Featured Chefs of the Steamboat Food & Wine Festival
Meet the chefs shaping the Steamboat Food & Wine Festival experience. Each brings a distinct voice, technique, and perspective to the table.
CHEF
Joe Campbell
Executive Chef Joe Campbell’s path runs from Midwest kitchens to Le Cordon Bleu, the James Beard House, Bésame, Yampa Valley Kitchen, Mambo Italiano, and The Madeline, where travel, craft, and place shape every dish. His food reflects a life spent chasing flavor, creating experiences, and bringing people together across kitchens, continents, and mountain tables alike.
CHEF
Alberto Collarte Pindar
Chef Alberto Collarte Pindar cooks from a Baja point of view shaped by coastal ingredients, open fire, and the rhythm of shared meals. At Rhythm of the Ranch, his perspective adds smoke, spice, seafood, and a deep sense of place to the evening.
CHEF
John Courtney
Chef John Courtney, owner of Chop Shop and The Bake Shop Park City, built his career from finance to fine dining. Former Culinary Director of Block 16 at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas and Chef de Cuisine at DB Brasserie and Yardbird, he is also a Chopped Champion.
CHEF
Chris Curren
Chef Chris Curren is known for high-energy cooking, sharp technique, and bold seasonal flavor. At Culinary Collective Dinner, he joins Collin Kelley and John Courtney in an open-kitchen collaboration built around personality, timing, and the kind of dinner guests feel as much as taste.
CHEF
William Dissen
Chef William Dissen is the owner and head chef of The Market Place in Asheville, known for seasonal cooking and a strong connection to regional farms. At Elevated Expressions Dinner, his Appalachian perspective adds depth to an intimate mountain collaboration.
CHEF
Collin Kelley
Chef Collin Kelley leads from the center of Primrose’s open kitchen, where hospitality, pace, and seasonal mountain cooking meet. His role in Culinary Collective Dinner anchors the evening with a local Steamboat perspective and a menu designed for collaboration.
CHEF
Kevin Nashan
James Beard Award-winning chef Kevin Nashan brings the perspective of Sidney Street Cafe to Elevated Expressions Dinner. His cooking is polished, generous, and relationship-driven, making him a strong fit for a seven-course collaboration built around trust, timing, and craft.
CHEF
Martín Rios
Chef Martín Rios is the chef behind Restaurant Martín in Santa Fe and a James Beard Best Chef: Southwest nominee. His cooking balances refinement with regional character, making him a natural collaborator for a farm-rooted dinner at Elkstone.
CHEF
Dana Rodriguez
Chef Dana Rodriguez is one of Denver’s defining culinary voices and the chef behind Casa Bonita’s reimagined menu. A multiple James Beard nominee connected to Work & Class, Super Mega Bien, and Carne RiNo, her cooking is bold, generous, and unmistakably rooted in Mexican hospitality.
CHEF
Jon-Claude JC Stevens
Chef Jon-Claude “JC” Stevens is a Steamboat talent known for smoke, comfort, and local hospitality. Across Rhythm of the Ranch and Last Call, his cooking moves from fire-driven dinner to the kind of final-morning food that brings a festival weekend back to life.
CHEF
Matt Vawter
James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Mountain, Matt Vawter is the chef/owner of Rootstalk and Radicato in Breckenridge and co-founder of Threefold Bakery. His cuisine is defined by refined technique, seasonal ingredients, and close relationships with Colorado producers.
