Stephanie Izard was born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston but grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, where her parents got her hooked on food with their themed dinner parties, weekly menus posted on the fridge, and a life-changing trip to Epcot where she couldn’t wait to get home and recreate the crepes she ate in “France.” As much as she loved cooking (and eating), she went the traditional route first and got a sociology degree from University of Michigan. Soon thereafter, she discovered that all she really wanted to do was cook. After graduating from the Le Cordon Bleu program at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, she worked at several restaurants, including the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, before making the decision to return to Chicago in 2001. Stephanie is the winner of season four of Bravo’s Top Chef, owner and executive chef at Girl and the Goat, and author of her first cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen: How a Top Chef Cooks, Thinks, Shops, Eats, and Drinks.

Recorded Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.