At age 18, Luke Venner began a four year apprenticeship under Fabrice Beaudoin at Restaurant Picasso now Mirador Café in The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Vail Valley Colorado.
Luke began his ascent with the prestigious Savory Group at Larkspur restaurant where, in less than one year, he was named Chef de Cuisine of this high volume establishment.
Fall of 2006 finds Chef Venner amidst the sprawling hills and vineyard lined landscape of Napa Valley where he joined the opening team of Redd Restaurant in California.
After briefly consulting as Executive Chef for The Hotel St. Francis in Sante Fe New Mexico, Luke returns to Vail Valley Colorado in 2008 where he graciously accepts the title of Chef de Cuisine by his former employers at Larkspur restaurant.
With his passion now transfixed on absorbing knowledge from some of the best the culinary world has to offer, Chef Venner heads east, undergoing a series of internships in some of NYC’s finest restaurants. It was during this time that Luke met Chef James McDevitt, and today their mutual respect and passion for the culinary arts continues to grow in the kitchen of TWO Steak and Sushi Den.
James McDevitt's interest in food developed at an early age. The son of an Irish-American Navy pilot, James has been known to borrow recipes from his Japanese mother who involved him in cooking for military officials as a child. McDevitt spent a substantial portion of his life traveling the globe. Growing up in Japan and the United States as well as traveling the Far East has all had serious influence on his culinary style.
Inspired by those early years in the kitchen, James enrolls in culinary school and soon after begins working in various restaurants where his obvious path to career choice begins to take shape.
In 1997, at the age of 27, James opens his first restaurant Hapa with his pastry chef/wife Stacey in Scottsdale Arizona. This Asian-American inspired establishment describes both James heritage as well as its cuisine. It is here that McDevitt begins to enjoy critical acclaim from the likes of Food and Wine Magazine and Best New Chef. In addition, McDevitt receives a Rising Star Chef nomination from the James Beard Foundation as well as accolades from Gourmet Magazine as one of America’s Best Restaurants. The famed New York Times food critic Bryan Miller writes, "This restaurant is one of the most inventive and exhilarating in Phoenix" with Zagat Survey giving Hapa a #1 food rating in Arizona. With the successful opening of Mika, a casual eatery specializing in Asian street food and located directly next to Hapa, McDevitt secures himself in the culinary landscape of Arizona. It is now that McDevitt decides to relocate to Napa Valley California. Here Chef McDevitt skillfully marries his love of food and wine in restaurant Budo; a collaboration between James, wife Stacey McDevitt, and partner Roger Roessler, a Sonoma-based vintner from Roessler Vineyards. During his time in wine country, Budo was named as one of the Top Ten in the San Francisco Bay, by Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle who wrote, "Culled from his Asian heritage, James McDevitt is producing some of the most exciting cross-cultural foods in the Bay Area.” The late R.W. Apple of The New York Times had visited both
Hapa and Budo and wrote, "For me Budo is the best thing to hit the area in many a moon." While in California James also served as a celebrity judge on the
Bravo Emmy Nominated program "Top Chef."
James was recruited back to the east coast, where he had once worked for Drew
Nieporent's Myriad restaurant group. But this time it was to aid in the reopening
of the famed Le Cirque in Manhattan with owner Sirio Maccioni.
For the past 3 years James has served as Executive Chef of our sister restaurant, Four Food Studio in Melville. Bob Lape of Crain's New York Business
Magazine gave Four a 3 star review declaring, “Four was one of the Island's best places for food and drink.” In his 3 star review Peter M. Gianotti of Newsday said, “there is still nothing on Long Island like Four.”
In March of 2010 the long awaited arrival of Chef McDevitt’s labor of love, TWO Steak and Sushi Den was finally here. With his responsible union of two dramatic culinary cultures, McDevitt seems to have truly created an inspired vision. On Friday April 30th 2010, the goal of expecting only the best from himself and his staff became evident as Newsday’s Peter Gianotti gave Two an unprecedented 3 ½ star review.
Jay Grossman is the Managing Partner of The Four Restaurant Group. His continued goal to provide exceptional food and service has earned him well deserved accolades from both his colleagues as well as his guests.
In 2005 Jay launched Four Food Studio and Cocktail Salon in Melville New York. His vision of successfully pairing imaginative foods and an innovative wine and spirits program with the current trend of exhilarant night life, continues to set the standard in an industry he knows and loves.
With numerous awards for excellence and service, Four was honored with 3 stars from Newsday and Jay was quickly acknowledged as the pioneer for restaurant hospitality growth in the now profitable 110 corridor of Melville.
Grossman soon finds himself with the unenviable task of quenching his own thirst for perfection. After studying all that was being offered in the new frontier of modern hospitality, he decides to enter the ring yet again. In March 2010 Jay opens TWO Steak and Sushi Den. With over 21,000 square feet of usable space, this monolithic cathedral to hospitality offers all the detail, excitement and ambience of any world class restaurant. Featuring prime aged steaks and traditional sushi and yakitori, TWO is best described as an orchestrated union of two great culinary cultures. In less than 5 short weeks Newsday’s Peter Gianotti honors TWO with 3 and ½ stars citing its excellence in food, service and décor. With the New York Times declaring a “Don’t Miss”…their highest rating, it would seem that Grossman’s intended vision has now become a reality.
Jay’s resides in Huntington NY with his loyal and hungry bull dog Bukka.
