Michael Chiarello, Chef of Tra Vigne Restaurant in St. Helena, California, has earned accolades as one of the top new chefs in the country, and has been named Chef of the Year by the Culinary Institute of America (1995) and by Food & Wine magazine (1985).

Michael grew up in a family devoted to its Southern Italian roots and heritage of good food. His mother baked bread in an outdoor clay oven and gathered vegetables for the evening meal from her garden. The growing, preparation, cooking and preserving of good food was at the center of family life.

This devotion to homemade, high-quality ingredients has formed the basis for Michael's cuisine, and he has actively sought out and supported small farmers who provide the raw ingredients that meet his exceptional standards.

Michael has brought this passion to Tra Vigne, where he has been chef since 1986. Tra Vigne, Italian for "among the vines," was planned and designed to evoke an authentic Italian ambience, with simple dishes inspired by Italy, yet expressive of its Napa Valley location. "This kind of cooking demands extraordinary quality ingredients," says Michael. "If Tra Vigne were in Italy, I could buy olives, breads, mozzarella, salami, and prosciutto at the market. Since I could not buy the quality I needed here, I decided to make it myself."

To this end, Michael spends half his creative time on ingredients. He presses local Napa Valley olives with a traditional Italian press he discovered on a trip and imported. His in-house bread baking and his customers' demands for loaves, focaccia and pizza dough to take home led to the founding of Pan-O-Rama Bakery. And through his company, Consorzio Foods, Michael fueled the flavored olive oil cooking trend with his intensely flavored olive oils, named Best Product Line at the 1994 International Fancy Food Show.

Producing food products has not distracted Michael from his main love, cooking. In addition to Tra Vigne, he has opened Tomatina and Bistecca, two restaurants with plans to expand nationally, Caffé Museo in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and two restaurants in Aspen, Bump's and Ajax Tavern.

Michael's popular and critically-acclaimed recent book The Tra Vigne Cookbook: Seasons in the California Wine Country serves as the basis for Season by Season. Michael is also the author of Flavored Oils: 50 Recipes for Cooking with Infused Oils and Flavored Vinegars: 50 Recipes for Cooking with Infused Vinegars.