Our Chefs

AJ DeDiego is an Atlanta based dessert business owner. He sells custom cakes and other desserts to a variety of customers, as well as wholesale baked goods for 5 different businesses around the city of Atlanta. Over the last few years, AJ has published a cookbook, launched an online store selling handmade dessert mixes and fresh baked goods for nationwide shipping, been featured in a number of online articles, and he's appeared as a contestant on Food Network's Halloween Baking Championship. AJ loves teaching others to bake and decorate cakes, and does so by posting recipe videos across his social media as well as in person classes.

Hi! My name is Ami Dand, and I am the Executive Pastry Chef and proud owner of a micro-bakery, Sweet Basil Cakes, which I opened in June 2024. With over two decades in the industry, my journey has taken me from opening the St. Regis Atlanta to crafting stunning events with Legendary Events, and most recently, overseeing two bake shops at the prestigious Capital City Club. While I specialize in wedding cakes—my true passion—I love all aspects of baking and have a deep commitment to teaching and sharing the craft.

When I’m not baking, you’ll usually find me traveling with my husband (who is an Executive Chef) and our daughter, playing with our 3 dogs,  checking out new restaurants, or picking up a new hobby—right now I’m learning how to throw pottery, and I’m loving it.

Brenda grew up with canning and preserving in her genes. She follows generations of canners in her family where the dining room table served as a runway for her mom’s many jars of peaches, tomatoes, and green beans. Every year you could count on the ritual of planting, picking, canning, storing used jars for the next spring/summer canning – rinse and repeat! Now, many years later, “puttin’ up” is a passion of hers, as evidenced in the name of her small business, The Passionate Preserver, where she concentrates on capturing summer harvest all year round.

Christina Badaracco, MPH, RDN, LDN, works as a healthcare consultant, author, and thought leader, advancing the role of nutrition in healthcare. She applies her expertise in healthcare and public health research, policy, and practice to support leading institutions and organizations across the world to improve care delivery and health outcomes. She also regularly writes, teaches, and develops trainings and programs about nutrition, culinary medicine, and sustainable agriculture—including designing and directing award-winning and innovative culinary medicine trainings and programs for various healthcare institutions and professional associations and coauthoring Mix It Up: The Culinary Medicine Cookbook for Mixing Things up in the Kitchen and The Farm Bill: A Citizen’s Guide. Christina previously worked for Avalere, a healthcare advisory firm, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, Oakland Unified School District, and NIH Clinical Center. Christina holds various leadership roles within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Slow Food and she is actively engaged in her local food and healthcare systems. She earned her MPH from UC Berkeley, AB in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, and completed her dietetic internship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Chris Rubinstein is a chef and culinary instructor with over 25 years of experience working in kitchens around the country. His career has taken him through a wide range of culinary environments—from high-volume restaurants and luxury private homes to working directly with farms, ranches, and even stadium kitchens in major sports arenas.

He has cooked in cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland, and Jackson Hole, and spent time teaching at a culinary school in Hua Hin, Thailand. Along the way, he’s developed a teaching style that’s grounded, approachable, and focused on building real skills through hands-on experience.

Chris specializes in whole-food, vegetable-forward cooking that’s full of flavor and easy to recreate at home. In addition to teaching, he’s also a skilled knife maker and often brings his handcrafted culinary knives into class to share knife techniques and care tips.

Whether you’re brand new to the kitchen or looking to deepen your skills, Chris creates a relaxed, informative environment where everyone feels welcome—and leaves inspired to cook more.

Cynthia Graubart has a passion for helping cooks feel more at ease in the kitchen and her students love her calm presence, encouraging them to learn new techniques and tips for success. She is a James Beard Foundation Award-winning cookbook author, and culinary television producer.

Cynthia most recently authored her 13th cookbook, Zucchini Love for Storey Publishers, a division of Workman in concert with her previous two books with Storey, Blueberry Love and Strawberry Love. She and Nathalie Dupree wrote the best-selling (and James Beard Foundation Award of Excellence-winning) Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking.

She is the chair of the Broadcast Media Awards Committee for the James Beard Awards and is currently at work on a history of community cookbooks in Georgia. Join Cynthia online at cynthiagraubart.com.

Sommelier Don Hackett is a certified wine specialist who has been educating consumers for years all over Georgia. Don is also a former Decatur Cook's & Sherlocks manager and has been teaching with us for over 20 years.

Gloria Smiley is no stranger to Cook's Warehouse. She has been sous chef for Diane Wilkinson for more years than both of them care to count or can remember. She began her culinary career as a student of Diane's, and has taken classes at Cordon Bleu and LaVarenne in Paris; and with Lydie Marshall in Nyons, France. She is an independent food stylist for print and film and some of her most memorable clients include Julia Child, Jean George Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud, and yes, Richard Simmons. She is also a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier, IACP and AIWF.

Melissa has used her culinary skills to compete in cooking and recipe competitions locally and nationwide. Her craft has earned over 320 State Fair Blue Ribbons, 160 Red Ribbons and titles of Spam Champion, Fleishman's Yeast Baking Champion, Hidden Valley Ranch Recipe Winner, and the Chicago Cutlery's "The Cut" Sandwich National Grand Champion to name a few. Melissa has had over 100 recipes published in national publications such as "Taste of Home", "Southern Living", Epicurious.com, and "Healthy Cooking" books and magazines and was recently featured on the cover of Taste of Home for her Gruyere & Egg Burger, deemed best burger in the country.

Melissa created her blog, The Front Porch Gourmet, to give her friends, family and readers a place to talk food, feel at home and share a little Southern humor. She shares all types of recipes from Mama's Southern Fried Chicken to an elaborate Beef Wellington. Melissa has also recently partnered with another blogger to create the Drink.Dine.Do blogsite focusing on gourmet food, luxury travel and lifestyle.

Melissa has used her culinary skills to compete in cooking and recipe competitions locally and nationwide. Her craft has earned over 320 State Fair Blue Ribbons, 160 Red Ribbons and titles of Spam Champion, Fleishman's Yeast Baking Champion, Hidden Valley Ranch Recipe Winner, and the Chicago Cutlery's "The Cut" Sandwich National Grand Champion to name a few. Melissa has had over 100 recipes published in national publications such as "Taste of Home", "Southern Living", Epicurious.com, and "Healthy Cooking" books and magazines and was recently featured on the cover of Taste of Home for her Gruyere & Egg Burger, deemed best burger in the country.

An avid lover of cooking and baking, Paul is no stranger to the kitchen. After college, Paul spent 3 years working in a high-end restaurant in Boston run by a James Beard award winning chef. In 2008, Paul decided to make the transition to the housewares industry and settled in Atlanta, his hometown. Paul has spent the past 12 years managing gourmet retail stores and cooking schools in the Metro-Atlanta area, the last five of which have been at The Cook's Warehouse Midtown location. When he's not at the store, Paul enjoys gardening and spending time with his Pomeranian, Thomas. 

Michelle Pellegri has been a pastry chef and culinary educator since 2004, and is the owner of Roswell Baking Company, a cottage-licensed home baking business. Leaving the corporate world behind, she shifted gears and decided to turn her passion baking and creativity into a new career. She graduated from the culinary program at Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, GA and rounded out her education with a transformative culinary internship in France at Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne, under the supervision of Anne Willan.

Michelle is a native Atlantan and first-generation Italian-America. She grew up in a household that valued fresh baked bread and focaccia, made homemade pasta, and grew vegetables; all of which instilled an appreciation for cooking and eating really great food. Michelle's professional pastry experience includes stints at Bacchanalia, Star Provisions, Rainwater, and Varasano's Pizzeria. She teaches baking and cooking classes all around Atlanta and if she could bake one thing, everyday for the rest of her life, it would be croissants.

Naina Bhedwar is an entirely self-taught chef whose passion for food and cooking began when she was barely knee high, mother and grandmothers kitchens. Hailing from two distinct and vibrant Indian communities, the Parsis (originally of Persia) and the Punjabis of India's North, Naina has had the further privilege of living in all four corners of India as well as abroad in Australia, the UK and now, Atlanta. Each home brought with it new and delicious culinary and cultural experiences, allowing a faceted and multilayered love of food to emerge and take a steadfast hold.

Kesar Kitchen, LLC (Kesar is the Hindi term for Saffron ~ Naina's favored spice) offers exciting and interesting ways to present the endlessly varied and incredibly interesting food of India. Naina also offers Persian / Iranian dishes, as a salute to her ancestry, as well as other cuisines from the Near East.

Healthy Chef Partyologist Nancy Waldeck is a culinary educator and innovator. She teaches in a variety of corporate settings like Google, Norfolk Southern, Florida Blue, Calphalon and Piedmont Hospitals, plus a number of respected culinary schools like Atlanta's own Cooks Warehouse. A media veteran, several times a month she enjoys sharing creative tips and techniques about healthy cooking on NBC TV's Atlanta and Company show.  Nothing makes cookbook author Nancy happier than sharing the treasures of explorations with others, so she hosts carefully curated wine and culinary trips around the world for small groups of curious guests.

After almost 20 years in the corporate world, Crystal realized that what was once a weekend pursuit and avocation had become increasingly important to her - so she decided to take the leap and focus on her passion for baking and pastry. In 2013, she completed an intensive Pastry Arts Course at L'Ecole National Superieure de Patisserie near Lyons, France followed by an internship in a pastry shop in Paris. 

Healthy Chef Partyologist Nancy Waldeck is a culinary educator and innovator. She teaches in a variety of corporate settings like Google, Norfolk Southern, Florida Blue, Calphalon and Piedmont Hospitals, plus a number of respected culinary schools like Atlanta's own Cooks Warehouse. A media veteran, several times a month she enjoys sharing creative tips and techniques about healthy cooking on NBC TV's Atlanta and Company show.  Nothing makes cookbook author Nancy happier than sharing the treasures of explorations with others, so she hosts carefully curated wine and culinary trips around the world for small groups of curious guests.

Renée Jackson is a passionate cooking instructor with a particular love for baking. Although she is not classically trained, Renée has honed her skills through years of dedicated practice and experimentation in her own kitchen. Her culinary journey began as a hobby shared with just friends and family, but her talent and enthusiasm quickly turned it into a thriving side venture - Mad Macs. Renée’s approachable teaching style and creative recipes have made her a favorite among students of all levels. She believes that anyone can learn to cook and bake delicious food with the right guidance and a bit of passion. Join Renée in her classes to discover the joy of cooking and baking.

Nealey Dozier Thompson's career started in Los Angeles, first as a wedding planner to the stars until culinary school called her name. She has worked as a recipe developer and food writer for over a decade and as a full-time culinary instructor for five years. You can find her work published in Southern Living, O, the Oprah Magazine, and Redbook, in addition to The Kitchn and Cooking Channel.

An avid lover of cooking and baking, Paul is no stranger to the kitchen. After college, Paul spent 3 years working in a high-end restaurant in Boston run by a James Beard award winning chef. In 2008, Paul decided to make the transition to the housewares industry and settled in Atlanta, his hometown. Paul has spent the past 12 years managing gourmet retail stores and cooking schools in the Metro-Atlanta area, the last five of which have been at The Cook's Warehouse Midtown location. When he's not at the store, Paul enjoys gardening and spending time with his Pomeranian, Thomas.

Chef Za

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