Love food? Love art? Come and see how they pair up in the hands of the experts. We’re throwing a fun, extra evening during the Comestible show, which is also a wee fundraiser for CAL. Yay!
We’ve invited some of our best local chefs to choose a work in the show as an inspiration for a platter of tapas-style food. At Let Them Eat Art! you can see the art, meet the chefs, and MOST importantly, see what inspiration tastes like. Yum!
Tickets cost $35 per person. Tickets are limited to 100, so reserve your space early!
Let Them Eat Art Featured Chefs
Chef Mark Sulltrop
44 Stone Public House
Mark Sulltrop has provided Mid-Missouri with quality-based, innovative, traditional, and contemporary American Cuisine for over the past twenty years.
His culinary approach draws heavily from his diverse experience, and by consistently practicing time-honored culinary techniques. Mark has a wide variety of distinct experiences which affords him the knowledge of the particular tastes of the region and an intimacy with its local ingredients. He has worked at a pizza place, sports bars, hotels, independent full-service restaurants, a private club, a winery and a bakery & café while executing various food service operations & catered events. The diversity of recipes, ingredients, techniques and people he has encountered fortify his ability to produce great dishes efficiently and consistently.
Mark is the Executive Chef and Co-Owner of 44 Stone Public House, where he leads the culinary team with an emphasis on positive attitude, good culinary principles, quality-driven food production and creative collaboration. Mark’s extensive experience in the food service industry has afforded him the opportunity at 44 Stone to not only create unique dishes but to execute a complete restaurant experience with his direction and leadership in mind.
Chef Ben Parks
The Barred Owl
Ben started working in kitchens while in college at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. After graduating with a BA in Business Administration in 2002, he decided to pursue a culinary career and enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America. After completing his studies, he returned to his hometown of Columbia, Missouri, eventually becoming Sous Chef at Trattoria Stada Nova.
Ben spent several years teaching culinary arts through the Columbia Area Career Center before returning to the restaurant business. He was with bleu Restaurant and Wine Bar just after its opening in 2008. He and his business partners opened The Barred Owl Butcher and Table in 2016.
Chef Eric Seidler
Broadway Brewery
Leading the innovative culinary team at Broadway Brewery is Chef Eric Seidler. Originally from Joplin Mo, he moved all around the mid west with his family. Later on in life he developed an appreciation for New American-style cuisine.
He studied Culinary Arts & Sciences and Restaurant Management at the Platt Culinary Institute in Oklahoma City. Combining his knowledge from all around the mid west, Chef Seidler continues to create distinct flavor combinations that celebrate authentic New American cuisine.
Chef Seidler believes in sourcing local ingredients. Locally grown produce, meats, and dairy from around mid Missouri purveyors play a major role in his menu development, for which he constantly seeks out the freshest and best ingredients.
In addition, Chef Eric Seidler reflects the Broadway Brewery team’s philosophy of involvement in using locally sourced food and the importance of supporting other local farms and businesses.
A suburb talent with experience in the culinary field, Chef Eric Seidler is committed to delivering great food and service to the Broadway Brewery patrons.
Chef James Lowe
House of Chow
I am a born designer and foodie who values traditions and living experience. This is how I would describe myself in one sentence.
I am the third owner, and nephew of the original owner of House of Chow. Design and cooking are both very important elements in my life.
I grew up in a family with great success in the restaurant business since the late 70's. My parents and other family members are originally from mainland China and Taiwan.
After graduating from the University of Missouri, I had a long and successful career as an architectural designer for numerous high profile sports projects. I have now decided to move back to my home town, and take over the family business of House of Chow.
Chef Jeremy Bowles
Room 38 Restaurant & Lounge
Jeremy Bowles, born and raised in Rolla, MO, graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia, with a bachelors degree in hotel and restaurant management in 2004.
From there Jeremy went on to cook for a variety of restaurants around town, learning under each chef and taking his progress with him. As kitchen manager of the former Forge & Vine, Jeremy decided he was ready to write his own menu, and, in August of 2008 opened Room 38 Restaurant & Lounge.
Since, Jeremy has wowed Columbia with an eclectic menu offering a wide variety of creative plates for any palate.
Chef Mike Odette
Sycamore
A lifelong Midwesterner and longtime Missourian, Chef Mike Odette fell among restaurant people after dropping out of college, where he had been studying Chemical Engineering.
He began work in a garde manger position at Café Europa under the tutelage of the late Bob Rappold. At Europa and Europa bakery, Chef Odette learned his way around a restaurant kitchen and discovered the pleasures of the convivial table. “For a small-town Missouri boy, in those days before the internet, Food TV and celebrity chef culture, all I had were cookbooks… James Beard, Julia Child, Barbara Kafka… those were my teachers….”
Later, during a nine-year tenure at Columbia’s celebrated Trattoria Strada Nova, he worked his way up from line cook to head chef, helping that restaurant become a mid-Missouri favorite throughout the 1990s.
Following a five-year stint as cook and counterman of the legendary and historic Booches pool hall, chef Odette, with partners Amy Barrett and Sanford and Jill Speake, opened Sycamore in 2005.
Sycamore, which honors the farmers, foragers and ranchers of Missouri with simple and seasonal rustic fare, quickly drew attention and great reviews as a champion of market-driven “Missouri bistro” cuisine. In 2009, Chef Odette was honored as a semi-finalist for the James Beard Awards’ “Best Chef, Midwest.”
