My interest in food goes back to our family restaurant in McHenry Illinois (Dorkie’s Beef & Egger). Being raised in the kitchen as well as in a Italian family I learned early the value of hard work and the passion you need to enjoy life! Food is love in its simplistic form. We love the face of a child who is eating their first Italian Cookie! We all have a favorite food memory that conjures up images of family warmth and special times. My Culinary life has taken me from Illinois to Arizona where I had the privilege to work with greats like Steve Stone, long time friends Peter Kasperski and, David Munyon at Steven Restaurant. After a few years in Scottsdale it was off to Santa Barbara California to run the Kitchen at a resort hotel , the Sheraton Santa Barbara Hotel and Spa right on Cabrillo Boulevard! I then was excited to have the opportunity to work with Richard Melman and his team as Executive Chef of Chicago’s famous Pump Room. I then took my culinary career to the masses by accepting a position at McDonald's Corporation as their Executive Chef. McDonald’s was an exciting time of growth and fun Now I am at Consumer Capital Partners in Denver Colorado with long time mentor Tom Ryan and David Biederman. I am focused on developing the menus for new concepts as well as assisting the Quiznos team in their product development efforts. But most recently, I designed the food for the latest hot concept in the country, smashburger!

Awards and Press: Best Chef of Phoenix, New Times Weekly 1984 Steven Restaurant; 1984 Top Ten Young Chefs, Restaurant and Institutions Magazine; 1993 Heart Healthy cooking WTTW PBS; 1996 Top Years Movers and Shakers, Newsweek; 1997 McDonalds Presidents Award; 2003 The NRN 50: R&D Culinarians.