www.thechefwithanaccent.net Rachid Kourda was born in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia. Many will agree that Tunisia is the heart of the Mediterranean and it’s dining delight. Being of professional status, his father a Diplomat, and his mother General Manager of Home Bank, they were able to dine in the finest restaurants. Both with discriminating taste, they enjoyed nightly choices of gourmet and entertainment. This gave Kourda exposure to fine dining at a very young age. In Nov.1986, Mr. Slim Kourda (Father) had an offer at the Embassy of Tunisia in Lyon, France, the gastronomic capital of France. In Jan.1987, Rachid Kourda registered in the art culinary school of Helene Boucher, located in Lyon. At the Helene Boucher school, he attended 3 years of Art Cooking, Management, Marketing, and Restaurant Technique. With great enthusiasm, Kourda embarked upon his creative and passionate mission by traveling just to study world-wide cuisine. In these travels, he visited Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and Italy. In the summer of 1991, his family returned to Tunisia. This did not stop Kourda. His passion drove him to further studies at the Enterprise Food Service University located in Tunisia. During this time, he worked for many luxury hotels using and growing his culinary and hospitality skills . Upon finishing his studies at the university, he decided to make his debut in the United States. Arriving in Lax on Oct 27 1997, he realized that the food industry had no limits! There were fifty states of new and different cuisine! What a country! He decided to adventure across the states and discover America's best dishes. From Los Angeles CA , Miami FL , Boston MA, Chicago IL and Philadelphia PA, he worked as Sous-chef at Harvard Gardens MA to Executive Chef and General Manager at Panino Los Angeles. Kourda’s insight and creativity was and is limitless. He creates specials instantly and says: " I can taste my specials with just my imagination . . .". He believes that there is no limit nor law in the cooking industry. Kourda wants to share this wonderful world of food with all who want to share the passion. While a fully active chef and restauranteur advisor, Kourda also works to create a cooking network program. His passion is to bring the heart of cooking art, to you and all, while continuing to bring easy access of the culinary business to the hospitality industry. Just take a look, and enjoy, Kourda’s web-site: www.kourda.com -------------------------------------------------------------- By Anne Swatfigure What do you get when you combine a digital camera and a chef with an accent ? You get Rachid Kourda creating dishes in his kitchen at Notte Luna, in Glendale. Rachid was in the kitchen and i was there taking pictures of his great looking food. I watched truffle oil and chopped vegetables work their way in and out of pans on the hot stove. It was like a slow dance to classical music to watch him build a tower of goat cheese and beets that he calls "Beet with an accent". He made a chopped endive salad and folded in a few grapes and strawberry slices, making a perfect combination of taste and interest, worthy of a gourmet. I let my digital camera convey the color and composition of each new dish. I learned that fine food is both good to look at and flavorful to eat. I used my camera to bring the color and ingredients to a new audience. Keeping pace with this young chef is not the easiest thing to do, but you will each get to see him and the dishes he creates when you watch his upcoming TV show and guest appearances. The food was exotic to me, but Rachid has cooked all over the world, and this was another chance for him to impress an audience. I was pulled in by the joy and ease he displayed as he cooked. Rachid had fun, and wants all of us to join in a wonderful special tasting experience that identifies his work as something special. My digital camera was delighted with the entrees and main courses that came from his artwork and I think you will be too.