Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Animal

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo opened ANIMAL Restaurant in June 2008.

In addition to the restaurant the two chefs also operate a full service catering company. They have been featured in numerous publications and had television appearances on Last Call with Carson Daly, Iron Chef America and their own Food Network Show called, “2 Dudes Catering”.

The duo met while attending school for Culinary Arts at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Their first job together was in the kitchen of famed chef, Michelle Bernstein at The Strand restaurant in South Beach. They continued their team efforts in numerous other top chef kitchens throughout south Florida including: Mark Millitello of Mark's, Oliver Saucy of Café Maxx and Doug Reese of The River House. Jon and Vinny traveled to Vail, Colorado to work with Ray Roach at the Wildflower Restaurant, located in the renowned resort of The Lodge at Vail. Here, their efforts helped earn the establishment many awards including a Golden Spoon Award and a spot on the 100 Top Resort Restaurants. After the mountains of Colorado, they decided to continue their culinary adventures by the beach. They headed to Los Angeles to work at the Chadwick Restaurant under well-known chefs Govind Armstrong and Ben Ford.

Their cookbook, "TWO DUDES ONE PAN" was published in August 2008 by Clarkson Potter.