Andy grew up in Spain in the early seventies. His first job was as a dishwasher at Casa Nun restaurant in the small town of Cadaques on the Costa Brava. He spent the eighties designing for General Motors in Santa Barbara Ca. Andy graduated the CIA in 1995 at the top of his class. He cooked with Mario Batali in the tiny kitchen of Po for two years before opening Babbo. The 3 star restaurant received Best New Restaurant from James Beard in 1998. As the silent backbone of Babbo, Andy Nusser served as executive chef for five years.

With his heart in Spain and his strong passion for cooking Nusser got his way to combine the two by opening Casa Mono and Bar Jamon in December of 2003 with partners Batali, Bastianich and Nancy Selzer. Casa Mono received 2 stars in 2004.

Andy and his wife Patty live in Hastings on Hudson with their two children.

NANCY SELZER

Nancy Selzer was raised in Salem, Va. and earned a bachelor's degree in English at Virginia Commonwealth University. After realizing academic publishing was not her calling after all, she found the vitality and excitement of the restaurant industry an infectious combination and began a second career. This change in direction led to a serious interest in wine, and she earned her Sommelier Society of America's Wine Captain's certificate. She also completed Andrea Immer's intensive Wine Boot Camp while working at Cellar in the Sky, a sister restaurant to the late, great Windows on the World.

Nancy began her eight-year working relationship with Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali as a server in the team that opened Babbo to three star acclaim. She was promoted to General Manager at Pó, Mario's first restaurant, and returned to Babbo two years later as Service Director.

Since the inception of Casa Mono and Bar Jamón, her focus has been on all things Spanish. Running the cozy but bustling Casa Mono and the intimate Bar Jamón allows Nancy to be involved in almost all aspects of the restaurant, from cultivating the notable wine program and acting as Maitre d', to overseeing the music and ambiance.

Nancy lives with her husband, Fredi Lopez, in Brooklyn.

MARIO BATALI

Mario Batali believes that olive oil is as precious as gold, shorts are acceptable attire for every season, and food, like most things, is best when left to its own simple beauty. To that end, Mario, together with his business partner Joe Bastianich, creates magic night after night in his many New York City hotspots, the flagship of which is Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, an award-winning Greenwich Village dining establishment where Mario has seamlessly combined traditional Italian principles with intelligent culinary adventure since June 1998.

A gastronomic superstar from its inception, Babbo was honored as "The Best New Restaurant of 1998" by The James Beard Foundation, and Ruth Reichl at the New York Times hailed it with three stars. Six years later, a re-review by Frank Bruni maintained Babbo's three-star power and its excellence among New York City's finest restaurants. Mario and Joe also own Lupa, a Roman-style trattoria, with Jason Denton and Mark Ladner, as well as a wine shop just off Union Square, Italian Wine Merchants. Esca, a southern Italian seafood trattoria, opened in the Theater District in April 2000. In January 2003, Mario and Joe opened another downtown eatery, Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, located around the corner from historic Washington Square Park. Otto serves pizza, pasta, house-cured salumi, vegetables, and 600 wines, Casa Mono and Bar Jamón, both opened in December 2003, are on Irving Place, a block away from Italian Wine Merchants. Casa Mono is a Spanish-style taverna featuring wines, sherries, tapas and traditional entrees. Bar Jamón, adjacent to Casa Mono, is a bustling tapas bar with wonderful Spanish cheeses, hams and small plate specialties. In December 2005, Mario opened Del Posto with Joe, Lidia Maticchio Bastianich and Mark Ladner. This spacious restaurant in New York City's meat packing district features modern Italian cooking in a luxurious and comfortable setting. The duo's most recent venture, in collaboration with Nancy Silverton is Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles. Sharing the corner of Highland and Melrose Avenue, the former features a center island mozzarella bar, where fresh mozzarella is made all day, every day. In the spring of 2007, Mario and Joe journey to Las Vegas to open B&B Ristorante e Enoteca and Enoteca San Marco in the beautiful Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino.

Raised in Seattle, Mario initially studied the golden age of Spanish theater at Rutgers University. Soon after graduating, he took his first bite of culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu in London, from which he withdrew almost immediately due to a "lack of interest." An apprenticeship with London's legendary chef Marco Pierre White and three years of intense culinary training in the Northern Italian village of Borgo Capanne (population 200) gave him the essential skills and knowledge to return to his native U.S., eager to plant his orange-clogged foot firmly on the behinds of the checkered-tablecloth Italian restaurant establishment.

Among his many accolades, Mario was named "Man of the Year" in the chef category by GQ Magazine in 1999. In 2002 he won the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef: New York City" award, and in 2005 the James Beard Foundation awarded Mario "Outstanding Chef of the Year". Mario is also one of the recipients of the 2001 D'Artagnan Cervena Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America, a prestigious lifetime achievement award.

Ever the avid educator, Mario hosts two Food Network programs, "Molto Mario" and "Ciao America". He also engages in fierce culinary battle in the Food Network series "Iron Chef America." Mario has authored Simple Italian Food (Clarkson Potter, 1998), Mario Batali Holiday Food (Clarkson Potter, 2000); The Babbo Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, 2002); and Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes (Ecco, 2005). Most recently, Mario and NASCAR, the country's leading spectator sport, have joined forces to create the first ever cookbook for NASCAR fans. - Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style (The Sporting News).

Mario splits his time between New York City's Greenwich Village and Northern Michigan with his wife Susi Cahn of Coach Dairy Goat Farm, and their two sons.

JOSEPH V. BASTIANICH

Since those long-ago days of red checkered tablecloths and fiasco Chianti, Joseph has been a part of an Italian wine and food "revolution", much of it ignited by his mother, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich of Felidia, and has since been fueled by Joseph in an ever-expanding array of projects: restaurants, a retail shop, a winery in Italy, books and much more.

Joseph partnered with Lidia to open his first restaurant, Becco, a theater-district trattoria. Becco created a huge buzz with its "prix fixe" wine list.

In 1998, Joseph teamed up with Chef Mario Batali to open Babbo. The restaurant attracted a flood of critical praise, including an enthusiastic three stars from the New York Times, was honored as The Best New Restaurant in America from the prestigious James Beard Foundation.

Continuing their partnership, Joseph and Mario opened the casual, Roman-themed Lupa, the ground-breaking Esca, where Bastianich, Batali and Chef David Pasternack have introduced America to "crudo"- the raw seafood that is a staple in fishing villages along the southern coast if Italy and Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. Soon Joseph and Mario decided to explore Spanish cuisine and opened Casa Mono and Bar Jamón a Spanish tapas restaurant and wine bar.

Joseph and Mario teamed up with Lidia Bastianich and opened Del Posto in December of 2005.

Meanwhile, Joseph and Lidia have created a multi-unit Italian restaurant concept called Lidia's with locations in Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

Never content to stand still, Joe again partnered with Batali and with Sergio Esposito to create Italian Wine Merchants; an upscale retail shop devoted to Italian wines. On location at Italian Wine Merchants, Studio del Gusto functions as a display kitchen and salumeria where Bastianich and his partners hold cooking demonstrations and wine tastings.

Joseph ventured into his ancestral Friuli-Venezia Giulia to create the acclaimed wine estate, Azienda Agricola Bastianich and into Maremma, Tuscany where he established the wine estate La Mozza s.r.l. He is also bottling a delicate olive oil from groves in Colli Orientali and Trieste.

Joseph has teamed with Babbo Beverage Director and journalist David Lynch to write Vino Italiano, a comprehensive book on Italian Wines. In November of 2004 they published the Vino Italiano Buying Guide a companion to their award-winning book.

In 2005 Joseph won the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional award as well as Bon Appetit's Wine and Spirits Professional at their annual American Food and Entertaining Awards.

Joseph appears regularly as a wine authority on both Lidia's and Mario's television shows and has done numerous segments for NBC's Today Show.