Meet this week’s Cook of the Week Challenge judges
For the Round 1, Week 4 challenges we had ingredient help from College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Fortune Fish Co. in Bensenville and Suparossa Pizza, a client of Porte Brown certified public accountants. Each organization contributed a guest to sit on the judging panel with chefs Suzy Singh and Spencer Wolff.
Mario O. Portanova: Throughout his 31 years in the accounting and tax profession Mario O. Portanova has specialized in the grocery and restaurant industry providing valuable counsel for his numerous clients. As a director at Porte Brown LLC in Elk Grove Village his experience and interpersonal savvy allow him to go beyond the basic accounting services.
Portanova grew up in Chicago working in the grocery and restaurant industry and attended DePaul University where he received his bachelor’s in accounting. He lives in the Chicago area with his family.
Mark Palicki: Mark Palicki currently serves as vice president of marketing for the Fortune Fish Company in Bensenville. In that capacity is in charge of all marketing for the company which includes managing Fortune’s sustainability program and providing seafood and sustainability training for their customers and local culinary schools. Palicki came to Fortune from the restaurant-side of the business with experience as a general manager, seafood buyer and chef at several well known establishments.
Palicki grew up and currently resides in the suburbs with his wife and their three children.
Jean-Louis Clerc: French born and trained Jean-Louis Clerc joined the faculty of College of Dupage as executive chef at Waterleaf, a student-staffed fine-dining restaurant at college’s Culinary and Hospitality Center at the Glen Ellyn campus.
During his tenure in France and England he worked in restaurants with two- and three-star Michelin ratings.
He moved to the United States in 2000 to take a job as executive sous chef at Hotel Sofitel’s O’Hare location and has overseen kitchens for employee dining at Harris Bank and Nuveen Investments.