Piero Selvaggio

Piero Selvaggio is the owner of the restaurants Valentino and Posto, in the Los Angeles area, and Valentino Las Vegas, at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. At Valentino, he has twice received the James Beard Award for outstanding service in 1996, and for wine in 1994. Wine Spectator magazine named Valentino one of the top four restaurants in the country in 1996 and again in 2000, and has given its Grand Award for wine to the restaurant every year since 1981. In 1997, the Ital-ian magazine Gambero Rosso named Valentino the finest Italian restaurant in the world. Selvaggio was born in Modica, Sicily. He now lives in Brentwood, California, with his wife, Stacy Dalgleish, and their three sons, Giorgio, Giampiero, and Tancredi.

Karen Stabiner is a magazine journalist and the author of four books. An enthusiastic home cook, she has written about food for Saveur, the Los Angeles Times, and Travel & Leisure. She lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Larry Dietz, and their daughter, Sarah.