Chefs Table
Hudson Valley Magazine Chefs Table is your go-to source for insight into the region’s food and drink scene. Meet our talented network of top-tier chefs, who share everything from their favorite ingredients to kitchen tips, menu previews, and more. Watch videos from the chefs, learn more about their backgrounds, and try recipes from their own cookbooks. Foodies in the Hudson Valley won’t want to miss this!
Meet the Chefs
Vinny Gilberti
Troutbeck
A native of the Hudson Valley, Gilberti worked at some of New York City’s most celebrated restaurants — including McNally’s and Pulino’s, as well as seminal Brooklyn restaurants Battersby and Dover — before joining Chef Gabe McMackin at Clinton Hill’s The Finch, which is what led him to Troutbeck. Formerly Chef de Cuisine, Gilberti left Troutbeck last autumn to explore the West Coast, where he worked at SPQR in San Francisco, making fresh pasta daily, a practice he’s loved since childhood, when he would watch his Italian grandmother cook enormous family meals.
Maya Kaimal
Maya Kaimal Foods
Maya Kaimal is an award-winning cookbook author who learned the art of Indian cooking from her South Indian father and from family in Kerala, India. She has written three cookbooks on Indian food and, in 2003, Maya and her husband, Guy Lawson, launched a line of Indian sauces under the brand Maya Kaimal Foods. Her line has expanded to include ready-to-eat plant-based lentil and chickpea curries, rice, and condiments, all designed to closely replicate the home-cooking upon which she was raised. Her products can be found at over 15,000 stores nationwide including Whole Foods Markets, Sprouts, Target, Safeway-Albertsons, and Costco.
David Kim
Milea Estate Vineyard
At the age of 14, Kim moved from Korea to Dallas, TX. He studied hotel and restaurant management at the University of Houston, but later discovered a passion for cooking. He enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America to learn classical French culinary techniques and, during his time there, he externed with Chef David Bouley. Kim was Executive Chef at Momoya in New York City before moving north to the Hudson Valley. His cuisine at Milea Estate Vineyard is influenced by his French training as well as his Korean background.
Daniel Meissner
Willa
Chef Daniel Meissner has been working in professional kitchens since the age of 13. After graduating from the International Culinary Center in 2015, he went on to further develop his skills in the high intensity spaces of Michelin-starred fine dining kitchens like Noma, Fäviken, and The Finch. Currently, Meissner is the executive chef at Willa in Millerton, where he cooks with seasonality as a guiding force. His intentions are to responsibly source food from small producers in the Northeast. He wishes to build relationships with the farmers that grow our vegetables, fruit, and herbs and raise our meat. In this pursuit of flavor and friendship, it is his goal to create tasty food that showcases the hard work of these individuals.
Emma Isakoff
Troutbeck
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