The Kapoors are trendsetters in business, in life and in the kitchen. Mother and father, Shikha and Vinod Kapoor, along with their son and daughter-in-law, run three Indian restaurants in the Boston area. And Masala Art, in Needham, is just one of many firsts for the adventurous culinary family. "We were the first Indian restaurant to break into the suburbs," said Sorabh Kapoor, the 32-year-old son, who, along with his wife, Anuradha Kapoor, manages Masala Art. "We never looked to other restaurants for ideas," he added, "we come up with our own." "You want to have the new items, you want to …

Peter Tartsinis grew up in a restaurant. He scrubbed floors, washed down tables and took out the trash. As a boy in his parents' restaurant in Colchester, Conn. in the 1970s, Tartsinis learned something about cooking as well. As the executive chef at Blue on Highland for the last four years, he's been taking his talents to the kitchen every day. Blue on Highland is classy. In the summer, the big windows that line Highland Avenue (across from the Needham Heights commuter rail stop) stay open and the atmosphere within is always a lively one. Regulars from the neighborhood head to Blue to meet …

Chef Tiago Araujo may have learned to cook in the kitchens of Brazil, but his skills aren't limited by arbitrary barriers like international borders. Throughout his career Araujo has enjoyed challenging himself and expanding his versatility, which is why he was delighted when he was asked by French master chef Jacky Robert to head the kitchen in the Needham location of his popular Petit Robert Bistro chain, even though Araujo had little experience with French cooking at the time.  "A lot of chefs learn their cooking style in schools, but I learn in the kitchen, and I learn from other chefs …

Epigemenio Guzman is eager to dispel the notion that Mexican food is unhealthy. As the owner of Tu Y Yo Mexican Cuisine in Sommerville and Needham, Guzman and head chef Adolfo Aluardo are cooking up seasonal dishes with natural ingredients that can cure hunger pains and possibly other ailments as well. Guzman explains a few of the curative abilities of just one of their menu items, the fibrous cactus. "If you have diabetes, cholesterol, if you have a problem with digestion," Guzman said, "cactus is very, very good and natural and healthy." Guzman, who grew up in Mexico City and came to the …

Tom Lynch, head chef at Fresco (located at 35 Chapel Street) has been cooking in Needham almost as long as he's lived here; which is to say most his life. As a child he split time between his father's house in Needham and his mother's place on the South Shore, where as a teenager he attended South Shore Vo-Tech High School and learned the basics of what would eventually turn into a career in food. After graduation Lynch was accepted to Brookline's Newbury College, where he majored in culinary arts.  With the ink barely dried on his Newbury College diploma, Lynch went to work for family …

As a former computer programmer, the path that Dave Gelfond took to become a cook is not a typical one. But with his new business, Burrito Dave's, he's banking on the quality of his offerings to keep him in the world of cuisine for a long time. Now in his fifth week of operating out of his truck on Highland Avenue, parked along the side of CVS and Trader Joe's, Gelfond is already finding compliments and repeat customers. "The response has been very good," he said. "People like the product and they've brought other people with them when they return. In general, Needham has been very supportive…

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series profiling local chefs and sharing their favorite summer recipes. Robert de Simone has spent much of his life in Italy, cooking with the locals and learning a great deal about their methods. Now, as head chef of Spiga Trattatoria Italiana, de Simone makes it his goal to provide the Needham area with an authenticity that that could only be matched by a trip to the country that inspires him. Describing his signature dishes as "road sauce Italian, not red sauce Italian," de Simone has added his own twist to many eastern Italian meals. "I go back to …