Chef and proprietor Michael DeMaria’s cooking career began at the five-star Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, where he trained with the hotel’s superior chefs. After 12 years with the Westin Hotel Corporation, Chef Michael relocated to San Francisco to teach culinary arts at the California Culinary Academy. His career has also included cooking positions at the San Francisco Ritz-Carlton and the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. In 1992, Chef Michael was selected as one of 25 chefs to comprise Team U.S.A., which represented the United States in the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany. He and his teammates received gold medals for their distinctive creations.
Returning to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area of Arizona in 1995, he continued to develop his cooking style at Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn. His American Regional cuisine paired enticing mesquite-grilled meats and fish with savory potatoes, flavored risottos and an array of seasonal vegetables. Each dish was enlivened with natural sauces and garnished with Chef Michael’s own artistic flair.
His culinary spirit matured further with the renovation of Phoenix’s famous Royal Palms Inn, where he created a unique, rustic Mediterranean cuisine for T. Cooks, its signature restaurant. Chef Michael’s menu featured such pleasures as rosemary-scented pork served with baked apples and Tuscan beans and an olive-and-oregano-rubbed chicken with herbed mashed potatoes.
In September 1997, Chef Michael and his partners, Brandon Maxwell and Harlan Berman, opened Michael’s at the Citadel. The restaurant reflects Chef Michael’s cooking style, a culmination of his years of creative cooking. The cuisine is inspired contemporary American with Italian influences — natural flavors of meat, fish and poultry are skillfully brought out by various cooking techniques. Accompanying sauces are light broths, juices and oils, which have been created from seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs for a superior taste experience.
Chef Michael continues to receive culinary awards, career accolades and national recognition for his contemporary American cuisine at his namesake restaurant, including a Mobil 3-Star rating, a AAA 4-Diamond award and "extraordinary" acclaim in the Zagat Survey.
In addition to his namesake restaurant and the award-winning Michael’s Catering, Chef Michael has also created Michael’s Kitchen Studio, which offers demonstrations spotlighting technique, cooking methods and the finest ingredients. The state-of-the-art studio is equipped with video cameras, monitors and studio-quality lighting. The counter seating for 18 offers guests an intimate view of the cooking and presentations that have made Michael's at the Citadel a top-ranked restaurant in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.