Chef de Cuisine, Palm Court, Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center

Chef de Cuisine Ray Anderson is the creative force behind the progressive American menu in the newly-renovated Palm Court. Starting his tenure in the kitchen’s pantry in 1990, Anderson’s talent was rewarded with a rotation through banquets, the position of PM Chef, and ultimately, the chef de cuisine of Palm Court, the resort’s signature restaurant. “I’ve been fortunate to have had a diverse career without leaving this property. The variety of positions I’ve held has offered me a wealth of experience plus the continuity of being a member of this great resort family.”

A native Phoenician, Anderson fondly remembers dining with his father in a favorite restaurant and relishing how “the flavors were so distinct and so right that I would think about that meal all day and start looking forward to our return visit.” Anderson strives to create that same sensation for his diners as he “focuses on making the first bite taste just as good as the last bite.”

On the home front, Anderson most enjoys cooking hearty and flavorful soups for his family, but once he dons his toque, his demanding attention to detail drives him and his staff to create brilliant sauces and breathtaking presentations. “Each ingredient has to be at its freshest to satisfy our standards, which allows for no shortcuts in the kitchen. But the reward is to create that memorable dining experience for our patrons —like I experienced as a kid--which makes them happy and repeat guests.”

The Mission, Executive Chef/Proprietor

Phoenix native Matt Carter had little interest in becoming a chef when he was growing up in the valley of the Sun. But after graduating from high school, he moved to California and took a job as a dishwasher at The Eggery breakfast restaurant in San Diego. Carter immediately took to the restaurant business and quickly advanced from dishwasher to prep cook to working on the line. After realizing that cooking could be a legitimate career option, he enrolled at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, graduating in 1989.

After culinary school, Carter cooked at Scottsdale's La Chaumiere, where he was immediately smitten with the artistry, demands and disciplines of French gastronomy. His experience there inspired him to pursue additional classical training in Paris, where he took courses at Le Cordon Blue, refined his skills at various restaurants and gained exposure to the world's finest cuisine.

Upon his return to Arizona in 1992, his Parisian experience helped him land a job as Chef de Partie at Christopher's, the highly acclaimed restaurant of chef/restaurateur Christopher Gross, where he stayed for over six years. Gross was a caring mentor to Carter, who considers him his greatest influence in the culinary world. "I truly learned to cook from Chris," he says, adding, "he taught me things you can't learn at any culinary school". Carter eventually ascended to the position of Chef de Cuisine at Christopher's, which at the time was the preeminent dining venue in the burgeoning Phoenix metropolitan area.

Thanks to a chance meeting with super chef Thomas Keller in 1998, the young chef was given the opportunity to cook in an even more acclaimed kitchen, Keller's illustrious French Laundry, in Napa Valley. After working as Poissonnier for Keller, Carter returned to Scottsdale to take the job of Executive Chef at Michael's at the Citadel, widely recognized for its contemporary American cuisine with European influences. After two-and-a-half years at Michael's, Matt left to collaborate with current partner, Terry Ellisor, becoming the Executive Chef at Zinc Bistro in 2001. The 39-year-old chef and father of four believes that bistro cooking, which is based on the simplicity of ingredients and presentation, to be one of the most versatile and thus most creative gastronomic directions.

Terry Ellisor and Chef Matt Carter recently teamed up with entrepreneur Brian Raab to create Carter’s newest endeavor, The Mission. The idea originated years ago through Carter’s deep love for weekend pig roasts serving friends and family slow-roasted, homemade pork tacos. They received such great reviews, Ellisor and Raab agreed it was time to perfect the cuisine and bring it to life as a restaurant. “I do have a thing for tacos,” admitted Carter years ago, “Someday I might just have to open a taco shop to support my habit.” Well, that is exactly what the three partners have done and the results are phenomenal. Their synergy is evident in the high quality of the cuisine, ambience and uniqueness of The Mission experience. The Mission opened on October 15, 2008 in Old Town Scottsdale and Carter’s twist on the traditional Latin dishes have been winning praise from critics since day one.

Paul Carter is the Executive Chef at The Phoenician, a 643-room luxury resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Chef Carter oversees a staff of more than 150 along with the kitchen operations for dining outlets including, Il Terrazzo, The Café and Ice Cream Parlor, Relish Burger Bistro, Oasis Grill, Canyon Grill and In-Room Dining, as well as all banquet kitchens. He also oversees pastry, bake shop, butcher shop and pasta shop operations. As the resort’s Executive Chef, he is responsible for all menu creations and preparations, along with the daily supervision and training of restaurant staff. According to Carter, “Perfecting simplicity is the essence of great food.”

Chef Carter’s international background has provided him with a culinary expertise that far exceeds his years in the profession. His love affair with the kitchen dates back to his early teens. A native of London, Carter attended Colchester Institute of Culinary Arts in Essex at the young age of 15. Upon earning a three-year culinary degree, he began his cooking career at the Hotel Sonnenhügel in Bad Kissingen, Germany, where he held the title of Commis de Cuisine. He later served in the same capacity at Chateau de Montreuil in France for three years. After rising through the ranks in the kitchens, he moved to the venerable Connaught Hotel in London, where he held posts in all kitchen operations from Butcher, to Garde Manger, to Saucier of Fine Dining, to Banquets. In 1992, Carter moved to the United States to head up kitchens at world-class resorts including the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, California, where he held the position of Saucier for the fine-dining restaurant. In addition, he served as Executive Sous Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Florida, and was also the Executive Chef at the exclusive Vinings Club in Atlanta. Prior to joining The Phoenician, he was Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland.

Carter is the 1991 recipient of the coveted William Heptinstall Award, an honor given to “The Most Enterprising Young Chef in the U.K.” He also received La Maîtrise des Arts Culinaires Diplôme by Palmes Culinaires in 2002.

Inspiration comes in many ways, how to everything works, how it came about and how to make it better is the inspiration of Executive Chef Richard Dupere.

In 1993 Rick started his own business that sold fish and fish products wholesale to retail stores and distributors, while still in college. Within a year, though, Rick had met so many talented culinary professionals that he decided that he wanted to do more so, while still running his business, he relocated to Arizona and quickly earned a Culinary Arts degree.

After refining his cooking skills with a couple of Scottsdale resorts (Renaissance Hotels and Gainey Ranch Golf Club), Rick returned to Seattle to work as a Banquet Chef for the Columbia Tower Club. He started is first experience at the Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix in 1999; in 2001 he went to the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common.

Yet another exciting change in 2002 brought Rick back to Arizona and to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge, where he worked closely with catering and event managers designing programs for special events. Always ready for the next challenge, in 2006 Rick became the Executive Chef for Aventura, the Catering Company for the new Phoenix Convention Center.

In 2007, Rick returned back to the Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix as Executive Chef. Thankfully Rick’s culinary inspirations have never waned, and we wait with excited anticipation to sample his next masterpiece.

Executive Chef of Sushi Roku

Award-winning Arizona chef draws on a wealth of travel and experience

Tim Fields has cultivated his culinary passion on a journey that began in his grandparent’s kitchen and led him to the hills of Tuscany, the Mountains of Colorado, and the Valley of the Sun. This award-winning chef has now accepted the position of Executive Chef of Sushi Roku at the W Scottsdale Hotel & Residences. An Innovative Dining Group concept based on serving sushi in a sleek, sophisticated environment, Sushi Roku Scottsdale joins the illustrious list of IDG concepts that can be found in L.A. and Las Vegas.

Chef Fields, born in Big Spring, Texas, earned his executive chef certification through the American Culinary Federation (ACF). Fields has received numerous professional awards including first place and a gold medal in the 2001 Governors Symposium in Keystone, Colo., an ACF-sponsored mystery bag competition in which chefs create and cook a dish from a mystery bag of ingredients unknown to them before the competition. He has also received five gold and four silver ACF medallions in culinary competitions throughout his career in Arizona and Colorado including “Colorado Hotel and Lodging Chef of the Year” in 2001.

Fields was most recently the executive sous chef at the five-diamond Boulders Resort in Carefree, Ariz., (near Scottsdale) where he perfected his skills in upscale catering and a la carte-style banquets
Fields began his gastronomic career at the famed Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, Ariz. where he spent 16 years, starting as a cafeteria cook. Working under the tutelage of notable culinary experts such as Takashi Shiramizu and Tim Rodgers, he worked his way up through increasingly responsible positions in the Loews organization, achieving the position of executive chef and director of food and beverage at the Loews Denver Hotel and the famed Tuscany Restaurant.

Fields had toured the Tuscan hillsides with Lorenza De Medici researching, tasting and experiencing the culture in the small hilltop hamlets. This mission of love enabled him to guide his staff through a transformation of a once “Cal-Ital” menu to one that became an undeniably authentic Tuscan experience.
While there, he cooked for luminaries such as Barbara Bush, Billy Joel, Cher, Brian Adams and Janet Jackson.

“My first understanding that food was something much more than just a meal came from preparing fruits and vegetables in my grandmother’s kitchen. My grandfather grew it or trapped it and my grandmother braised it, roasted it, sautéed it or pickled it. They taught me techniques to cook proteins like venison and pheasant and helping make desserts like pecan pie and homemade ice cream.,” says Fields.
Perhaps most notably, Fields has a chapter dedicated to his career in writer/photographer Carol Maybach's 2005 epicurean cookbook, “Creating Chefs: A Journey through Culinary School with Recipes and Lessons.”

When not devising or preparing culinary masterpieces in the kitchen, Fields can often be found enjoying golf, skiing, gardening or recapturing his love of travel, inspired by his youthful experiences as the son of a U.S. Air Force officer.

Tim Fields is passionate about cooking. But culinary passion is a given for someone who holds a position such as his: executive chef of Sushi Roku at the W Scottsdale Hotel & Residences. What sets this talented travel-lover apart from many of his peers is the age at which he became keenly aware of food as something to be labored over and appreciated. At seven, when most kids are interested in little more than Cheerios and PB&Js;, Fields was learning the rudiments of cooking.

Born in Big Springs, Texas, Fields credits his grandparents for teaching him that food is more than mere sustenance. “My grandfather grew it , hunted it, fished it or trapped it,” he says, “and my grandmother braised it, roasted it, sautéed it or pickled it.” At an early age, he learned to churn ice cream, bake pies and prepare meats such as venison and pheasant which require a high level of proficiency. His grandfather foraged mushrooms and grew fresh herbs and vegetables in the garden, inadvertently teaching the boy the value of freshness and simplicity.

Fields began his career at Charles, an elegant French restaurant in Tucson, staying there for four years before moving to Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, where Takashi Shiramizu (a French-trained Japanese chef with an eye for detail) became his mentor. In 1991, Fields moved to the Loews Denver Hotel, where he became both executive chef and food and beverage director, presiding over the Tuscany Room.
In preparation for the job, Chef Fields spent a month in Tuscany, squired around by famous cookbook author and TV personality Lorenza Di Medici. He spent his time there well—buying wine, stomping grapes, eating rustic Tuscan specialties, living in residences and generally soaking up the local culture—all of which prepared him to transform the Tuscany Room’s Cal-Ital menu to something authentically Tuscan. During his time in Denver, Fields cooked for Barbara Bush, Billy Joel, Cher, Bryan Adams and Janet Jackson.

During that time, Fields won multiple awards in cooking competitions as well as the “Colorado Hotel and Lodging Chef of the Year” in 2001.

That same year, Fields opened Mirabel (a private golf club in Scottsdale, AZ), where he began to revisit the techniques he’d learned from his mentor Shiramizu so many years ago. He challenged himself to create six-and seven-course sashimi meals for a customer who requested them every Thursday night.
Surely, there was prescience, as well as courtesy, in his actions. After a brief stint as executive sous chef at The Boulders (where Fields refined his skills in upscale catering and a la carte-style banquets), he was hired by Innovative Dining Group, founders of the Sushi Roku concept, in January, 2008. He spent three months of intensive training in Pasadena, CA, where he was immersed in Japanese cooking techniques, vocabulary and culture.

His new job has brought him full circle. These days, he collaborates with Executive Sushi Chef Shinya Toyoda, sourcing the freshest fish from California and finest ingredients from local farmers and purveyors. And he remembers what his grandparents taught him: there is beauty in simplicity.

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.”

Meliton “Mel” Mecinas, a 10-year veteran chef of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, was named executive chef of the Scottsdale property in February 2006.

Mecinas’ passion for cooking began at home, following in his father’s footsteps, working at Yoshiro, an Asian restaurant in Encino, California. Mecinas gradually began to hone his culinary skills, “learning by doing” and through considerable practice, precision and perseverance.

Mecinas’ next step found him working with veteran restaurateur Joachim Splichal, owner of West Hollywood’s Patina Restaurant, Pino Bistro in Studio City, and Café Pinot in Los Angeles. Mecinas credits the nine years working with Splichal as the backbone of his training in the importance of service, presentation and attention to detail – all skills that would later serve him well in his career with Four Seasons.

“I learned the value of elegant presentation, and the importance of using only the highest quality, freshest ingredients,” says Mecinas. “Mr. Splichal had very high expectations for his staff. But that’s how I learned to be the best, and the most creative at what I do.”

In 1997, Mecinas began his career with Four Seasons, at the property in Santa Barbara. During his time in Santa Barbara, Mecinas cooked the second course in a seven-course 90th birthday celebration dinner for renowned culinary personality Julia Child. His Smoked Salmon Parfait with Osetra Caviar and Vodka Crème Fraîche Panna Cotta won rave reviews from the culinary great.

From Santa Barbara, Mecinas joined the team at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, his most recent appointment prior to Scottsdale. From high-profile celebrity guest requests and impressive gala award dinners to entertaining visiting politicians and dignitaries, Mecinas put his culinary training to the test overseeing Gardens restaurant, the Café, Windows Bar and Lounge, and the Poolside Grille.

In Scottsdale, Mecinas is responsible for the property’s many dining options, including the two main restaurants – Talavera and Crescent Moon. Both provide seating indoors and al fresco. Additionally, Mecinas oversees Saguaro Blossom, the casual poolside venue that caters to guests from lunchtime through pre-dinner cocktails.

Mecinas also is responsible for all food and beverage service throughout the conference and banquet facilities, juggling everything from a casual Southwestern barbeque for 100 guests on the Resort’s Troon Lawn to plated dinner service for an elegant wedding reception in the new Ironwood Ballroom.

Following his arrival, Mecinas reinvented Crescent Moon with a new menu featuring classic American cuisine influenced by the regional ingredients of the Arizona Sonoran Desert, thereby rebranding it as an American “Sonoran” Kitchen.