Ard Ardalan
Attorney at Law, Ardalan Injury Law
Ard Ardalan is a trial lawyer focused on representing everyday Austinites against landlords, corporations, and insurance companies. Ard regularly brings the heat to the courtroom, securing large settlements and winning big verdicts on behalf of his clients. A regular reader of The Austin Chronicle, Ard is as passionate about a free and independent press as he is all things spicy! You can usually catch him at the Barton Springs Saloon competing in trivia or running around shirtless around Town Lake, if you can take that kind of heat!
Taylor Hannan
Food Photographer and Noodles’ Dad
Taylor is the creative mind behind the popular Instagram accounts @austineater and @thiccboymedia. He explores the local dining scene and supports small businesses through his food photography, though now he may be best known as “Noodles’ dad” – a title which he’s happily held for seven years.
Mark Jackson
Chief Development Officer, Central Texas Food Bank
Mark joined the Central Texas Food Bank in 2010, leading the fundraising, marketing, and volunteer resource efforts of the organization. His team inspires the community to provide resources to nourish our most vulnerable neighbors and allow CTFB to grow to meet the need for support in Central Texas.
Before joining CTFB, he graduated with a BA from the University of Colorado and started his career working in sales and marketing for international sports medicine company Ottobock. Mark transitioned to the nonprofit sector to serve as Development Director at Project Transitions, a Food Bank Partner Agency that provides hospice and housing support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. He has over 10 years of nonprofit leadership experience.
In his free time, he enjoys traveling around the world with his wife.
Carissa Rodriguez
Executive Chef, The Peached Tortilla Catering
Carissa is a fifth-generation Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. She’s a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has worked for various chefs there. After moving to Austin last year, Carissa became the Executive Chef of The Peached Social House. She’s enjoying getting to know Austin and can’t wait to make more memories here.
Jam Sanitchat
Chef and Owner of Gati and Thai Fresh
Born and raised in Thailand, Jam Sanitchat has been cooking since she was 5 years old, originally learning from her grandmother in their home kitchen. Jam moved to Austin for graduate school in 2001 and opened Thai Fresh with her husband, Bruce, in 2008. Thai Fresh is a local staple, offering authentic Thai meals made with fresh ingredients from local farms and Jam’s family garden. Jam’s dairy-free ice cream shop and gluten-free bakery, Gati, recently launched an all-day breakfast and lunch menu, featuring dishes inspired by Jam’s time in Thailand, Australia, Oaxaca, and beyond. Jam also leads regular hands-on cooking classes and published Thai Fresh: The Cookbook, which features more than 75 recipes to guide readers through cooking Thai dishes served at the restaurant, along with some of Jam’s favorite meals from Thailand.
Kate Schwarzlose
Chef de Cuisine, Épicerie
Kate Schwarzlose is the Chef de Cuisine at Épicerie in Austin, Texas. A native Texan, she began her culinary career in New Orleans in 2013, working her way up through the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group to become Sous Chef at the historic Brennan’s. In 2020, she joined the opening team at Commodore Perry Estate and Lutie’s, where she spent five years as Executive Sous Chef. During that time she was asked to lead culinary operations at a sister property in France. Her love of French and Louisiana cuisine brought her to Épicerie in 2024. Alongside her restaurant work, Kate created a small-batch hot sauce called Hebrew Hammer – what started as a holiday gift for friends became an unexpected small business.
Trevor Scott
Host, CBS Austin’s We Are Austin
An Austin television personality and host of the CBS Austin morning program We Are Austin, You can catch Trevor on TV every weekday morning highlighting the people, stories, and organizations that make Central Texas such a special place to call home. He has a passion for storytelling and a career in television that spans more than 20 years, with experience in front of and behind the camera. Trevor is actively involved in many of Austin’s nonprofit efforts, and is always looking for opportunities to engage with the community in positive, productive ways. He lives here in Austin with his husband and two rescue pups, Julie and Dot.
Taylor Tobin
Austin Chronicle Contributing Writer and Restaurant Critic
Taylor Tobin is a freelance journalist who specializes in food, beverage, and hospitality. In addition to her work at The Austin Chronicle, she has written stories for publications like Eater, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, and Southern Living. She lives in South Austin with her dog Marty and loves to ride her bike, kick butt at pub trivia, and belt out some tunes at Ego’s.
Alissa Ziemianski
President, Austin Community Soccer Association
Alissa learned from her grandfather at the age of 4 that the reason we existed was to make each other’s lives better, but it took an encounter with an unhoused young adult when she was 9 to understand the weight of that lesson. It was that day she knew she wanted to help build a world where everyone could feel safe and cared for. To use the “badly explain your job” trend, she begs for money for a number of local nonprofits, and runs the largest mixed adult recreational soccer league in Central Texas (a 2022 Austin Chronicle Best of Austin award-winning organization). Luckily for Alissa, her passions and professional goals intertwine at the intersection of a uniquely Austin Venn diagram that allows her to create nurturing spaces where everyone feels safe, seen, and able to live authentically – especially members of historically and systemically oppressed communities. And she LOVES hot sauce.
This article appears in The 35th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival.