SPYCA Competition 2024-25: meet the USA local jury

The Local Jury for the USA Regional Final of S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2024-25 has been announced.

Chefs Valerie Chang (Maty’s, Miami), Curtis Duffy (Ever Restaurant Group, Chicago), Aisha Ibrahim (Canlis, Seattle), Ayesha Nurdjaja (Shuka and Shukette, NYC), and Junghyun ‘JP’ Park will choose the country’s best young chef at the Regional Final later this year. The winner of the Regional Final will then go on to compete against 14 other stellar young chefs under 30 from around the world at the Competition’s Grand Finale in Milan in 2025.

The Competition, now in its sixth edition, is the world’s premier culinary talent search, with the USA’s Mitch Lienhard taking the title in 2016. Each competing chef has to cook a signature dish to showcase their cooking skills and unique vision.

The Competition is one of the most important events in the global culinary calendar and offers young chefs unparalleled opportunities for networking and international visibility. All competing chefs also automatically become members of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy.

Find out more about the Competition, including how to apply, here, and more about the USA Local Jury, below.

Valerie Chang

Chang grew up in Chiclayo, Peru and moved to the US when she 10. In 2018 she, her brother Nando, and their father, Fernando, opened Itamae in the Miami Design District food hall, followed by Maty’s, named after her grandmother, in 2023. At Maty's she serves a modern take on comida criolla, the traditional Peruvian food of her upbringing. She has earned two James Beard semifinalist nominations for Rising Star Chef (2019, 2020) and nominations for Best Chef South (2022, 2023).

Curtis Duffy

Duffy is a renowned chef and restaurateur who owns and operates the Ever Restaurant Group in Chicago, with Ever earning two Michelin stars and his previous venture, Grace, earning three Michelin stars from 2015 to 2018. In addition, Duffy sits on the advisory board of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, where a $25,000 scholarship in his name is awarded.

Aisha Ibrahim

Ibrahim was born in the Southern Philippines before immigrating to the US as a child. After graduating from the Le Cordon Bleu program in San Francisco, she launched her career in the Bay Area at notable restaurants such as Aqua, Commis, and Manresa before moving to the Basque Country to train at Azurmendi. She has spent time in some of the best kitchens in the world including in Japan at Kagurazaka Ishikawa, L’effervescence, and RyuGin, and is now Executive Chef at Canlis restaurant in Seattle.

Ayesha Nurdjaja

A Brooklyn native of Italian-Indonesian heritage and a James Beard Foundation Best Chef: New York State nominee (2022 and 2023), Nurdjaja graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education. She is currently Chef & Partner at Shuka and Shukette, earning a devoted following for her vibrant Eastern Mediterranean fare and distinct seasonal culinary approach.

Junghyun ‘JP’ Park

Chef Junghyun ‘JP’ Park is a Seoul-born, New York City-based chef, most recently recognized as Best Chef: NY State (2023) by the James Beard Foundation. He is globally acclaimed for his NYC restaurants Atomix (2 Michelin Stars, No. 8 World’s 50 Best 2023) and Atoboy in NoMad, NARO in Rockefeller Center, and Seoul Salon in Koreatown. A pioneer of the ‘New Korean’ movement, Park continues to hone his dedication to evolving Hansik through research and development on a global scale.