Vail

The Eagle Valley is home to the Bon Appétit Culinary & Wine Focus (Watch Video) and The Taste of Vail, but it also is the residence of culinary star near and dear to the hearts of Valley dwellers (or anyone who has dined at her restaurant): Kelly Liken. Since 2004, Kelly Liken has been delighting visitors & locals alike with her New American cuisine at Restaurant Kelly Liken. With a focus on in season ingredients & local producers, Kelly stresses purchasing and preparing food from local vendors as a way to lend an unmistakable authenticity to your cooking. Plum recently filmed In Season with Kelly Liken (Watch Video), a series in which Kelly tours local vendors And prepares seasonal meals with her friends & family.

Learn more about Kelly Liken.

Miami Beach

The annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival (Watch Video) is an essential for gourmands worldwide, featuring some of the biggest names in the culinary world like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Wylie Dufresne. One young chef is turning heads at home in Miami & abroad: Clay Conley. At 33, Conley already has two decades of kitchen experience. Starting as a dishwasher at the age of 13, Conley fell in love with the restaurant world and launched himself into the world of all things gourmet.  He eventually studyied under Todd English before taking over as executive chef at Azul at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami, former stomping grounds of Michelle Bernstein (Watch Video).

Plum was fortunate enought to join Clay Conley in the kitchen on more than one occassion. (Watch Video)

Telluride

Chef Jake Linzinmeir is by no means an unknown. Linzinmeir has appeared multiple times on NBC's Today Show, cooked for several several marquis events including the Sundance Film Festival (Watch Video), been a feature at several of the country's top food & wine festivals and has even hosted his own program, "The Cook's Table". But Jake has left such indelible (and delicious) mark on Telluride that we had to make sure you are aware of his culinary prowess. A product of the famed School of Hotel & Restaurant Administration at Cornell University, Jake Linzinmeir has been relentless in his pursuit of his dream to be a chef & restaurateur. Jake now owns & operates four restaurants in Telluride (Blue Point Grill, Excelsior, X Cafe, Wildflour Cooking Company) and was a founding member of the Telluride Restaurant Association. Plum was fortunate enough to film The Chef's Day Off with Jake Linzinmeir (Watch Video), where Jake whos us how sweet the life of a mountain chef can be with a day of backcountry skiing & cooking.

Learn more about Jake Linzinmeir.

Check back for more of Plum's "Chef's You Should Know."