John DeLucie is the Chef Proprietor of Crown and The Lion restaurants in Manhattan. Most recently DeLucie opened Crown in a 1930's mansion steps away from The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side. Crown's menu features continental cuisine served in an elegant and sophisticated setting. The Lion is located in Manhattan's West Village and features a menu consistent with the Chef himself; classic American with undeniable Italian influences. DeLucie is also the Founding Chef of The Waverly Inn which opened in 2006 in Manhattan's Greenwich Village to critical acclaim.

Sometimes creative roots don't sprout the same kind of plant. This is the case with Jason Hall the Chef at Crown and formerly the chef de cuisine at New York's iconic Gotham Bar & Grill. Coming from a family in the music and film industries, Hall knew he had something in him—genetic or behavioral—that would most likely insist on expressing itself somehow. Fortunately Hall split his childhood between two food cities: Toronto, a city with great Asian and Italian influences, and Nashville, where the family moved when Hall was 12. Working in the smaller, local restaurants of the city, staffed with a surprising number of CIA grads and relocated New York chefs, Hall realized his proper canvas was the dinner plate, his proper studio was the kitchen. Hall attended The Culinary Institute of America and his career evolved among some of the country's top culinary talent. His internship with George Morrone of One Market and Aqua exposed him to a high level of cooking and ingredients. And after graduation Morrone invited him to be part of the opening team at Fifth Floor. This West Coast sojourn taught Hall everything from the basic dynamic of a working restaurant kitchen to the kind of creativity and discipline necessary to stay afloat in a world of haute cuisine.

Heather Bertinetti is the talented young pastry chef working her way through some of Manhattan's most acclaimed restaurants. After opening and achieving rave reviews at Alto, Convivio, Marea and Osteria Morini, Heather now finds herself working alongside John DeLucie and team at the Lion and Crown.
Coming from an Italian family, Bertinetti was drawn to baking at a young age: her passion for art and food was the driving force that made her always want to be a pastry chef. At the age of five, she lit her Easy Bake Oven and started churning out cookies for her family to their delight. As she became more obsessed with the food world, Heather asked her parents if she could attend some art classes where she learned about shape, form, colors and textures. She then would come home and apply the knowledge too cakes. Soon everyone around her realized this was not just a hobby.