Daniel LaGarde, executive chef at the Palmer House Hilton, will have the privilege of serving as Executive Host Chef for Québec is Cooking!, an exciting culinary program that features the special products and cuisine from Québec, Canada. Highlights include cooking demonstrations and food events that pair some of Québec's finest chefs with their Chicago peers. The visiting chefs will travel to Chicago to prepare specially selected recipes in the area's finest restaurants.

LaGarde, a Québec native, and the Québec is Cooking! program are a match made in heaven. He has great appreciation for his Québec culinary roots and, as executive host chef, he will serve as the local chef ambassador, welcoming his renowned colleagues from Québec. A graduate of Québec Culinary School, LaGarde has been with Hilton Corporation for thirteen years, working at four different properties (Miami, New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Chicago). He has been executive chef at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago for the past five years. LaGarde was named "Chef of the Year, Mauricie/Lanaudiere Region," in 1992 from the Québec Chef's Association.

Janick Bouchard was aware of his destiny since childhood, when he envisioned a career that would revolve around the concept of cooking. Chef Bouchard began his career in 1989 at Montréal's Citrus where he developed his skills alongside Chef Normand Laprise, one of Canada's most famous culinary masters. In 1991, he began a short "stage" in France at Le Dauphin, a restaurant located in the town of Challant.

For the past five years, chef Bouchard has been making his mark with a seasonal "cuisine du marché" at Les Remparts, the award-winning restaurant of Auberge du Vieux-Port. Using Québec products, including produce, fish and meats, he alters his menu with the changing seasons to ensure the freshness of his ingredients. He uses only the highest quality products, adding his own unique stylings to the preparation of classic French cuisine.

For Chef Bouchard 2003 proved to be a very busy year. He was honored to headline as a guest chef at the famed James Beard Foundation in New York City, appeared on NBC's the Today Show and filmed a segment with Food Network USA. Late in the year chef Bouchard assumed greater responsibility in opening a new restaurant Aix Cuisine du Terroir.

Laurent Godbout, owner and head chef of the restaurant Chez L'Épicier, is a rising young star in the Québec restaurant business. At 32, he has worked in some fifteen restaurants, including Auberge Hatley and Auberge des Trois Tilleuls of the Relais & Châteaux network. Enthusiastic, professional, creative, and innovative, Laurent Godbout values the quality and freshness of Québec produce and has attracted the interest of food lovers in both Québec and abroad. He recently appeared in the famous French magazine Le Figaro and is currently up for an award with Wine Spectator Magazine for his stellar wine list.

Laurent Godbout is reinventing fine food in his own, unique way. "I want to get back to the basics, to the food and its essential flavors. I'm trying to create new taste combinations," he explains. Young, inventive, and friendly, Laurent Godbout has been serving up contemporary North American cuisine with Asian and French accents for close to two years. His dishes blend freshness, imagination, and refinement in a variety of mouthwatering flavor combinations. Shepherd's pie with escargot, celery root, and roasted garlic; an orzo gratin with beets; a club sandwich with chocolate and pineapple fries — such are just some of the original creations at Chez L'Épicier.