Jörg Amsler was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. He attended pastry school in Zurich and completed a five-year apprenticeship (four years in pastry and one in chocolate) at Konditorei Rhor, an elite Swiss bakery. Diploma in hand, Amsler moved to Montreal for a position with the Beaver Club Restaurant in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. After winning several prestigious pastry honors in Canada, he was asked to teach at the Culinary Institute of Quebec. In 1988, Amsler traveled around the world three times as the youngest executive pastry chef for the Royal Viking cruise line. Passengers awarded Amsler’s desserts and pastry displays the highest marks the pastry department had ever scored prior to his tenure. After leaving Royal Viking, Amsler interned with Master Chef Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France. In 1990 the pastry wiz moved to the United States and spent the next ten years working on the West and East Coasts. By 2000, Amsler was ready to strike out on his own, opening Truly Jörg’s patisserie in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It was an instant success, out-growing the original space within a year. Amsler closed the Chelsea operation when his larger Saugus bakery, north of Boston, opened in 2001. In August 2006, Amsler opened another Truly Jörg’s outlet, with retail only, in a small café space in downtown Boston.

Joanne Chang was an honors graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics. She left a career as a management consultant to enter the world of professional cooking. She started as garde manger cook at Boston’s renowned Biba restaurant, worked for a year assisting the owner/head baker of Bentonwood Bakery in Newton, and in 1995 was hired as pastry chef at Rialto restaurant in Cambridge. Joanne moved to New York City in 1997 to work in the cake department of the critically acclaimed Payard Patisserie and Bistro. Returning to Boston a year later with dreams of opening up her own pastry shop, she brought her French and American training to Mistral where she was the pastry chef until summer of 2000. In 2000, she opened Flour Bakery and Café in Boston’s South End. Flour features breakfast pastries, breads, cakes, cookies, and tarts as well as sandwiches, soups, and salads. Flour has been featured in Gourmet, Food and Wine, the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Lucky Magazine, and Boston Magazine and has received numerous Best of Boston awards.

Chef Tony Maws opened Craigie Street Bistrot in 2002, with the goal of combining the philosophy and style of the Parisian bistrot moderne culinary movement with local and organic ingredients from New England. His unique approach to cuisine has earned him widespread national acclaim, including being named as one of America’s top 10 new chefs by Food & Wine Magazine and Boston’s best up-and-coming chef by Boston Magazine. He has also been featured in Travel & Leisure Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, the Boston Globe and numerous other publications. Tony has appeared on NBC’s Today Show and Fox News and has cooked at culinary events in locations as diverse as Singapore and Aspen, Colorado.

Jasper White is a true culinary legend, having presided over some of Boston’s venerable hotel kitchens including The Copley Plaza, The Parker House, and The Bostonian Hotel. These three hotels were the core of a Renaissance in the Boston restaurant scene at that time, but it was at the Bostonian Hotel in 1982 that Jasper and Lydia Shire together introduced Boston to contemporary American cooking. Jasper’s extensive research into the historical and cultural aspects of New England foodways, as well as his more than 30 years of cooking experience, have made him a trusted authority on New England foods, especially seafood. In 1983 Jasper opened Jasper’s Restaurant on Boston’s historic waterfront. Both chef and restaurant received numerous awards and were featured extensively in national and local media. In opening his own restaurant, Jasper led a whole new generation of innovative Boston chef/proprietors, many of whom have gained national prominence. In May 2000, he surprised people who thought he was inextricably linked to fine dining when he opened Jasper White’s Summer Shack in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Where Jasper’s Restaurant had been quietly elegant and formal, Summer Shack is a loud, energetic clam shack that seats more than 300 people, in five separate seating areas. While the ambiance has changed, the quality has not. Jasper’s mission is to demonstrate that fine food doesn’t have to be “haute” or elegant. Summer Shack has become a Mecca for seafood lovers, with four locations. From its inception, the Summer Shacks have received enthusiastic reviews from local and national press, including the 2001 James Beard Award Nomination for Best New Restaurant.