Working in the restaurant industry has always been in Andrew Rigie’s blood. Today he may be among New York City’s most knowledgeable experts on restaurant regulations, compliance, and trends, but his beginnings in the industry were more humble: baking and mopping the floors at his family’s local cafe.

As the director of special projects at Union Square Events, the catering and venue hospitality division of Danny Meyer’s celebrated Union Square Hospitality Group, ICE alum Omri Green is working at the pinnacle of the food and beverage industry.

In the culinary industry, there’s more than one road to success. While many culinary students dream of working for the Food Network, some of the most celebrated and respected chefs in the industry don’t have names or faces that you’ll regularly see on TV. In fact, most chefs go to work with a drive to be creative, to have an outlet to make food every day and to share their passion with others—not to become famous. If you’re a current ICE student, it’s wise for you to learn the names of some of these unsung heroes—the restaurant chefs who push our industry forward each and every day.

As I transitioned away from life as a full-time restaurant pastry chef three years ago, my goal was to create, in part, a day-to-day routine that was, well, different each day. My role as creative director at ICE certainly provides a wide range of pastry projects and endless possibilities for research, but that role was also conceived with a flexibility that encourages special side projects. These very diverse projects not only fulfill me and expand my own knowledge base, but they also enhance what I can offer ICE students from an educational perspective.

After months of hands-on lessons in ICE’s kitchens, my classmates and I were reaching the culmination of our education: the completion of an externship of our choosing. In preparation for this real-world experience, my classmates and I had spent months researching different restaurants or culinary businesses and trailing. Yet even with the most extensive research, the externship itself can often be very different than expected.

A graduate of ICE's professional Pastry & Baking Arts program, Roger started his career in the kitchens of Jean-Georges and Gucio Chocolatieri. He then worked for several years as the pastry sous chef of Gramercy Tavern, followed by a stint under Brooks Headley as Del Posto's pastry sous chef and chocolatier. In 2014, Roger became the head chocolatier at Cacao Prieto in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood.

Growing up, Dalia Jurgensen always knew she wanted to cook. But, like many ICE students, she also wanted to pursue a four-year college education. After graduating with a degree in English, Dalia tried her hand at a career in the publishing industry, but soon realized that working in a traditional office environment wasn’t a good fit.

For as long as I can remember, my father, a native Bostonian, has had a serious love affair with the Boston cream pie. So much so that after my parents got married, they went straight to the Omni Parker House—which invented this confection—for a little slice of heaven.

When alum Brooke Siem started in the Culinary Arts program at ICE, she never imagined her future would be in cupcakes. It took a debilitating back injury, a last-minute trip to Israel and one very cool technique she learned at wd~50, but eventually, Brooke discovered her calling: Prohibition Bakery, a liquor-fueled sweet shop. We caught up with the Zagat “30 Under 30” winner to learn how she transformed an unfortunate series of circumstances into a delicious mix of booze and frosting.