During the many years of co-owning legendary New Orleans fine dining seafood restaurant, GW Fins, Executive Chef, Tenney Flynn, has become known as one of the country&amp;rsquo;s foremost seafood experts, as well as a vocal enthusiast for the bounty of seafood that is available in the Gulf.&amp;nbsp;Chef Flynn is known throughout the region for his stringent seafood approval process for GW Fins, and is, as the&amp;nbsp;Wall Street Journal&amp;nbsp;has referred to him &amp;ldquo;widely acknowledged as the fishmonger czar of the Gulf region.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
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&amp;rdquo;One of my favorite aspects of our restaurant is that we print out menu daily, so we don&amp;rsquo;t have to have any specific item on the menu.&amp;nbsp; That way we don&amp;rsquo;t have to accept any seafood that isn&amp;rsquo;t pristine,&amp;rdquo; states Chef Flynn.&lt;br /&gt;
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With the majority of GW Fins&amp;rsquo; menu changing nightly, each evening is an entirely unique dining experience.&amp;nbsp; Although there are perennial favorites on GW Fins&amp;rsquo; menu such as Lobster Dumplings, Crab Potstickers with Pea Shoot Butter and Sizzling Smoked Oysters, the majority of menu items have evolved since the restaurant opened.&amp;nbsp; Chef Flynn&amp;rsquo;s creativity has been instrumental in expanding the menu at GW Fins.&amp;nbsp; Many of the dishes draw from his love of both local New Orleans cuisine as well as Asian influences.&lt;br /&gt;
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&amp;ldquo;My culinary philosophy is that if you are working with seafood that already has wonderful flavor, the cooking techniques should respect these natural flavors rather than overwhelm them,&amp;rdquo; states Flynn.&lt;br /&gt;
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Growing up cooking in his father&amp;rsquo;s restaurant in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Flynn developed an innate understanding of Southern food and culinary traditions.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; From there he received his formal training at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park.&amp;nbsp; Chef Flynn officially began his fine dining career with Atlanta&amp;rsquo;s esteemed Buckhead Life Group, cooking at such famed restaurants as Pano&amp;rsquo;s and Paul&amp;rsquo;s, Fishmarket at Lenox and finally as Executive Chef of Chops.&amp;nbsp; Ruth&amp;rsquo;s Chris Steak House then recruited his talents as the company&amp;rsquo;s Director of Culinary Operations, a position he held for seven years.&lt;br /&gt;
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Since launching GW Fins more than ten years ago, Chef Flynn has developed a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and discriminating seafood chefs in the country.&amp;nbsp; Chef Flynn is a master of his craft, but one who is completely unassuming.&amp;nbsp; That is, until you ask him about seafood.&amp;nbsp; Then his wealth of knowledge and passion about seafood is unmistakable.&amp;nbsp; A seafood icon, asked to judge national seafood competitions and provide cooking demonstrations for fellow chefs and consumers, Chef Flynn has become a national celebrity for his weekly cooking segments on the syndicated fishing show, &amp;ldquo;The Big Fish.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; In fact, often guests come to New Orleans to dine at GW Fins after watching him prepare a variety of dishes on this popular show.&lt;br /&gt;
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For the second time in the past 10 years, GW Fins&amp;rsquo; Executive Chef and Co-Owner, Tenney Flynn has been named &amp;ldquo;New Orleans Magazine&amp;rsquo;s Chef of Year,&amp;rdquo; both in 2004 and then again in 2011.