Chef Cory Oppold has spent time in some of the Valley’s best kitchens, including Binkley’s, Tarbell’s and Atlas Bistro, before opening COURSE. We caught up with Oppold just after COURSE celebrated its first anniversary.
Sake Haus executive chef Joe Cajipe earned his cooking chops by working at his family’s Filipino restaurant in Chandler while going to college. The self-taught chef then worked in the kitchens of SumoMaya and Ra Sushi to learn the art of Japanese cuisine before landing the top chef gig at Sake Haus, which opened in April 2022. Here’s what he had to say about his new position. How much does your Filipino background influence your...
Hailing from Mexico City, Hector Cruz began working for Jocque Concepts in 2008 and now serves as the company’s executive chef, overseeing Chop Shop, Diego Pops, The Montauk, The Hot Chick and Eat Up Drive In. While he doesn’t get to do much cooking these days, he creates new menu items and makes sure that all concepts are up and running. How does he keep track of all those formats? “I have a person in...
When we last spoke with Peter McQuaid in 2016, he was just starting culinary school at the International Culinary Center in New York City after winning a scholarship from Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP). Today, the 24-year-old McQuaid is the executive chef at Cala, a Clive Collective restaurant in the new Senna House Hotel in Scottsdale. After culinary school, McQuaid spent time in the kitchen with chef Beau MacMillan at The Sanctuary and then...
The Americano Restaurant, Pomo Restaurant Group’s newest outlet, is set to open in North Scottsdale on February 5, taking limited reservations until their grand opening in March. The kitchen will be headed up by executive chef Matthew Taylor, who is also executive chef at Mora Italian, and chef de cuisine CJ Kahley. The Americano will offer antipasti and pasta as well as steaks cooked over wood fire, a raw bar and caviar service, an innovative...