years he cooked for
the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and their guests on a daily basis and catered banquets for
Foreign Heads of State including Presidents Bush, Clinton, Reagan and Ford. In 1993 he moved
to Kensington Palace as Private Chef to H.R.H. the Princess of Wales. For four years (until the
tragic accident in August 1997) he took control of Princess Diana’s, William and Harry’s day to
day menus and the preparation and catering of private and official lunch and dinner parties,
liaising with the Princess daily.
Declining an offer from H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to become his Private Chef at St James
Palace, Darren decided to pursue a new challenge in the U.S.A. where he moved to in 1998.
Since the Princess’s death, he has devoted much of his free time working for causes she
supported, including shelters for battered women, charities for children with chronic illnesses and
disabilities and breast cancer charities. Darren is a board member of the Pink Ribbons Crusade,
a not for profit charity that uses its museum type exhibit “A Date with Diana” to promote Breast
Cancer awareness.
He also teaches cooking classes and his first cookbook, Eating Royally, will be released in
August 2007.