Three Grads Are Atlanta Rising Stars

Each year, Starchefs.com chooses four cities for which the editors review the rising stars of the culinary scene. Atlanta is one of the metro areas chosen for 2012, and three CIA graduates are among the city’s restaurant movers-and-shakers:

• Ryan Smith ’00 of Empire State South, Rising Star Chef
• Todd Immel ’90 of Star Provisions’ Meat Department, Rising Star Artisan Chef
• Richard Blais ’98 of HD1 and Flip Burger, Rising Star Concept Chef

Katherine Sacks of StarChefs said about this year’s honorees, “They will be the future leaders of the country’s culinary scene. Put simply, they’re not just surviving the Atlanta restaurant industry, they’re defining it.”

The last time StarChefs editors reviewed Atlanta, five years ago, one of their rising stars was Linton Hopkins ’95. This year, Chef Hopkins won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast.

Other cities reviewed for 2012 are Austin/San Antonio (honorees included David Bull ’94, Michael Sohocki ’00, and Andrew Weissman ’96), New Orleans (Alon Shaya ’99 and Sue Zemanick ’01), and Waikiki/Oahu (winners to be announced later this year).