Jason Cichonski

Restaurant Ela (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because his modern cooking is eccentric and delicious; for example, raw hamachi with horseradish granita and green apples.

Culinary School The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College (Philadelphia)

Background Morimoto, Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Hotel, Mica (Philadelphia); Bridgetown Mill House (Langhorne, PA); Pluckemin Inn (Bedminster, NJ)

Quintessential Dish Diver scallop “noodles” with shiitake-Marsala sauce and pickled golden raisins

How He Comes to Work By bike or on foot

Surprising Fact Cichonski didn’t drink alcohol until he was almost 26 years old, when working as a chef finally moved him to learn more about cocktails and wine. The change came about after he realized that working in the restaurant industry and not drinking, was “like a nun working in a whorehouse.”

Sweet Tooth “I’m not usually without Ben and Jerry’s [ice cream] in the freezer.” The Half Baked flavor—chocolate and vanilla ice cream studded with brownie chunks and cookie dough—inspired Ela’s hot chocolate chip cookie dough dessert, which was topped with a warm sauce flavored like milk after cookies have been dunked in it.

Christopher Kearse

Restaurant Will (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because he is cooking deeply personal and gorgeous high-end French cuisine.

Culinary School The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College (Philadelphia)

Background Tru (Chicago); Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Hotel, Pumpkin (Philadelphia); Blackfish (Conshohocken, PA)

Quintessential Dish Milk-fed poulard (fattened young hen) with butternut squash, Lacinato kale and pecans

Teenage Snapshot Kearse wore his hair long and listened to Metallica while working after school at a pizza joint in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

How He Got into Cooking After being in a serious car accident when he was 16, Kearse was unable to consume solid food for almost two years. To occupy his time, he watched cooking shows (his favorite was Great Chefs of the World) and read cookbooks. “I cooked dinner for my family, but couldn’t eat the food. My mom would give me free rein on what to cook. I cooked six nights a week for everyone. I would go to the supermarket every day. It was my outlet [between] being homeschooled and all the surgeries.”

Defining the Perfect Dish “I want it to be a fun, emotional and satisfying experience. For me, to eat a big steak, it’s the same thing bite after bite. It gets old. But to have every other bite be different? That’s what makes a great dish.”

Joshua Lawler

Restaurant The Farm and Fisherman (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because he lets vegetables shine, as in dishes like the beet “steak” (served “medium rare”), but he’s also not afraid to serve lamb offal.

Culinary School Drexel University (Philadelphia)

Background Fountain Restaurant at The Four Seasons (Philadelphia); Judson Grill, BLT Steak, Telepan (New York City); Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY)

Quintessential Dish Bloody beet “steak” with yogurt, pan drippings and aged balsamic vinegar

Nose-to-Tail Cooking Lawler breaks down whole animals each week, using the parts for everything from slow-cooked lamb shoulder to crispy snout cubes. (Insider tip: He occasionally offers whole-animal butchery classes.)

Redefining Fresh There’s no walk-in refrigerator or freezer at The Farm and Fisherman.

On Working with Dan Barber at Blue Hills at Stone Barns “It was unbelievable. I really only left because I’m originally from Philly... I wanted to try something on my own; my twin boys were born and I wanted to raise them near my family and friends.”

Kevin Sbraga

Restaurant Sbraga (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because the Top Chef winner combines global influences in unexpected ways with spectacular results, as in his Greek red wine-braised octopus with African piri piri pepper sauce.

Culinary School Johnson & Wales University (North Miami)

Background The Ritz-Carlton (Naples, FL); Pano’s & Paul’s (Atlanta); Washington Square, The Ritz-Carlton, Garces Group (Philadelphia); Rat’s Restaurant (Hamilton, NJ)

Quintessential Dish Meat loaf with bacon marmalade

Kitchen Inspiration “My father was a baker and my mom was as well. At a young age I had a passion for food and loved it. I have always loved the creative process behind cooking.”

On His Top Chef Win “I wouldn’t have a restaurant today with my name on it without the show. The reason I did the show was because I wanted my own place. [The show] made me look at food differently and pay more attention to what the guests like and dislike.”

Best-Selling Item Foie gras soup. “People kind of die over it.”

Sylva Senat

Restaurant Tashan (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because after working with Jean-Georges Vongerichten and other top chefs, the Haitian-born chef is serving ingenious postmodern Indian cooking.

Culinary School Self-taught

Background Aquavit, Jean-Georges, The Mercer Kitchen, Buddakan (New York City); Buddakan (Philadelphia)

Quintessential Dish Palak tikki (a spinach patty scented with screw pine, a palm-like plant with a floral aroma, served with pistachio-paneer filling and saffron-morel mushroom cream)

Raised Brooklyn, NY

Why He Wanted to be a Chef “I was never a junk food kid. I wanted to learn how to cook my own healthy food.”

Life-Changing Event At age 29, he won the Daniel Boulud/C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program) Scholarship and went to Lyon, France, to intern at the Paul Bocuse Institute. “It was basically a dream come true,” he says. Senat now consults for C-CAP, a nonprofit that helps underserved teenagers pursue career opportunities in the culinary arts.

On the Benefits of Being a Chef “This career can take you anywhere you want to go. It opened doors for me and allowed me to travel. If you can cook in one state, you can cook in any state.”

Kevin Sousa

Restaurant Salt of the Earth (Read a review)

Location Pittsburgh, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because his unexpected flavor combinations—for example, pairing parsnips with white chocolate and chervil—yield dishes that consistently surprise and delight.

Culinary School The Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts (Pittsburgh)

Background Bigelow Grille (Pittsburgh)

Quintessential Dish Roasted rabbit loin with quince essence

Hog, Two Ways The restaurant’s space was once a Harley-Davidson showroom; now it serves dishes like pork loin with farro and pears.

Current Obsession Taking a page from New Nordic cuisine, Sousa wants to experiment with underappreciated produce native to western Pennsylvania like hickory nuts, black walnuts, acorns and birch bark.

Lee Styer

Restaurant Fond (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because he’s taking his formidable pedigree and using it to make accessible and delightful European-accented food.

Culinary School The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)

Background Le Bec Fin, Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Hotel (Philadelphia)

Quintessential Dish Cured and braised pork belly with Okinawan sweet potatoes

How He Started Cooking As a child, Styer would go to his grandfather’s restaurant, Styer’s Arbor Inn in Exeter, Pennsylvania, and help with chores like ripping lettuce and picking through crabmeat.

Equal Partners Styer married his longtime girlfriend, Fond pastry chef and co-owner, Jessie Prawlucki, in May 2012.

Greg Vernick

Restaurant Vernick Food & Drink (Read a review)

Location Philadelphia, PA

Why He’s Amazing Because he has talent for amplifying natural flavors in simple yet striking combinations, as in a dish that combines creamy morels with Meyer lemon glaze on sourdough toast.

Culinary School The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)

Background Per Se, Perry St., Jean-Georges, Tocqueville (New York City)

Quintessential Dish Sea urchin with warm scrambled eggs

Born into the Business “My mom owned a restaurant in Haddonfield, New Jersey. The bus stopped right in front of it and I’d go there after school. That’s where my childhood took place.”

What He Learned from Jean-Georges Vongerichten Take “the most direct route to delicious. I think all of his restaurants kind of encompass that. [At Vernick Food & Drink] we don’t try to go too far in any direction.”

Dream Job For a year, Vernick flew between Vancouver, Doha (Qatar), Dubai and Tokyo, hiring and training crews at new Jean-Georges restaurants.