Clay Conley and Zach Bell

03/04/20 • 28 min

Chef Clay Conley has worked his way around the kitchen since he started washing dishes as a teenager. Raised on 30 acres in rural Maine, in a 19th century home heated only by wood fire, Conley’s childhood was defined by chopping wood, tending to farm animals and a garden, and planting a 1000-tree orchard, which instilled his love of fresh, seasonal ingredients and the full-flavored, wood fired dishes that have become his signature as a chef.
Conley moved to Boston after college to work for Todd English, ultimately serving as the celebrity chef’s Director of Culinary Operations, overseeing 18 restaurants around the world. Upon his return to South Florida, Conley received accolades for his tenure as Executive Chef at Azul in the Mandarin Oriental Miami before relocating to Palm Beach to open his first chef-helmed venture –Buccan – in 2011. The modern American restaurant, which continues to be one of the island’s toughest reservations, focuses on complex yet balanced small plates, and is credited with revolutionizing the Palm Beach dining scene. Chef-driven cuisine in a sophisticated, relaxed atmosphere was a new phenomenon on the tony island, and Conley followed Buccan’s success with Imoto (“little sister”), a Japanese/Asian concept next door inspired by his time living in Tokyo. In 2016, Conley opened Grato, a neighborhood Italian concept West Palm Beach, which features a wood-burning oven, grill and rotisserie. He is currently working on a new venture, Chateau Miami, to open winter 2020.
Five-time nominee for a James Beard Award as a “Best Chef in America: South,” Conley and his restaurants have been recognized in national and international publications including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Travel + Leisure, NY Post, Robb Report, Conde Nast Traveler, Miami Herald, Complot, Boston Globe, Fodor’s and USA Today. Buccan has been praised by Forbes as one of the best restaurants in Palm Beach and has received “Best Restaurant” honors from all area publications. Clay has also cooked on Emeril’s Florida, featured on both the Food Network and Cooking Channel, PBS’s The Victory Garden, The Today Show and Fox and Friends.
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Chef Zach Bell, a four-time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: South, spent his formative years in New York working alongside Chef Andrew Carmellini with culinary legend Daniel Boulud. A Florida native, Bell returned to Palm Beach in 2003 to open Boulud’s first venture outside New York City, the award-winning Café Boulud, and later opened Boulud’s Miami restaurant. In 2011, Bell joined Delray Beach’s exclusive Addison Reserve Country Club, the #7th ranked private club in America, as Executive Chef. At Addison Reserve, Bell oversaw seven separate dining venues, as well as all private dining and special events for the club.

In 2019, Bell joined friend and colleague Chef Clay Conley and his acclaimed Palm Beach County-based restaurant group to oversee culinary operations for Buccan, Grato, Imoto and the Buccan Sandwich Shop. Alongside his extensive fine dining experience, Bell boasts unparalleled knowledge of restaurant operations – from developing comprehensive training programs to overseeing all aspects of day-to-day management. Bell’s passion for recognizing and training talented chefs began while studying at Johnson & Wales and working in their Career Development Office. He brings this unique and highly valued expertise to the company as they expand and explore new opportunities for growth.

Previous Episode

Joe Flamm

Winner of Bravo's Top Chef Season 15, Joe will open his debut restaurant in the Chicago’s Fulton Market, summer 2020. The menu will focus on Adriatic drinking food from Croatia and Italy.
Most recently, Joe worked as Executive Chef at Chicago's Michelin-starred
Spiaggia and Cafe Spiaggia for 5.5 years. There, he cooked and learned alongside the one-and-only Chef Tony Mantuano, aka the Godfather of Italian fine-dining in America, who’s forever family.
Prior to Spiaggia, Joe worked in other iconic Chicago kitchens, starting with Grandma
Mary's. She taught him how to cook for their big family. Pastas, ravioli, pizzas — all made by hand. He refined his culinary skills alongside Chicago's best chefs, including Stephanie Izard at Girl and the Goat, Art Smith at Table Fifty-Two, and Bill Kim at bellyQ. Joe has staged in some of Italy's best kitchens, too, including Glass Hostaria in Rome and Del Pescatore in Mantova, a genuinely magic place.
He's cooked for presidents, celebrities, the James Beard Foundation and more, but his favorite person to cook for is his wife/roommate, Hillary. In his free time, Joe enjoys dayoffing with Hillary and their son, Luka, who couldn’t be more awesome.

Next Episode

Akhtar Nawab

With the recent economic and health crisis and outbreak of coronavirus, on this episode with Chef Akhtar Nawab we discuss the fate of our industry, what actions need to be taken immediately, and how brands/companies can help support their favorite restaurants, bars, and chefs.
Akhtar Nawab is chef and owner of Alta Calidad in New York, advisor at Prather’s on the Alley in D.C. and Otra Vez in New Orleans.With nearly 25 years of experience in the kitchen, the Kentucky-born chef of Indian heritage has embraced Mexican cuisine, connecting the layered, complex cooking and ingredients of Mexico with the Indian food he grew up eating.

Nawab’s ‘less-is-more’ style of cooking has earned him critical praise throughout the years, beginning with his experience in the kitchen at acclaimed restaurants like Gramercy Tavern, Craftbar and Craft, the latter of which received three stars from The New York Times and won the James Beard Foundation’s “Best New Restaurant” Award during Nawab’s tenure. Nawab moved on to serve as the executive chef of East Village gastropub The E.U., for which he received StarChef’s “Rising Star Chef” award before striking out on his own as a partner at Elettaria. Moving towards Mexican cuisine, Nawab took the helm at popular NYC hotspot La Esquina. In 2017, Nawab opened Alta Calidad in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. There he serves his smart and creative take on Mexican cuisine in a vibrant neighborhood atmosphere, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2018. The same year, he opened Prather’s on the Alley in Washington D.C., a modern take on a classic American restaurant with a focus on local ingredients.

In April 2019, Nawab will open to Otra Vez at The Standard in the South Market District in New Orleans. Much like his own culinary style, Nawab has long admired the diverse cuisines and gastronomic influences represented in New Orleans. At Otra Vez, Nawab will continue to build on his refined style of cooking, with dishes rooted in the big, classic flavors associated with Mexican cuisine incorporating the ingredients of Louisiana. Later this spring, Nawab will open ACTQ, a more casual version of Alta Calidad serving tacos, tortas and Mexican roti at Time Out Market in downtown Brooklyn.

Building on his vast food hall experience, with Choza and Indie Fresh, In May 2019 Nawab will open the Inner Rail Food Hall in Omaha, NE. His vast and intimate knowledge of food halls makes Nawab an expert in the field of operations management.

Nawab has been featured in various publications, including Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and Eater, and has appeared on Food Network’s “Iron Chef America.” He was included in acclaimed cookbook Coco: 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs (Phaidon, 2009) and will release his first cookbook Good For You, all about his unique take on healthy food, in 2020.