Michelle Garcia • Bleeding Heart Bakery
The Bleeding Heart Bakery is dedicated to enhancing the lives of all pastry lovers by creating fantastic sweets and baked goods using only organic and sustainable ingredients. They have searched high and low for the perfect flower, sugar and everything else from farmers who hold the highest regard for their land and their bounty. Their products mirror the range of talent possessed by co-owner/pastry chef Michelle Garcia, a graduate of The French Pastry School. The Bleeding Heart Bakery is the end result of her lifetime love affair with pastry and the art of sugar craft.
www.thebleedingheartbakery.com • 773.278.3638

Pedro Gomez • Calihan Catering
An award-winning pastry chef, Pedro Gomez has worked alongside many of Chicago’s finest chefs. Gomez’ culinary career began at Richard Melman’s restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You. Gomez has garnered critical acclaim for his creative interpretations of classic desserts, as well as his inspired presentations. Earlier this year he became the pastry chef for Calihan Catering in Chicago, which has been nominated in both 2002 and 2003 for a Jean Banchet Award for Best Catering Company. Chef Gomez and his creations have been featured in both print and television.
www.calihancatering.com • 312.587.3553

Chris Thielman • College of DuPage
Chef Christopher Thielman is a certified executive chef, a certified culinary educator and has been a member of the American Culinary Federation since 1987. Throughout the year, he dons his professor toque teaching Culinary and Pastry Arts classes at the College of DuPage where he is fondly known as, “Chef ‘T’.” He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1980 and furthered his education by attaining his masters degree in 2002.
www.cod.edu • 630.942.2315

Kevin Jones • Conway Farms Golf Club
After graduating from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, Kevin began his career as a prep cook where he discovered an interest in baking and pastry. His first pastry position was as a pastry cook at the Fairmont Hotel. From there he worked as a head baker at the Chicago Bar Association, and then as a pastry chef at The Chicago Caterers, The Midland Hotel and Conway Farms Golf Club.
www.conwayfarms.com • 847.234.6979

Kriss Harvey • Bin 36
Pastry Chef Kriss Harvey brings 16 years experience to work everyday and a love of creating desserts. Originally from New York, Harvey comes from a family that boasts three chefs. He has worked with some of the world’s finest chefs including Christophe Felder of the Hotel Crillon, Emmanuel Ryon MOF, Joel Robuchon, Pascal Janvier, and Giuseppe Scaringnella. In late 2006, expect his upscale chocolate bar, Cocoa Butter, Salon du Chocolat, to open in Chicago.
www.bin36.com • 312.755.9463

Rachel Oliver • Fashion Model
Assistant fashion designer and model. Currently a senior at Dominican University, double majoring in fashion design and merchandising with a minor in business. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Rachel has been living in Chicago for the past four years, minus four months spent abroad in London. Upon graduation she plans to start her own design label, specializing in menswear. You can see some of her original designs later this spring in the University fashion show.

Pierre’s Bakery
Every day at Pierre’s Bakery we are ready to satisfy your sweet tooth and good taste. What flavor would you like today: a delicious chocolate cake, cheesecake with strawberries, creamy tres leches cake, lady fingers, Tirami-su, Tropical Charlotte, or any of our vast selections.
www.pierres-bakery.com • 773.252.8888

Ford Culbertson • Rolf’s Patisserie
The outside setting is an industrial-looking brick structure on Touhy Avenue, but inside Rolf’s it’s practically Paris. Cases are filled with fresh-baked, light-as-air croissants and frosting-drizzled pastries nestled side by side with baguettes, muffins, cookies and other sweets. Locals sip coffee and read the paper at a few small tables while friendly staff wait on a steady stream of takeout customers. The place does a booming business with elegant, artful cakes; truffles are another house-made treat, with flavors like champagne, amaretto, Irish cream and good old chocolate.
847.982.9400

Omar Martinez • Sheraton Hotel
Chef Omar Martinez has been in the pastry field since childhood, where he grew up playing in his family’s Los Angeles pastry boutique. As of this summer, Chef Omar joined the skilled team of chefs at the Starwood Hotel’s Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers as the Executive Pastry Chef.
www.sheratonchicago.com • 312.464.1000