Lana Richardson is the host and
founder of Gourmet Retreats at CasaLana. With almost twenty
years experience in the corporate business world, Lana left
a successful career in the software business and enrolled
in the chef program at the California Culinary Academy. After
graduating from CCA with top honors, she was chef at Walnut
Creek’s popular Secret Garden Tea Room and also cooked
at Bradley Ogden’s Lark Creek. In 1996 Lana started
her own business, which offered catering and personal chef
services. She has taught cooking classes in private homes
and at B&Bs. You may have seen one of the B&B classes
in a television segment of "Real Romance" on the
Romance Classics Network.
In 1998 Lana decided to create a business that would combine
her background in customer education and her professional
chef training with her passion for cooking, teaching and gardening.
In 1999, she opened her B&B, CasaLana, in Napa Valley
where she hosts and teaches the Gourmet Retreats. Lana continues
her professional education with classes at the Culinary Institute
of America Greystone. She also maintains active membership
in professional organizations including the International
Association of Culinary Professionals and Women Chefs and
Restaurateurs.
Cindy Race grew up in southwestern Massachusetts, where she started her restaurant career at age 14 at the local historical inn and tavern. After restaurant stints around the country including positions as kitchen manager, executive chef and owner, Cindy settled in the Bay Area in 1994.
After 17 years, Cindy left the restaurant industry to private chef for a high-profile client, allowing her to focus on her personal interests in hand-picked ingredients and gracious, personal service. In addition, Cindy has been successfully matching other private chefs and clients for over ten years.
Cindy especially enjoys teaching cooking enthusiasts how to enjoy entertaining more by using shortcuts and good time-management skills and by “treating a recipe as a roadmap”. She has great enthusiasm and loves teaching. Her students say she is “professional, entertaining and approachable.”
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Other Chef Instructors at CasaLana
CasaLana has been privileged to host classes taught by many
talented chefs and instructors. Below are some of the instructors
that have taught classes at CasaLana and may return for future
classes.
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 Nelly
Capra was born in Genoa, Italy and for many years owned
a restaurant in Camogli on the Ligurian Riviera. Nelly also
owned two stores in Genoa where she produced regional specialties
in ancient wood burning ovens. After relocating to the Bay
Area several years ago, Nelly has been catering and teaching
Italian cooking and language. She is currently writing a cookbook
on the specialties of her region. Nelly is passionate about
food and teaching others to share her love of food and cooking.
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 Linda
Carucciis a chef, cooking instructor and culinary consultant
based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to teaching
at her home based cooking school in the Oakland Hills, she
often teaches at Sur La Table and Draeger’s Culinary
Center. Alumna, former Dean and former Chef/Instructor of
the California Culinary Academy, Linda was also a featured
Chef in the PBS series Cooking at the Academy. Her recipes
appear in the series companion cookbook, Festive Favorites:
Entertaining with the California Culinary Academy (KQED Books,
1995) and Wrap and Roll (Macmillan, 1998). She was directly
involved in compiling and editing, recipe developing and testing
for a number of other cookbooks including California Chefs
Cook Lean (California Project Lean, 1994) and Savoring the
Wine Country (Collins Publishers, 1995).
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Janet Fletcher is an award-winning
food and wine writer who trained at the Culinary Institute
of America and at Berkeley's celebrated Chez Panisse restaurant.
She is a staff food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle,
where her writing won the 1999 James Beard Award and the 2000
Bert Greene Award. Her food and wine articles have appeared
in numerous national publications, including The New York
Times, House Beautiful, Barron's, Bon Appétit, Food
& Wine, Fine Cooking, Country Home, Metropolitan Home,
Travel & Leisure, American Homestyle & Gardening and
National Gardening. She is the author or co-author of 12 cookbooks,
including Fresh from the Farmers’ Market and The Cheese
Course (both Chronicle Books). She is currently at work on
a book about the Napa Valley, where she lives.
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 Lisa
Gahafer is a Chef, caterer, cooking teacher, innkeeper,
and culinary tour guide who has been living and working in
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for the past 7 years. A native
of Oakland, California, Lisa has been traveling and cooking
professionally for 20 years. Her passion, enthusiasm, and
love of the culture and cuisine of Mexico are evident in her
fun and flavorful classes, which explore the regional cuisines
of Mexico.
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 Agustin
Gaytan is a Mexican born chef, teacher and culinary
tour guide. He learned his basic cooking skills from his mother,
and has refined his talents in several fine restaurants in
Mexico. Agustin teaches Mexican Regional Cooking at his cooking
school in Berkeley and has also taught classes at the California
Culinary Academy and many locations throughout the country.
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Linda Hillel is an Oakland based
cooking instructor, food consultant and illustrator. Her classes
focus on healthful foods and feature fresh, locally available
ingredients used in original recipes in the Mediterranean
style. She teaches classes at Sur La Table, Draeger's Culinary
Center, Piedmont Adult School and Linda Carucci's Kitchen.
Linda developed and tested recipes for The Hot Flash Cookbook
by Cathy Luchetti (Chronicle Books, 1997) and a new kitchen
appliance currently in production. Linda's original recipes
were published in a feature article by The San Francisco Examiner
(1999) and have also been published in the San Jose Mercury
News and the Jewish Bulletin. Her cookbook illustrations include
Carlo Middione’s Traditional Pasta (Ten Speed Press,
1996); The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman (The Harvard
Common Press, January 2002); The Wild Vegetarian. by Steve
Brill (The Harvard Common Press, April 2002) and magazine
illustration for Epicurean (March/April 2001).
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Laxmi Hiremath has been writing
and teaching Indian cooking for more than 12 years. Her cookbook
Laxmi’s Vegetarian Kitchen (Harlow and Ratner, 1995)
was selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the
best books for 1995. She teaches at many schools including
the California Culinary Academy and the Culinary Institute
of America, St. Helena. Laxmi contributes regularly to the
San Francisco Chronicle and her recipes have been published
in numerous food magazines including Bon Appetit, Gourmet,
Sunset and many others.
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Ray Johnson has spent more than
15 years working professionally with wine in many aspects
of the industry. His broad experience base includes leading
tours in Napa Valley, managing French restaurants, selling
to retailers, buying for distributors and judging at the Chronicle
Northern California and West Coast Wine competitions. He shares
his energy and enthusiasm for wine in classes he teaches at
the Santa Rosa Junior College, UC Berkeley Extension and the
Sonoma County Wine & Vistor Center.
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Jeanette Mansour Nuss
started her culinary voyage 30 years ago. She commenced sharing
her culinary talents by conducting cooking classes at major
department stores and gourmet cooking stores in Southern California.
In 1982 at the Robinson's Food Festival, Jeanette taught side
by side with famous chefs and cookbook authors, many of who
are household names today. She developed recipes to teach
cooking classes for several products in the late 80's including
Robot Coupe, Cuisinart, Le Creuset, Revere Signature collection,
and Gourmet Topf to name a few. Jeanette owned and operated
her own catering business for over 25 years, serving numerous
stars and celebrities. She is the Author of Bistro Cooking
with Jeanette, and has made several television appearances
and has been featured in numerous newspaper articles and several
well-known magazines. She is a member of IACP, a former Soroptimist
, and continues to teach several classes a month is various
cook stores in Northern California.
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 Chat
Mingkwan, was classically trained in cooking in Rayon,
France. A native of Thailand, he began cultivating and cooking
Thai food as a child, working along side his mother and aunt
in their successful restaurant and hotel. Formerly a restaurant
chef at E&O Trading Company, Chat is currently a cooking
teacher, caterer and food and restaurant consultant. His book
“Best of Regional Thai Cuisine,” Second Edition,
is in the market and “Buddha’s Table” (Thai
Vegetarian), “Homestyle Thai Cooking”, and “Thai
cakes and Desserts” will be out this fall, 2004
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 Mani
Niall promotes honey on behalf of the National Honey
Board, specifically varietal honey. As the founder of Mani’s
Bakery in Los Angeles and current proprietor of Mani’s
Test Kitchen, his years as a chef, baker and culinary educator
have all come into play as he develops everything from heirloom
tomato pasta sauces and frozen desserts to breakfast cereal
for a wide roster of clients. Niall is the author of Sweet
& Natural Baking and Covered in Honey. Upon completing
Covered in Honey, he was adopted by a swarm of bees that landed
in his yard.
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Terri Pischoff Wuerthner , CCP, is a Bay Area native
who grew up loving the Cajun food prepared by her father,
grandparents and other Cajun relatives. She has more than
20 years experience writing about food and developing recipes.
Her articles have appeared in Bon Appetit, Cooking Light,
Sunset Magazine, The Washington Post and San Francisco Examiner,
as well as many other notable publications. In addition to
authoring two cookbooks (with another in the works), Wuerthner
has been a newspaper columnist and food editor. She is Chef-instructor
in the Culinary Arts Program at Bauman College, and the founder
and leader of the Marin-Petaluma Slow Food Convivium. In 2001,
Wurethner was the recipient of the Tyson Residency-Fellowship
for Culinary Writing the first Fellowship ever awarded for
the genre of writing about food.
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 Robert Reynolds is French trained, a chef, teacher and author
who lives in Portland. He directs the NW Culinary Forum, a
non profit center for advanced cuilinary education. He is
the former chef/owner of Le Trou restaurant in San Francsico.
In addition to teaching classes at various locations in the
Northwest, Robert offers an 8-week course of professional
study and a 1-week course in the ‘Arts of the Table’.
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David Rosenthal studied with the renowned cooking teacher
Madeleine Kamman in Annecy, France before embarking on a career
as an Executive Chef in San Francisco. Chef Rosenthal was
twice selected as one of the Outstanding Chefs in America.
Since 1995 he has been the Senior Instructor for the Treasure
Island Advanced Culinary Program training the young chefs
of tomorrow.
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Pilar Sanchez has a background rich in cultures with
her California roots, Spanish and Mexican bloodlines and her
extended time living and working in France. Pilar was most
recently Executive Chef and Wine Spectator Restaurant at Greystone
(CIA) in St Helena. Sanchez was also Executive Sous Chef at
the prestigious Meadowood Resort, home of the famed Napa Valley
Wine Auction. Pilar was an integral part in directing the
culinary team at Meadowood in the preparation of the spectacular
dinner for the Vinters’ Ball. She arrived at Meadowood
straight from Paris where she and her husband, acclaimed Executive
Chef Didier Lenders, owned and operated Café del Sol.
In 1999 Pilar was featured in the Best Hotel Chefs In America
series at the James Beard House. You may have seen Pilar more
recently as co-host of “The Mediterranean Table”
for the “Melting Pot” series on the TV Food Network.
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 Marie
Simmons, award winning cookbook author and food writer,
has written over a dozen cookbooks including Lighter, Quicker,
Better (with Richard Sax), Fresh & Fast; and the A to
Z series. She writes a monthly column for Bon Appetit called
‘Cooking for Health’ and the twice-monthly column
for the LA Times Syndicate called ‘Fresh & Fast’.
Marie also teaches classes throughout the Bay Area.
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