WHACK!! Grandma raps his knuckles with the wooden spoon and tells him: "Pay attention. If you don't know how to cook, you'll never find a girlfriend!" Yes, the above is how Michael Uhnak started cooking: with his Czech grandmother. Her husband, Michael's grandfather, had just decided it was time for him to start working. So, at age 14, he was put in the kitchen and has rarely left since.

Fortunately for us and his girlfriends, he did learn how to cook and does it extremely well. For the last 22 years, he's refined his food preparation skills with turns at Tra vigne in the Napa Valley, Pazzo and Caffe Mingo here in Portland. Now in Beaverton, his following continues to grow. It's not only his food and cute smile that does it either. His cooking classes are a smash hit and a sure way to get to his goal of having his own show on the Food Network. More manna for his mantra: "keep it simple, keep the flavors clean...KING!"