Blake Lutz is a culinary professional with extensive experience in the restaurant industry, currently serving as Chef De Partie at CookNSolo Inc.'s Zahav restaurant since August 2019. Prior experience includes a role as Chef at Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group's Hickory & Ash, where versatile skills were utilized in both front and back of house operations while managing quality control. Earlier career stages involved work as an Ecommerce Specialist at VILLA Join The Movement, focusing on problem resolution and data analysis, and as a nationally ranked Sales Associate with Vector Marketing. Blake holds an Associate's degree in Culinary Arts from Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Lebanon Valley College, with ongoing studies at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics.
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CookNSolo Restaurants
CookNSolo is the trailblazing and nationally beloved hospitality group from chef Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook, champions of Israel's extraordinarily diverse and vibrant culinary landscape. Together, Mike and Steve have been awarded three James Beard Foundation Awards, with Mike awarded two additional Beard Awards for his work as Chef of Zahav, which includes "Outstanding Chef", 2017. Zahav, their restaurant that put the rich melting pot of Israeli cuisine at the forefront of dining in America today, became in 2019 the first Israeli and first Philadelphia restaurant to win the James Beard "Outstanding Restaurant" Award. In 2018, Zahav was recognized by Food & Wine Magazine as one of "The 40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years". In addition to Zahav, their restaurants are Federal Donuts – the hometown hero donut, fried chicken, and coffee shop which they co-own with three longtime partners; Dizengoff – an authentic Israeli-style hummusiya; Abe Fisher – serving contemporary twists on old-world Ashkenazi Jewish cooking; Goldie – a vegan and Kosher falafel shop; K’Far – an Israeli bakery and café named for Solomonov’s hometown just outside of Tel Aviv; Merkaz – an Israeli pita sandwich shop and cafe; and Laser Wolf, an Israeli skewer house (shipudiya). After a bold and exciting 5 week opening pre-pandemic, Laser Wolf was named a GQ Magazine "Best New Restaurant in America", 2020. And, because the restaurant biz lends so much extra time, Mike and Steve have co-authored three highly acclaimed cookbooks — Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, Federal Donuts: The (Partially) True Spectacular Story, and Israeli Soul: Easy, Essential, Delicious.