Executive Chef
T. Cook’s at Royal Palms Resort and Spa

Lee Hillson’s progression up the food chain is paved with award-winning culinary experiences. Hillson began his restaurant career in 1987 at the age of 16 when he enrolled in culinary school at Bournemouth and Poole College in his native England. Two years later, degree in hand, he took off to the Hyatt in Austin, Texas to explore new worlds and new cuisines.

A year later, he returned to London for the unique opportunity to be the Pastry Chef at the Roux Patisserie, owned by world-renowned chefs, Albert and Michel Roux. Hillson then served as Pastry Chef at the Michelin star Le Poussin in Hampshire, England. His next stop was Hintlesham Hall in Ipswich, Suffolk, England where he began as the Pastry Chef and three years later was appointed Sous Chef at this European award-winning, fine dining restaurant.

In November of 1998, Hillson crossed the Atlantic again to become Executive Sous Chef at Vanderbilt Hall in Newport, Rhode Island at its Alva restaurant. Within a few short months, he was appointed Executive Chef at this restaurant ranked as one of the country’s top five restaurants by Country Inn magazine.

From Rhode Island, Hillson ventured cross country in 2000, and teamed up with another nationally acclaimed restaurant, T. Cook’s at Royal Palms Resort and Spa. As Sous Chef, Hillson has been part of the lineup that has garnered acclaim from the likes of Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, Travel + Leisure magazine and a host of Phoenix/Scottsdale food writers. During his tenure at T. Cook’s, Hillson has cooked on more than one occasion at the James Beard House in New York as part of the T. Cook’s team as well as at the resort for a Friends of James Beard dinner and numerous local high profile culinary events. According to resort General Manager, Greg Miller, “Lee’s leadership has been one of the key ingredients in the success and recognition we’ve achieved at T. Cook’s.”

Chef Aaron May's passion for food led him out to the Ecole Ritz Esscofier in Paris, France where he began his culinary training. Upon graduating Chef May began his career at the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale Arizona where he worked at both The Crescent Moon and their fine dining restaurant Acacia, which has won numerous local awards.

Chef May's passion for food was a perfect match for the passionate cuisine of Latin and South America. He found himself working alongside celebrity chef Douglas Rodriguez, a pioneer in Latin American restaurants in New York and Arizona, at Deseo at the Westin Resort and Spa. At Deseo Chef May began his love affair with the Latin American cuisine and it led him to New York for a new adventure.

While in New York Chef May worked again with Chef Rodriguez at his celebrated restaurant Ola which led him to another famed chef, Mario Batali. Chef May worked at Chef Batali's, Casa Mono, one of the preeminent Spanish restaurants in Manhattan and has continued his love for Spanish cooking at his own restaurant Sol y Sombra which opened in Scottsdale Arizona in April 2006.

Chef May has traveled extensively to Spain to learn as much as he can about Spanish cuisine and culture. He continues to make yearly visits to bring back the most exciting food developments from a country that is as passionate about food as they are about life. Spain is, and has been for quite some time, a culinary hotbed of the most exciting restaurant and chefs in Europe. Chef May is eager to bring the excitement of Spanish cooking and lifestyle to Arizona.

Owner/Founder
Malee's Thai Cuisine

Deirdre Pain brings more than 22 years of experience to the restaurant industry. The veteran restaurateur, despite her ups and downs, has relentlessly maintained one of few thriving restaurants in the competitive locale of Old Town Scottsdale.

Long before Pain achieved recognition as an accomplished restaurateur, she began living in the Sonoran Desert in the mid - 1960’s as a college student. Pain worked at a restaurant briefly to support herself until becoming a Court Social Worker for adoption.

Stepping away from the professional world to raise her two children, Pain went to work as a social worker in the Indian Adoption Project. She traveled throughout Arizona and New Mexico recruiting Native American families to adopt Native American children.

Pain’s foray into Thai cuisine began a number of years ago when she stumbled into a Thai restaurant and it was love at first bite. Recognizing a unique opportunity to combine her social work skills with her passion for Thai cuisine, Pain opened Malee’s Thai Bistro. With the restaurant industry being a people business, it seemed fitting as Pain’s next endeavor. Pain had always taken pleasure in understanding what makes people happy and vowed to do so through the dining experience at Malee’s.

Pain effectively broke into the highly competitive field of restaurateurs and has created a unique niche with Malee’s Thai Bistro. To capture the intricate balance of tastes and atmosphere that Thai food demands, Pain surrounds herself with staff members devoted to the concept of first-rate execution. Maintaining an extremely active role in the day-to-day activities at Malee’s, Pain is often found moving about the restaurant, encouraging guests to try everything on the menu.

Over the past several years Pain has endured a great deal of hardship both professional and personal. The recent economic downturn caused Pain to close her Malee’s expansion located at Desert Ridge. Not long after, Pain had to bear the loss of her husband. Pain was also diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo extensive amounts of chemotherapy. Even through the tough times, Deirdre remains resilient thanks to her supportive staff and loyal patrons.

Pain's educational background includes study at Arizona State University where she majored in Political Science and Sociology. Pain has also taken an active role in numerous community organizations including an active role as board member of the Latch School for disabled children. She is an avid golfer and bridge player.

Michael Rusconi joined LON’s at the Hermosa as Executive Chef in January, 2005. Chef Rusconi put his indelible mark on LON’s award-winning Artful American Cuisine by combining European technique with native ingredients and fresh, local produce. Under his direction, LON’s garnered a coveted AAA Four Diamond award for the first time in its long history and has maintained that for four years running. The restaurant was also recognized as #1 Southwest Eclectic Restaurant by Ranking Arizona for five consecutive years beginning in 2005.

Culinary excellence and a passion for serving the community have earned high praise for Chef Rusconi who is well known for organizing local chefs to support community charity events. In 2009 he was invited to be the Honorary Restaurant Chair for Zoofari benefitting the Phoenix Zoo and currently sits on the Phoenix Taste of the Nation Committee for Share our Strength with the goal to end childhood hunger. Other charity events that he participates in include:

• Paradise Valley Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society
• Scottsdale Culinary Festival "Best of the Fest" benefiting the Scottsdale League for the Arts
• Dine out With the Chefs for the Scottsdale League for the Arts
• Flavors of Phoenix to benefit the American Liver Foundation
• Serenity Hospice Foundation
• Forks and Corks for the Valley Hotel and Resort Association
• Waste Not Celebrity Chef Challenge

Born in California and raised in Chicago, Chef Rusconi earned his culinary degree from the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont. He moved to the Phoenix-area to intern with James Beard award winning chef and author Vincent Guerithault, who had innovated the combining of French technique with ingredients found in the Southwest United States.

Chef Rusconi later worked at Mary Elaine’s at the Phoenician resort under the tutelage of James Beard award winning Chef Alessandro Stratta and James Boyce. In early 2001 he joined the team at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa as Executive Sous Chef.

An example of Chef Rusconi’s efforts to find unique, sustainable, and regionally produced items is the desert sweet shrimp that he featured on both his lunch and dinner menus while he was at Lon's. Its sweet flavor comes from being farm-raised in an ecologically sound manner with no added preservatives; it is produced in southeastern Arizona and packed in ice for its trip to Phoenix

Chef Rusconi is the creative force behind a new restaurant in development to open in October of 2010. Location and the name will be released in upcoming months.

As for his food philosophy, Chef Rusconi says simply, “Buy the best ingredients and treat them with love and respect then apply proper technique. Only by doing that will you be able to deliver the best quality possible.”

Michael Rusconi and his wife, Nancy, live in central Phoenix with their daughter, Jessica.

Executive Pastry Chef
Fairmont Scottsdale

I am the third generation baker in my family and grew up in my father's business. My parents owned a small German bakery in Philadelphia for 14 years, of which the first eight years of my life I played in flour and occasionally helped my father eggwash danish. After my family moved to Wilkes-Barre, PA, my father and oldest brother built a very large bakery in which I worked until graduating high school, honing my skills from potwasher to a full-fledged baker/cake decorator. To this date, "Bakery Delite" is going stronger than ever. Trying to escape the bakeshop business I entered into the Culinary Institute of America because I wanted to cook. Halfway through I decided to stick with pastry, because school taught me there was a lot more "art" to patisserie than a hometown bakeshop could provide. After graduating in September 1988, where but New York City would be the best place to start my career with such fine restaurants and competition!

After working in three other restaurants in the city as assistant pastry chef, I started working as the pastry chef for Drew Nieporent at The New York Times 3 star restaurant Montrachet. In the seven years working at Montrachet, I have refined the skills of dessert production, plate designing, chocolate and sugar work. In 1994, I was Awarded Chocolatier Magazine's 10 Best Pastry Chefs in America. In 1995, I assisted in opening TriBakery, a large bakery/cafe with Drew Nieporent and Robert DeNiro. Eluding the snow blizzards and high cost of living in NYC, I hot-tailed it down to sunny Florida with my fiancee. Seeking to familiarize myself with South Florida Cuisine I worked for Allen Susser, one of the founding chefs of New World Cuisine. During the one-year of being the pastry chef at Chef Allen’s, I became accustomed to the diverse fruits and delicacies that South Florida and the Caribbean have to offer. Urged on by my peers, I took the opportunity to further my career within the environment of a world class hotel. I was recruited by Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and took the position of the Veranda Pastry Chef. After just one year I was recruited again by the Fairmont Scottsdale for the position of Assistant Pastry Chef. I am presently the Executive Pastry Chef at Fairmont Scottsdale and have been here for eleven years.

I have contributed to “Grand Finales”, a professional pastry book from the editors of Chocolatier Magazine and Pastry Art & Design, and also the PBS series and accompanying book “Baking with Julia” by Julia Child.

From a four-tiered, multi-colored wedding cake complete with draped and folded fondant and air-brushed rose petals made of white chocolate to tasty fruit tarts, chocolate chip brownies and Frisbee-sized cookies, Tammie Coe’s signature pastries have a way of turning any moment into a joyous occasion.

Her cakes, which come in three sizes, are a multi-sensory artistic experience, beginning with the bold colors and free-formed design and leading all the way to the taste, which has been known to cause people to speculate on the divine origins of these sweets.

While most people are at first pulled into the cakes by their rich, bold colors of the fondant drapery, it is what is inside the cake that keeps them coming back for more. And more.

The Milk Chocolate Cakes features “next to flourless” Milk Chocolate Sponge Cake which is layered with Chocolate Mousse and Toasted Hazelnuts. Her famous “Zebra” includes White Chocolate Mousse layered with Chocolate Cake and Raspberries. While still another signature features Banana Foster Cake, a banana cake laden with orange brandy and caramel cream.

We take special pride in creating desserts that use only the best of ingredients. This is why they taste fresh and delicious every time.

For Coe, though, creating such sweetness is in part a work of art and part a connection back to her childhood in Virginia where she learned to make things from scratch and created her first wedding cake in her mom’s kitchen at the age of twelve.

After graduating from high school, Coe went to the Johnson and Wales Culinary school in Rhode Island and received her degree in Pastry and Baking Arts. After finishing the two-year course, Coe then entered and completed the Advanced Standing Course in Pastry, where she learned many of her signature pastry treats.

Culinary school proved to be advantageous for other reasons besides the pastry training, as it was there where she met her future husband, Michael John (MJ). At the time, MJ was a fellow bakery student and now he is one of the youngest Certified Master Bakers in the country.

After spending time in Florida, working at such places as The Breakers in Palm Beach and The Ritz Carlton in Naples, the two came to Arizona to seek out their culinary fortunes.

Since arriving in Arizona, Tammie has always taken chances and followed her instincts to place herself at the forefront of the culinary scene. In the late 90s, she worked at the culinary hotspot Michael’s at the Citadel, and then, a few years later when an ordinary strip mall in the beautiful Arcadia district in Phoenix was renovated into a hip market, grocery and pizzeria titled La Grande Orange, Tammie opened her own bakery and sold her unique pastry offerings. At the same time, MJ supplied the space with his signature creations, his artisan breads, which include French loaves, olive bread, croissants, foccacia, and ciabatta.

The time came when Tammie and MJ simply ran out of room to keep up with all the orders, and they opened their own bakery in the same plaza, using $70,000 of their own money to buy the best oven from France, which came with its own person to assemble it.

As Tammie Coe Cakes continued to grow in popularity, Tammie and her husband kept their Arcadia location as their permanent bakery, but have expanded to include a new location in the Roosevelt Arts District that serves as a store and small café. In addition to serving Tammie Coe’s signature baked goods, this location is offers a wide variety of great breads and sandwiches, and is specializing in delicious Panini’s; with different specialty sandwiches daily!

P.J. Coleman is the owner of La Dolce Pesca Bakery, a custom cake and pastry shop in Scottsdale, Arizona. Over the past 7 years she has transformed the world of cakes into beautiful and delicious works of art. Under her leadership, La Dolce Pesca has gone from a tiny, one woman shop into a thriving wedding cake boutique, providing custom cakes and pastries to those with discriminating palates. Prior to opening La Dolce Pesca, P.J. traveled and worked in Italy and Switzerland in some of the worlds most disitinguished restuarants and pastry shops. Over the years, she has been nominated and honored with several awards, praising her for both the taste and beauty of her creations. P.J. is a graduate of Scottsdale Community College Culinary Arts. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her two children.

It may well have been an Easy Bake Oven, a Christmas gift when she was 5 that started Tracy Dempsey down the path towards a career in the restaurant industry. While cooking treats made of Play-Do might seem a dubious beginning, this interest in food and cooking at an early age was expanded with imaginary travels afforded by her mother’s Time-Life International Cuisine Cookbook series and in real travels as her father’s career in petroleum geology took the family around the Globe. Early dining experiences ranging from street food in Singapore to home-cooked meals at Grandma’s house in Arkansas helped expose her young palate to a wide-range of ingredients, flavor combinations and techniques, and although some combinations were not fully appreciated at the time, a sense of both the differences and similarities among various cultures’ dishes was instilled in her at an early age.

Food and its enjoyment are always best as collaborative experiences for Tracy, and this may have been influenced by the occasions that her parents would share cooking classes prior to utilizing the newly learned techniques or recently discovered ingredients while hosting elaborate dinner parties for their friends. By staying up late with the adults, more good food – and occasionally wine - were sampled, and perhaps more importantly for someone destined for the hospitality industry, the joy of successful entertaining was observed first-hand. Similar dinner parties were hosted by Tracy and her husband during their time in graduate school at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, and in the early days of their Valley residency, and although the occasional bash may have ended with crepes flying, food and fellowship rarely suffered. New ingredient, sometimes ordered from as far away as New York City, or new techniques gleaned from cooking shows on PBS or various Cable Networks were often unveiled during these endeavors, and menus, guest preferences as well as notable happenings were recorded in a journal for future reference.

During the early 1990’s, Tracy and her husband moved to the Valley on an alleged temporary assignment for him at the Salt River Project as the onsite presence for an on-going research project led by the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Tracy’s studies and progress towards a PhD in French Literature were halted, and before the “temporary” assignment became more permanent, Tracy worked a brief tenure at Santa Barbara Catering before returning to a more academic setting as an ESL teacher at ASU. Although her time with the catering company was less than a year, it was enough to eventually blossom into a desire to leave teaching and enroll in the Scottsdale Community College Culinary Program in the Spring of 1999. Four semesters of general studies within the culinary program to provide a broad foundation for future endeavors and graduation from SCC continued a culinary education that began with a plethora of cookbooks and low-style yet high-substance television shows such as the Great Chefs series featuring Julia Child, Marcel DeSaulniers, Jacques Torres, Justin Wilson, Ming Tsai and Natalie Dupree.

Even before graduation from SCC, Tracy gained valuable experience working as a prep cook under the tutelage of Chef-Owner Giuseppe "Pippo" Tedesco-Gueli at the Café Terrace Italian Bistro and during an externship at the Marriot Cottonwoods Resort. The former venue provided an opportunity to learn the intricacies of making fresh pastas and Italian desserts and to become acquainted with à la minute preparation while the latter offered experience at many of the stations along the “Line” as well as opportunities to help with menu development. Although helping meet the evening service’s rush at both of these venues had a certain exhilarating aspect, shortly after graduation from SCC, a full-time position in the Bake Shop at the Marriot Mountain Shadows Resort became open. With a culinary certificate and favorable recommendation from Paul O’Connor the Cottonwood’s executive chef, in hand, this position was offered to Tracy and eagerly accepted as the first step towards a pasty chef position. The Mountain Shadows had no pastry chef as such, but within a year of taking full advantage of the learning opportunities the bake shop offered while continually receiving encouragement from the Resort’s executive chef Chris Klett, Tracy was fulfilling many of the duties of the pastry chef while still the “junior” member of the bake shop crew.

Throughout the fall of 2000, a Pasty Chef position for Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn repeatedly appeared among the classified advertisements within the restaurant section and eventually Tracy answered it during her first visit to the property. An interview led to a try-out, and as part of that, the neophyte chef, lacking any “signature” desserts per the request, produced at least one – a garam marsala pound cake with a dried fruit compote and chai tea ice cream – that pleased the executive chef Patrick Poblete enough for him to offer her the position beginning in February of 2001. The excitement of attaining the title of Pastry Chef at a highly reputable restaurant quickly gave way to long days and nights in the fast-paced kitchen as a crash course in the Industry at the peak of a busy season ensued. Four hundred covers on a weekend night were not uncommon, and as Pastry Chef in the Lon’s environment, Tracy was often the first in the kitchen to begin preparation for service and any parties that were scheduled and the last to leave after the final dessert of the evening was served.

A year in this environment provided more learning and experience within the Industry than a decade in a “typical” kitchen might have, and over the summer of 2002, a different venue was sought and found at Restaurant Hapa. Although Chef-owners James & Stacy McDevitt’s cuisine at Hapa was from a different genre than Lon’s, it was an easy transition towards using Asian ingredients and creating Asian inspired desserts that complimented Hapa’s Asian fusion menu that was a Valley favorite. A change in ownership at Restaurant Hapa during the spring of 2003 led to yet another change of venue as Tracy joined Gregory Casale at Gregory‘s World Bistro during the fall of 2003. Once again designing a dessert program to compliment a different chef and menu was challenging, but working side-by-side and collaborating with Chef Casale made the transition smooth and transformed the challenges into rewarding opportunities. Unfortunately Gregory’s closed much too early in Tracy’s tenure there, but after Chef Casale announced his intentions, Peter Kasperski contacted her and inquired if she’d be interested in joining his company, Spaghetti Western Productions, whose flagship restaurant is the widely acclaimed Cowboy Ciao. After interviewing with Peter and Ciao’s executive chef Bernie Kantak, Tracy was offered the position and started her five year tenure as executive Pastry Chef which led her to creating dessert programs for a total of four Spaghetti Western Production endeavors.

In June 2009, Tracy decided to venture out on her own to pursue the dream of owning her own business. Thus, the retail and wholesale desserts and confections brand called Tracy Dempsey Originals was born. Presently, her creations may be found at Crudo Café and Enoteca, Via Mediterranée and the Downtown Scottsdale Farmer’s Market in Old Town Scottsdale, and at Smeeks in Central Phoenix.

Being involved in the food industry has enabled Tracy to give back and support her community through her passion- food. She regularly guest lectures to culinary students at Scottsdale Community College, has donated proceeds from the sales of her Bacon-Pecan Brittle to animal rescue, and participates in a variety of culinary events held in support of organizations benefitting women and children. As she moves forward with her new venture, she will continue to give back to her community.