Randy Fertel is a writer, author, teacher, and philanthropist and is the author of A Taste of Chaos: The Art of Literary Improvisation and The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir. He has taught English literature at Harvard, Tulane, LeMoyne College, the University of New Orleans and the New School of Social Research. He has contributed to many publications, including The New York Times, NPR, Smithsonian, Kenyon Review, Gastronomica, Esquire, among others. The son of the founder of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Randy is president of both the Fertel Foundation and the Ruth U. Fertel Foundation.