Many years ago, when I lived in Miami, a new restaurant opened touting its new American cuisine. I was editor of a small weekly newspaper there, and so that meant I did everything, including restaurant reviews.

So I reviewed Toby's, which was in a mall - as most Miami-area restaurants tend to be - in West Kendall, a growing suburb at the dawn of the city's "Miami Vice" days, and was impressed. Actually, I was wowed. How could a 22-year-old chef no one had ever heard of put out such great food? The chef's name - Michael Chiarello, who went on to culinary fame; in December, he opened Bottega in Yountville, which was just named one of the best new restaurants in America by Esquire magazine.

Most chefs dream of making a name for themselves in places like San Francisco and New York City. But a handful of 20-something chefs are heading kitchens, like Chiarello did, in the 'burbs - albeit one with world-class cheese, organic produce and humanely grown livestock in its backyard. Could it be that the next Chiarello is cooking in Marin? here reviewer Tanya Henry talks to three in this week's Covered.

- Vicki Larson, here editor