In Honolulu, Senia’s pastry chef Mimi Mendoza is best known for her Meyer lemon chiffon cake, but she’s also proud of her sticky toffee banana cake. Sticky toffee pudding is not commonly found in Hawaii, and by adding the banana cake element — which is common in Hawaii — she was able to make something new, different, but also accessible. Meet Mimi.

Suzi An is actually the creative director of two restaurants in Seattle — Salare and Junebaby. Junebaby, which opened in May of this year, is “unbashedly Southern,’ serving dishes like pimento cheese and fried catfish. For the restaurant, An researched wrote wrote an encyclopedia of the “terms, dishes, and places that play a role in the cuisine.” Get to know Suzi.

Former Young Gun and beverage director of The Aviary Micah Melton says he’s impressed with drinks that Aaron Polsky, bar manager of Harvard & Stone, is creating.“It's very, very rare that I see something, a concept — in terms of drinks — that I have never thought of,” said Melton. “And that, for me, opened my eyes to Polsky's talent as an individual.” Read Aaron’s profile.

Laura Loomis is the pitmaster at Two Bros BBQ Market in San Antonio. She’s self-taught, and built her barbecue knowledge through Internet searches, online barbecue forums, books, videos, and good ol’ experience. Meet Laura.

Colleen Quarls is the chef de cuisine at Turkey and the Wolf, where she makes sandwich constructions like a collard-green melt electroshocked with pepper dressing and pickled cherries or a monster meatloaf sandwich dizzying with gravy mayo, pepper jelly. Get to know Colleen.

You wouldn’t expect it from the various accolades that Hanbun has received, but the restaurant is actually located in a food court in the suburbs of Chicago. For lunch, expect chef Dave Park’s takes on Korean food staples, like bibimbap, ramyun, bulgogi, and toasted rice cake skewers. He does a reservations-only tasting-menu dinners he terms Juhnyuk, which are already booked out until the middle of next year. Lunch it is. Read Dave’s profile.

Elias Majid has grown his love of tea into one that has 120 looseleaf varieties with plans to expand to a second location in downtown Detroit sometime in the next few years. The shop also serves tea-based lattes, bubble teas, kombucha on tap, and a small menu of food like wraps, salads, and baked goods; it’s his way of introducing the community to what tea can be.  Meet Eli.

At Timber Pizza, Daniela Moreira, executive chef and co-owner, is serving wood-fired “Neopolitan-ish” pizza with ingredients from local farmers markets every morning. She only has a pizza oven to work with, so when she adds things like her now-staple empanadas to the menu, those, too, get the wood-fire treatment. Get to know Daniela.

Jesse Ito grew up behind his father’s sushi bar, but at Royal Sushi & Izakaya, Ito is making a name for himself. Now, at his own restaurant, he’s introduced Philadelphia diners to the likes of scorpionfish and Japanese grouper — which later appeared on the menus of other restaurants in the city — and he runs the first high-end omakase in town. More on Jesse.

Amelia Ekus runs the Twitter corporate cafe, working with the chefs in her role as general manager to keep employees engaged with the menu. She’s breaking down “lunch lady” stereotypes and has banned the word cafeteria. The Twitter cafe isn’t open to the public, but find a friend who works there, follow along at @twEATs, or read Amelia’s profile.

Kim LeVine is the director of operations for all four of Alex Raij and Eder Montero’s acclaimed Iberian establishments: La Vara, El Quinto Pino, Txikito, and Tekoá. She held a general manager position at La Vara for 17 months before being promoted to this prestigious role. Get to know Kim.