Fall Home & Remodeling Show to Feature Live Well Network Chef and Home Improvement Experts - Part 1

A cable television chef and local home improvement and remodeling experts will share their ideas, insight, and recipes at the 23rd Annual Milwaukee/NARI Fall Home & Remodeling Show, presented by Kohl’s Floor Covering, Fri., Sept. 20 – Sun., Sept. 22, at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park.

Sponsored by the Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Council, Inc., the area’s leading home improvement and remodeling industry resource for more than 52 years, this year’s Show theme is “Destination: Renovation.”

The special guest at this year’s Show on Sat., Sept. 21 and Sun., Sept. 22, will be Chef Chris Koetke, host of “Let’s Dish” on the Live Well Network, appearing on the Mukwonago Remodeling and Bliffert Lumber Culinary Kitchen Stage presented by Oldies 95.7 WRIT-FM.

Koetke, presented by TODAY’S TMJ4, is vice president of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, in Chicago, and vice president of culinary arts for Laureate International Universities, where he is responsible for strategic leadership of culinary arts programs throughout the Laureate network. He is the host of the Midwest Emmy-nominated cooking show “Let’s Dish” on the Live Well network and co-author of the award-winning The Culinary Professional (Goodheart-Willcox Publishers, 2010), a comprehensive introductory high-school culinary-arts textbook. In addition, he regularly consults for a wide range of foodservice entities and is a regular contributor to Flavor & the Menu magazine and the Chicago Tribune.

Koetke began cooking professionally in 1982, and has worked in some of the world’s finest kitchens and pastry shops in France, Switzerland, and the United States. He is a certified executive chef and certified culinary educator by the American Culinary Federation. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Chefs. In 2009, he was named the Cooking Teacher of the Year by the Chicago chapter of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. In February 2010, the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI) honored him with its inaugural Award for Excellence in Culinary Education, while in 2013, he was awarded Illinois FCCLA’s Distinguished Service Award.

Koetke has served as dean of Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts since 2005. He joined Kendall College in 1998, serving first as a culinary instructor and later as associate dean. Under his leadership, the School of Culinary Arts was awarded the Academy of the Culinary Arts Cordon d’ Or – Gold Ribbon Cooking School of the Year Culinary Academy Award for 2008. Also that year, the culinary arts program was named “exemplary culinary program” by the American Culinary Federation.

In 2005, he launched the schools sustainability program that, today, is woven throughout the curriculum and the school’s operational practices. In 2007, Kendall was the recipient of the Green Award presented by Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), the first ever presented to a culinary-training program. In 2009, the school was named the official educational partner of the National Restaurant Association Conserve Environmental Initiative. Kendall is the only culinary school in the U.S. to receive Certified Green Restaurant status from the Green Restaurant Association for both the Dining Room and Cafeteria. In 2010, Koetke was given the inaugural Chefs Collaborative Pathfinder Award for his work in making sustainability mainstream both within foodservice operations and education.

The complete Culinary Kitchen demonstration schedule is as follows:

Fri., Sept. 20
11:00 a.m.: Chef Kirk Wright, Harley-Davidson Museum
2:00 p.m.: Meg McKenzie, WRIT-FM 95.7 Morning Show Host
6:00 p.m.: Jackie Zach – The Oilerie

Sat., Sept. 21
11:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m., & 6:15 p.m.: Chef Chris Koetke, “Let’s Dish” on the Live Well Network, presented by TODAY’S TMJ4
1:00 p.m.: Jackie Zach – The Oilerie
4:30 p.m.: Chef James Barnes, Burke’s Irish Castle

Sun., Sept. 22
11:00 a.m. & 3:00 p.m.: Chef Chris Koetke, “Let’s Dish” on the Live Well Network, presented by TODAY’S TMJ4
1:00 p.m.: Chef Wayne Stoop, Executive Chef and Food Production Supervisor for St. Luke’s Medical Center

Nearly 300 booth spaces in the Wisconsin Exposition Center will feature providers of home improvement and remodeling products and services, including design/build, kitchens, decks, cabinets, windows, wall covering, bathrooms, lighting, landscaping, roofing, painting, fireplaces, and more.
Special attractions at the event will include the “Future Trends” display, the Milwaukee/NARI Resource Center, a 50/50 cash raffle presented by the Milwaukee/NARI Foundation. Inc., garden and landscape displays, the Harley-Davidson Museum vintage photography and motorcycle display, a Kids Zone, and much more.

Hours on Fri., Sept. 20 and Sat., Sept. 21 are 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Sun., Sept. 22, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is $4 in advance, and $7 at the door. Tickets for seniors, 60 and older, are $5.00, with a special price of $4.00 for seniors at the door on Fri., Sept. 20 for Callen Construction Senior Day. Children 12 and younger are admitted at no charge.

For more information on the Fall Home & Remodeling Show, visit www.milwaukeenari.org or call the Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Council at 414-771-4071.