Introducing the panelists and moderator.

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The Panelists

Clark Wolf has more than 25 years of experience in the food industry and is founder and President of New York food and restaurant consulting firm Clark Wolf Company. His clients include major hotel companies, such as Loews, institutions like The Guggenheim Museum, legendary restaurants such as The Russian Tea Room and food companies and marketing boards including The Walnut Marketing Board.

Wolf is a Contributing Authority to Food Arts magazine and has written a regular cuisine and culture commentary column for Forbes Magazine. He is currently working on a book about America’s cheeses for Simon & Schuster.

Current and recent collaborations have included restaurants with well known Chefs Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas), Bradley Ogden (Bradley Ogden at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas), Rick Moonen (RM Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay) and Richard Sandoval (Zengo in Denver).

Click here to read: Recognizing Magic, A conversation with Clark Wolf by Ya-Roo Yang.

Michael Ruhlman is an author, journalist and broadcaster. His books The Making of a Chef (1997) and The Soul of a Chef (2000) are the definitive works on the modern American professional cook. Ruhlman has collaborated on two books with America's top chef Thomas Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook (2000) and Bouchon (2004). A Return to Cooking written with Eric Ripert, chef-owner of Le Bernardin, the Manhattan four-star restaurant, appeared in 2002. His book, with Brian Polcyn, on charcuterie for the home cook will be published in November, and he is currently finishing work on a third volume on the work of the professional chef.

In addition to his books, Ruhlman has also spent time as a line cook, was a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times for two years and recently presented the PBS show Cooking Under Fire.

Click here to read: The Interviewing of a Writer, Andy Lynes talks to Michael Ruhlman.

Steven A. Shaw a.k.a. "Fat Guy," is the executive director and co-founder of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, a James Beard Award-winning food critic, and a contributor to Elle, Saveur, and many other magazines and journals. His book, Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, is the definitive guide for novices and pros alike to getting the best a restaurant has to offer, starting with those all-important, impossible-to-get reservations. Named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the thirty-five most fearsome young talents in food, he is insightful, irreverent, and often controversial.

The Moderator

Robert Buxbaum (Bux) is a member of the eGullet Society's kitchen cabinet and the host of its, France, Spain & Portugal, and Food Media & News forums. Robert started cooking in college. A trip to Europe as a student sparked a deeper interest in food. Some years later, still on a student budget, a belated honeymoon in Europe with Mrs. B lasted for six months, focused on food, and established the parameters for their next 40-odd years of travel (though happily not always on a student budget). Travel and food became important parts of life leading to the establishment of WorldTable, Inc., a travel consulting service. When their daughter embarked on a career in food and later married a French chef they found themselves with a greater connection to professional cooking. Although unabashed Francophiles, they've recently been returning to Spain because of its new gastronomy and their new appreciation for its traditional regional cuisines.