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Chef Bios
Lauren Braun Costello is owner and Executive Chef of Gotham Caterers, Inc. She holds a B.A. from Colgate University and earned a Grand Diploma in Culinary Arts with distinction from The French
Culinary Institute (FCI). While studying at FCI, she worked at L'Ecole, the school's acclaimed restaurant, where she trained under some of the industry's most renowned chefs. In 2003 she was named a recipient of the Les Dames d'Escoffier scholarship.
In addition to catering, Lauren works as a food stylist and culinary producer for various national and local
television broadcasts, including segments for Rocco Dispirito, The Tony Danza Show, The View, CBS
This Morning, dLife, CNN, and Fox. Lauren has styled the satellite media tours for James
Beard award-winning Chef Michel Nischan's Taste
Pure and Simple, Food Network star Sandra Lee's
Semi-Homemade Cooking 2,
The Sonoma Diet, and
Splenda, the no calorie sweetener made from sugar. Lauren also
is the author of a weekly cooking column entitled "The Competent Cook, " which appeared on CDKitchen.com. |
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Lauren currently freelances as a chef instructor for the JCC in Manhattan, and has also taught at Cooking by the Book. She also works as a recipe tester, most notably for the upcoming 75th Anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking cookbook, working with a team of chefs to test and develop recipes. Prior to her culinary pursuits, she enjoyed a successful career on Wall Street in corporate communications, managing the employee newsletters and intranet sites of Prudential Securities, Goldman Sachs, and Société Générale.
Lauren has gained both local and national media exposure. Her recipes and party-planning advice have appeared in Revlon's Revlon On The Red Carpet promotional website for the 2004 Oscars, as well as The Los Angeles Times. She has made several television appearances over the years on WNBC's Today in New York and News 4 You as the chef owner of Gotham Caterers.
When it comes to being a chef and caterer, Lauren has a simple philosophy: "I play a role in making my clients' special occasions memorable, and that is a great joy and honor for me. I provide delicious food catered to each client's taste with ease and enthusiasm. Feeding people is a lot of fun!"
For more information, view Lauren's culinary resume.
 Maggie Odell earned a Grand Diploma in Culinary Arts with distinction from The French Culinary Institute. She has been catering events of up to 150 guests for more than five years, and has a vast range of personal chef experience in private homes across Manhattan and the South Fork. In addition to catering and private chef work, Maggie is a culinary instructor at Cooking by the Book, one of New York's top private cooking schools. Most recently, Maggie was one of the test-kitchen team members responsible for the recipe updates and additions to the upcoming 75th Anniversary Edition of Joy of Cooking. She also has experience as a food stylist, having worked on segments for both local and national broadcasts.
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