About Our Chef Instructors - Relish Culinary School, Healdsburg, California

Our Chef-Instructors come from a wide variety of culinary backgrounds, resulting in classes that are diverse and stimulating. We offer classes with well-known chefs from successful restaurants, cookbook authors, caterers and private chefs, wine experts, food purveyors, and other culinary authorities. In alphabetical order:

John Ash founded his restaurant, John Ash & Company, in Northern California’s wine country in 1980. John has written three books including John Ash Cooking One-on-One: Kitchen Secrets from a Master Teacher, From the Earth to the Table: John Ash’s Wine Country Cuisine and American Game Cooking. He writes regularly for the Los Angeles Times and is a contributor to publications such as Bon Appétit and Fine Cooking magazines. He also has a new winery venture called Sauvignon Republic Cellars. Nationally renowned as a wine and food educator, John served for many years as the Culinary Director for Fetzer Vineyards and is on the faculty of The Professional Wine Studies Program at the CIA Greystone. He travels widely teaching to both home and professional cooks.

Born and raised in Stansted, Essex, England, Martin Courtman pursued a culinary education at Harlow College in Essex, where he was awarded top honors as valedictorian of his class. Schooled in classic French cooking techniques, he believes that sauces are the key to effectively tying a dish to a particular wine; he favors wine reduction sauces for their ability to enliven the fresh flavors of ingredients. As the executive chef of Alexander Valley Grille at Chateau Souverain Winery for fifteen years, Martin created a bistro-style menu suited to his love of cooking “to the market.” Courtman’s talent is creating menus based on Sonoma County’s vast resources ranging from artisan cheeses, seafood, meats and free-range poultry, to locally grown fruits and vegetables, to maximize freshness and reflect the seasons.

A fourth generation Sonoma Valley native, Sheana Davis independently owns and operates The Epicurean Connection, a culinary marketing and education company focused on sustainable top-quality cheeses, brewing and winemaking. A natural communicator with an engaging and energetic personality, Sheana conducts seminars focused on the benefits of biodiversity farming styles and its resulting foods as reflected on her weekly radio show “From the Farm to the Table” on KSVY/91.3 FM. She also hosts the annual Opportunities & Challenges Cheese Conference, featuring guests and speakers from around the country.

Throughout her career Maria deCorpo has worked in many capacities in the food and wine industry, from Executive Chef to wine buyer and restaurant manager and now as a Chef/Instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College. A graduate of the Culinary Institue of America at Hyde Park, she is the owner of Fat Cat Culinary, an enterprise that offers culinary education in the form of private cooking instruction and cooking demonstrations for individuals and groups as well as custom recipe development for wineries and local food producers for use in their marketing programs.

Ziggy “The Wine Gal” Eschliman ― whose award-winning wine radio shows are broadcast on both coasts ― has the brightest, most refreshing voice in wine and spirits today. “Most wine lovers value quality and like good wine but dislike the stuffiness and ritual often associated with it; that’s where I come in!” beams Ziggy. Whether it’s bubbly, Bordeaux or Zinfandel, vodka or tequila, Ziggy knows the dirt: the who, the what, the where and the why in every bottle. Ziggy is a seasoned radio journalist, a highly sought-after guest speaker, a dynamic lecturer and an advocate for the good life. (April 24)

Mateo Granados grew up in a family of food producers in Oxkutzcab, Yucatan, Mexico, a village known as the orchard of the Yucatán for its output of fruits and vegetables. His credits include Alain Rondelle and 42 Degrees in San Francisco, Manka’s Inverness Lodge in Inverness, and Alfy’s in San Anselmo. He was executive sous chef at Masa’s in San Francisco under Chef Julian Serrano and executive chef of Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen here in Healdsburg. Recently featured in Food and Wine magazine, Mateo now runs Mateo Granados Catering where you'll see him at private parties, winery events and local farmers markets where he sells his Yucatan tamales and other Mexican dishes with a wine country twist.

Christopher Greenwald likes to take chances with his cuisine. “Safe dishes are always just that, while they can be good, they will rarely be great. Great food is necessary to pair with great wine”. A graduate of the California Culinary Academy, he began his professional career at Joyce Goldstein’s landmark restaurant Square One in San Francisco. He spent the better part of the next decade working behind the stove and with small farmers between Sonoma County and Austin, Texas, before coming to Iron Horse Vineyards as Executive Chef in 2003. Now with is own business Bay Laurel Catering, Chris excels at pairing wine with food and has been published in Wine Country Living, Savor Magazine and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Mei Ibach was born in a small, Malaysia fishing Village near Singapore where she learned the secrets of cooking fresh, seasonal cuisine from members of her extended Chinese family while growing up. She gathered her own spices, grew her own vegetables and grilled the catch of the day over an open fire. In Sonoma County, she has worked in a variety of Asian kitchens, including Thai, Japanese, Chinese and Pacific Rim restaurants. More recently, she has shared her professional techniques and authentic recipes at Santa Rosa Junior College Culinary Arts program and other community cooking classes. Her passions include Dim Sum and Tea, cooking with children and showcasing artisan ingredients from local farms and purveyors.

Constantinos Laliotitis, better known as "Chef Taki," is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Cuisine Française in Paris and a veteran of some of the most respected centers of culinary excellence in the world. His broad scope of endeavor has included positions at Market-Jean Georges and Restaurant Alain Ducasse in Paris, and The French Laundry in Yountville. Chef Taki has worked the line at the Culinary Institute of America Wine Spectator restaurant in Napa, Grande Hotel Villa Feltrinelli in Gargiano, Italy, and the Four Season’s Aviara in San Diego, in addition to participating in stagiers around the world at Jan Hurtingcarl in Copenhagen, Kasteel St. Paul in Lummen, Belgium, and Le Relais de Louis XIII in Paris. Chef Taki is now the estate chef for Hartford Family Winery, creating exquisite food and wine experiences around Hartford’s Russian River wines.

After teaching elementary school and educating teachers, Jennifer Lange turned to her other passion—cooking. She graduated from the Bauman College Natural Chef Program and found her greatest love—teaching cooking to adults and children. As the owner of The Vital Gourmet, a personal chef business specializing in healthy gourmet cuisine, Jennifer loves to inspire others to find their way back to the kitchen, improve their eating habits through healthy gourmet choices and connect with the abundance we find here in Sonoma County.

John Littlewood attended the California Culinary Academy, graduating first in his class. He apprenticed in Michelin starred restaurants in Lyon and Paris, France, and gained further as Executive Chef at the San Remo restaurant, San Francisco, and the City Hotel in Columbia, California. His work has been featured in Bon Appétit and Cooking Light magazines. His first book, Celebrating the Seasons at Westerbeke Ranch, a cookbook based on his experience as Executive Chef at Sonoma’s renowned Westerbeke Ranch, was published in early 2006. Today John is the co-owner with Todd Muir of Wine Country Chefs, a culinary service provider for wineries in Northern California.

Elissa Rubin-Mahon’s foraging and gleaning business, Artisan Preserves, specializes in wildcrafted and rare heirloom fruit. She writes a culinary column for Mushroom: The Journal of Wild Mushrooming, is past president and founding culinary chairperson of the Sonoma County Mycological Association and teaches about foraged and heirloom foods and preserving. Elissa works with Slow Food USA to research and evaluate rare and endangered foodstuffs and creates menus and recipes that feature them.

Jeff Mall is the Executive Chef at ZIN Restaurant and Wine Bar. Jeff attended the University of San Francisco where he earned a degree in Hospitality Management. He then went on graduate from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Jeff moved back to Northern California and began working with chef/mentors of different disciplines, such as, Jeremiah Tower and Mark Franz at Stars Oakville Café, Bradley Ogden at Lark Creek/Walnut Creek, and Anne and David Gingrass at Hawthorne Lane in San Francisco. This variety of experience helped Jeff to develop his own vision for ZIN, featuring updated and enhanced American home cooking, farm fresh produce (much of it from his own ZINgarden), and Zinfandel wine.

Kevin McKenzie launched his career at the beginning of the California Cuisine movement, working alongside such notables as Jeremiah Tower and Jonathan Waxman. He spent several years in Los Angeles as a caterer and private chef for the entertainment elite, orchestrating such events as the Academy Awards Governors Ball three years in a row. Kevin was also the proprietor of the acclaimed Rover’s Restaurant in Seattle. Kevin is now a freelance chef and writer who is very knowledgeable about the bounty of artisan food producers in Sonoma County. Kevin is a true craftsman, applying his years in the world's top kitchens to creative food and wine expressions.

Andrea Mugnaini has become known as America’s ambassador to the world of wood-fired cooking through her company Mugnaini Imports, Inc. Having dedicated the last 20 years of her life to bringing this style of cooking and living to American families and restaurants, she has been able to drive what is now considered a fad to the forefront. She even sponsored the California State Assembly Bill allowing restaurants to use wood-fired ovens outdoors. Mugnaini ovens now grace the Culinary Institute of America’s Hyde Park, NY, Copia in Napa and prestigious restaurants such as Chez Panisse. Homeowners across the country travel to her acclaimed “Art of Wood-Fired Cooking” classes to learn how to enjoy their ovens. Andrea loves to demonstrate how versatile and fun cooking in a pizza oven can be.

A native Californian, Todd Muir has been surrounded by the Sonoma wine country most of his professional life. Todd perfected his culinary talent at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. One of the highlights of his early career was his training under Alice Waters and Joyce Goldstein at Chez Panisse. He was Executive Chef at the Five Star, Wine Spectator Award-Winning Madrona Manor, owned and operated Mangia Bene, an Italian style trattoria, both in Healdsburg, and was Culinary Director at St. Francis Winery. Currently, Todd and co-owner John Littlewood have a new venture called Wine Country Chefs offering a variety of exclusive culinary services to wineries.

One of the most highly regarded chefs in America today, Charlie Palmer has received critical acclaim for his signature “Progressive American” cuisine, a style which reinterprets classic European cooking using American artisanal products and small farm producers. Beginning in 1988 with the opening of Aureole in New York, Charlie has combined his creative cooking spirit with his flair for business to establish an impressive roster of restaurants across the country, including the local Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. Charlie is the author of three cookbooks, Great American Food, Charlie Palmer’s Casual Cooking, The Art of Aureole, and Charlie Palmer's Practical Guide to the New American Kitchen.