Executive Chef Gianni Santin - Rosewood Crescent Hotel
Award-winning chef Gianni Santin consistently impresses guests of Rosewood Crescent Hotel with his artistic skill. As the executive chef at Rosewood Crescent Hotel, Santin is responsible for the hotel's multi-million dollar culinary operation. He oversees the culinary direction for banquets, private dining at The Crescent Club, breakfast, brunch and lunch at The Conservatory. Additionally, Santin leads an expert team of culinary professionals in developing innovative healthy cuisine at The Spa Café and specialty foods at The Crescent Gourmet. Santin creates intricate amenities for guests and oversees menus for catered events, private dining at The Crescent Club and hotel in-room dining.

Santin feels that he has found his calling in the kitchen - stating that he did not choose to be a chef, but that the profession actually chose him. While every day in the kitchen can be full of surprises, he is truly passionate about mentoring culinary professionals in their journey to become Chefs themselves. Santin has trained in Paris, Zurich and Toronto. His international culinary experience includes positions at Al Faisaliah Hotel, A Rosewood Hotel in Saudi Arabia, Intercontinental Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok and served as Executive Chef of Bali Cliff Resort. As an active member of Epicurean World Master Chef Society, Santin competes with many internationally ranked chefs and has raised a considerable amount of money for disaster relief with this organization. Throughout his career, he has been recognized with more than 30 culinary awards. He was named Dallas Hotel Chef of the Year in 2007 by the Hotel Association of Greater Dallas and Pastry Chef of the Year in 2006 by the Texas Chefs Association.

Santin participates in culinary fund-raising events, such as Share our Strength's Taste of the Nation, Lexus & The Mansion on Turtle Creek's Summer BBQ and Rosewood Crescent Hotel's own Spring Celebration. His experience also includes appearances on local morning programs, such as WFAA's Good Morning Texas and Fox's Good Day Morning.

Pastry Chef Eric Perelli - Rosewood Crescent Hotel
As Pastry Chef at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel, Eric Perelli serves as the driving force behind the creation of confections ranging from chocolates to sugar. His specialties include custom-made cakes for weddings, chocolate art, sugar sculptures and company logos for high profile guests.

Prior to joining the Rosewood Crescent Hotel culinary team, Perelli served as the pastry chef and cake decorator for the renowned Ralph's on the Park, a New Orleans institution owned and operated by the legendary Brennan family. His early pastry experience began at the luxurious Windsor Court Hotel, located near the famous French Quarter. In 2008, Chef Perelli led a team that created an oversized Gingerbread Santa's Workshop, which served as the holiday centerpiece in the Rosewood Crescent Hotel lobby. Perched 14 feet tall, the workshop was made of edible ingredients and took an estimated 240 hours to create.

In addition to appearing on WFAA's Good Morning Texas, this award-winning pastry chef also donates much of his spare time to volunteer causes such as Habitat for Humanity.

Crescent Club Chef Juan Rosado - The Crescent Club at Rosewood Crescent Hotel
The Crescent Club appointed Chef Juan Rosado in 2007. Chef Juan comes to us from The Club House at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida where he was Chef de Cuisine. Prior to that Juan was Executive Chef at the Ocean Point Beach Resort in Sunny Isles, Florida. He has garnered culinary awards from Miami to Chicago, Puerto Rico to Austria and has nearly 20 years experience in all areas and appointments of the gourmet kitchen.

Executive Chef Jeffrey D. DiSanto - Palomino
Jeffrey D. DiSanto began his culinary career working in the kitchen of a prestigious Indianapolis country club as a teenager. Upon receiving his Culinary Arts & Hotel/Restaurant Management degree from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, he perfected his craft under the tutelage of a Master Chef of classical French cuisine in the Northeast. He then moved west to Arizona where he quickly took on the role of Chef de Cuisine at Another Pointe in Thyme, an up-scale restaurant in the Hilton's Pointe South Mountain Resort. After serving his tenure in the resort, Jeff opened several restaurants for P.F. Chang's China Bistro as a corporate training chef in the Southwest region. There, he supervised all aspects of training.

In 2001, Jeff was recruited by Restaurant's Unlimited to join the opening chef team of their newest endeavor, Kincaid's Fish, Chop & Steak House in Phoenix, Arizona. He is currently the Executive Chef at RUI's Palomino Restaurant Rotisseria Bar in uptown Dallas. Jeff is excited about the opportunity to showcase his talents in an established restaurant. Jeff's philosophy is simple - If you take care of the guests and take care of your crew, the business takes care of itself.

Executive Chef Francesco Farris - Arcodoro & Pomodoro
Francesco Farris spent his childhood years in Orosei on his native island of Sardinia. After graduating with a liberal arts degree from the Instituto Agrario in Nuoro, Francesco was associated with many exclusive resorts in Italy, both as a cook and a manager. In 1989, after serving as the executive chef of Salice d'Ulzio in Piedmont, Francesco assumed a position with the Instituto Repartimentale Forestale, the largest reserve national park in Sardinia. He joined his brother in the United States in 1991, to pursue a career in the restaurant industry.He has since captured the attention of discriminating diners in Dallas at the acclaimed Arcodoro & Pomodoro Ristoranti Italiani, where he serves as Executive Chef In May of 2000, Francesco represented the restaurants when he cooked at the James Beard Foundation.

Francesco has participated in several high profile local events, such as Star Chefs of Dallas, benefiting The March of Dimes, and Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation Dallas. Arcodoro & Pomodoro were designated an All Around Four Star Rating by the Dallas Morning News and received Three Diamond status from AAA. Francesco & Efisio were awarded the distinction of "The Ultimate Ravioli" for their Ravioli Arcodoro at an international competition in Sardinia. Arcodoro & Pomodoro has been featured recently in Cooking Light and Food and Wine Magazine. International acclaim has ranged from a feature article in The Toronto Sun Times, a column in Mexico's Quien Magazine and a front page spread in Sardinia's Nuova Sardegna. Francesco returned with Efisio for a second time in February 2003 to the James Beard house to recreate the 10 course meal they prepared for their parents' 50th anniversary meal, a meal that was featured in The Magazine of La Cucina Italiana. Arcodoro & Pomodoro just celebrated their 21st anniversary in Dallas.

Executive Chef Matt Raso - Nobu
Chef Matt Raso's culinary interest began at an early age in the vibrant French cuisines of Rue Saint Denis, Montreal Canada. His desire to be a chef later led Chef Matt to Okinawa Japan where his passion of cooking was now intreged by Japanese culture. After graduating from the Art Institute of Dallas he put his culinary skills to use in area restaurants. Later he accepted a position at Ama Lur in the Gaylord Texan Hotel before moving onto the opening of Nobu Dallas where he has recently been promoted as Executive Chef.

Executive Chef Christopher A. Meier - Capital Grille Dallas
Chef Meier was born in Deerfield, Illinois in 1970. His culinary career took shape working as Garde manager in such establishments as the Marriott Lincolnshire Hotel and The Fig Leaf Restaurant in Chicago's north suburbs. After a four-year tour of duty in the United States Air Force as a Forward Air Controller, Christopher attended the Baltimore International Culinary College in Maryland, graduating with a degree in Professional Cooking.

Christopher's first chef position was at the Barrington Country Bistro in Barrington, Illinois as Sous Chef. Four years as the Executive Chef at the AT&T Corporate Center in downtown Chicago, Chef Meier got back into the a la carte dining scene with the Rosebud Restaurant Group opening their first steakhouse as Executive Chef.

A Corporate Chef position for a small group in Lexington, Kentucky left Christopher longing for the big city. Landing with the Capital Grille in late 2004 as a Sous Chef, he went on to open three new locations as lead trainer (Tampa, Florida, Balitmore, Maryland and Scottsdale, Arizona). A short time after returning he was promoted to Executive Chef, Capital Grille Dallas. When not in the kitchen, Christopher enjoys golfing or bass fishing. He currently lives in North Dallas.

Guest Chefs:

Executive Sous Chef Eric Brandt - Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
Executive sous chef Eric Brandt became interested in cooking at an early age. He fondly remembers watching cooking shows on TV and then attempting to replicate what he'd just learned in the kitchen at home. He credits his mother, who was responsible for feeding three growing boys, for teaching him resourcefulness and creativeness in the kitchen. With no formal culinary training, Brandt entered his first professional kitchen at 27 as a trainee, bringing with him two knives and a copy of the Culinary Institute of America textbook. When he wasn't in the kitchen working, Brandt was reading, studying and trying to make sense of the skills and techniques he'd learned the previous day. After a year of learning his way around a kitchen at the Stage House Inn in Scotch Plains, N.J., Brandt moved on to the Ritz-Carlton, where he helped open the award-winning Maestro Restaurant in 2000. In April 2005, Brandt moved to Dallas and took a position as sous chef at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, earning a promotion to executive sous chef in 2006.

For Brandt, cooking is about more than the perfect combination of ingredients and technique, it's about passion. You have to put yourself into the food you create, Brandt says. People connect with food on many different levels, and the customer can taste the difference in the final product if the chef cared for it along the way. When he's not turning out contemporary, refined food in The Mansion Restaurant, Brandt still likes to cook at home. His favorites are soups, braises and handmade pastas. He loves the craft of cooking - a craft that utilizes all five senses - and he enjoys making food that takes time and care to produce.

Executive Chef Luca Rutigliano - CordeValle, A Rosewood Resort
Luca Rutigliano, the newly appointed Executive Chef of CordeValle, A Rosewood Resort, in San Martin, brings a world of culinary experience to the 1,700-acre Northern California golf and spa retreat. Chef Rutigliano's passion for the finest ingredients was inspired by early trips with his mother and grandmother to the local farmers' markets in the countryside of Italy, where he grew up surrounded by a bounty of fresh produce and stunning scenery. As Executive Chef of the picturesque resort nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Rutigliano is finally able to realize his vision of combining the freshest local produce and organic meats to create a simple yet succulent contemporary Californian menu infused with Italian influences. Guests will delight in Rutigliano's inventive dishes, such as Cannelloni Avocados filled with cream of goat cheese served in cold Marzano tomato broth and topped with macadamia nuts.

Chef Rutigliano received a portion of his culinary training at the prestigious Etoile Culinare University in Venice, Italy. Prior to his position as Executive Chef at CordeValle, Chef Rutigliano gained extensive training at five-star hotels and resorts throughout Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East. Most recently he held the admired position of Executive Sous Chef at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, in New York. Chef Rutigliano's awards and accolades include first place at the Super Star Culinary Competition hosted by the revered Chef Alain Eigenmann, and the Vatel Club 2005 Trophy.