Chicago Top Chefs

What is our recipe for success?  Our chefs!  Their winning combination of their corporate experience, restaurant work and teaching in local cooking schools is sure to guarantee an event of 5-star fun!  

Brandy Fernow

Chicago Manager & Lead Chef

Brandy is a personal chef, caterer and culinary instructor serving the Chicago metropolitan area. After working many years as a litigation services consultant for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, Brandy's love of cooking inspired her to train at one of the top culinary schools in the Midwest, Kendall College. Brandy specializes in special event catering, in-home custom meal preparation, and private group cooking lessons for her clients. She has been a sous chef for the WGN morning news food segments and assisted authored chefs in food shows and demonstrations. As Chicago Manager for Parties That Cook, Brandy oversees all Chicago events making sure our guests enjoy themselves and achieve confidence in the kitchen.

Heidi Bottom

Lead Chef

Heidi is passionate about good food and loves how it brings people together. After studying culinary arts in Provence and Tuscany, she was formally trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School in San Francisco. Heidi began her culinary career at Parties that Cook in 2002. She mastered the fast paced restaurant world at Insalata's in Marin, has provided food styling for award-winning Chefs Mario Batali, Donna Hay and Bill Granger and assisted the San Francisco Chronicle Cooking Series. Heidi teaches at Williams-Sonoma, Cooking Fools, Ridge Vineyards and Le Cornue product education classes. While love brought her to Chicago, where she now lives and works, Heidi continues to share her knowledge and passion with Parties That Cook clients.

Molly Sell

Lead Chef

Chef Molly Sell earned a degree in Culinary Arts from Kendall College in 1999. Within 6 months, Molly was in charge of the pastry department of Big Delicious Planet, catering for music talent such as Sting, Elton John, REM and Metallica. In 1996, Molly became Head Pastry Chef of Food For Thought Catering, where she developed menus for top Chicago venues like The Field Museum, Millennium Park, Chicago History Museum and Harold Washington Library. Molly also has had the opportunity to cater for The Daley Family and the Dalai Lama. In addition to Parties That Cook, Molly is now a caterer and personal chef for her own company, Tart Cuisine, which provides packaged desserts to clients all over the Chicago land area.

Liz Chaidez

Lead Chef

After a few years of research at Northwestern University, Liz enrolled in culinary school at The Illinois Institute of Art because she just couldn't shake the "food bug". Since childhood, Liz always demonstrated a curiosity and interest in cooking, but as an adult never thought she could make a career of it. After graduation, she worked at the former Isabella's Estiatorio in Geneva, IL, then landed a job as a chef consultant for a start up meal preparation company developing recipes. In addition to joining Parties That Cook in 2008, Liz works as a freelance chef for several high end Chicago catering companies, cooks at City Gate Grille in Naperville, IL and runs her own company, Sprig Catering.

David Avila

Lead Chef

When not at Parties That Cook, you'll find David running the prep kitchen at Chicago's Girl & The Goat, a 2011 James Beard Best New Restaurant nominee and dubbed "America's Best New Restaurant" by Saveur magazine. David believes the winding road he took to the kitchen, including an undergraduate degree in Education, working in Finance and even a stint at Target, gave him the skills to be an even better chef. David has worked for top caterers and has cooked at the James Beard House with Top Chef winner, Stephanie Izard.  He shares his intense creativity and love of food with guests at Parties That Cook.