Gold Winner Craig Flinn, Chives Canadian Bistro

Silver Winner Mark Gray, Battery Park/Brooklyn Warehouse

Bronze Winner Stephanie Ogilvie, Brooklyn Warehouse

Craig Flinn is the proprietor of not one but three Halifax restos—Chives, Two Doors Down and Temple Bar, the youngest of the trio. The ambitious chef of 21 years has kept busy, but never lost his basic passion. “I think the love of food and ingredients, and the process of creation for me have never dwindled,” he says. “We’re three operations feeding sometimes 400 to 500 people a day between all three of them…it’s a big team and I have awesome chefs and sous chefs who work everyday. I mean, I can’t be chopping the onions or carrots for soup anymore—there’s just too much going on.”