Executive Chef, Caffé Boa Restaurant
Stay in touch with Payton on Twitter : www.twitter.com/chefp8n

Growing up in Rochester, Minnesota, Caffe Boa Executive Chef Payton Curry and his twin brother were raised by a hard-­‐working dad who taught his pre-­‐ teen boys to cook so they could eat dinner together as a family every evening. Payton credits his dad with an obsessive work ethic, leadership model and memorable camping trips where father and sons collaborated on ‘hobo dinners’ over an open fire.

At age 11 and dressed in his first suit, Payton dined at Chicago’s Drake Hotel. He asked to see the kitchen and was simply awed by the bustling scene on the other side of the sedate dining room. Subsequent travels with his mother and stepfather (to the Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico), were the catalyst for his passion for food. While he enjoyed sophisticated new tastes like foie gras and escargots, his lasting impressions from those early fine dining experiences were just as often about feeling special and cared for by the service staff.

In high school, Payton was the all-­American jock. He played baseball and captained the football team. After graduation, he attended the University of Minnesota at Winona, where he played rugby and majored in Business Administration. His heart wasn’t in it and his grades showed it. But he wasn’t partying hard at fraternity parties; he was enthusiastically cooking dinner parties for professors and fellow students, usually for nothing more than the cost of ingredients.

The summer after freshman year, Payton landed his first official cooking job as Garde Manger for Chef Mark Weimer at Chardonnay in Rochester. He was quickly promoted to sous chef and by the time he returned to school in the Fall, he knew he needed to change direction and follow his heart.

Taking a leave of absence, he applied to the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. He found an interim job cooking at an upscale retirement home, where he delighted residents with familiar foods prepared in diverse, creative ways and felt genuinely rewarded by their appreciative feedback.

While attending the CIA (2003-­‐2004), Payton was nominated as group leader of his class of 18, he was president of the Gourmet Society and he did charity dinners for two groups: the March of Dimes and Possibilities, an organization that helps disabled individuals find employment and live independently. Payton’s tireless energy and creativity also allowed him to run a booth at the weekly Farmer’s Market, where he and fellow students offered market-­‐goers complimentary seasonal tastes of items such as soup, salsa and hot chocolate.

Midway through the CIA program, Payton and girlfriend/fellow classmate Shantal Abdo (now his fiancée) were offered six-­‐month externships in Singapore through at-­ sunrice, the Singapore Culinary Academy and Spice Garden. The Four Seasonshired them both after two weeks of training and government certification.

Aside from the tremendous experience gained catering to wealthy residents and tourists in a cosmopolitan center of four million, Payton’s culinary knowledge expanded through travel to nearby countries including Bali, Malaysia and Indonesia. He learned new definitions of bar food (fried frogs legs in black oyster sauce), breakfast (congee – rice porridge with dried shrimp and fish sauce) and staff meals (chicken feet and ‘tails’). Lobster sashimi was the strangest thing he ate in Asia; he compares it to the electric jolt one would get by touching a live battery to one’s tongue.

Returning to New York, Payton took on random cooking jobs and caterings while completing the CIA program. After graduation, he moved to Napa Valley and spent a year at Martini House under chef Todd Humphries while moonlighting on banquets at Niebaum-­Coppola Vineyards. His shared responsibility for family meal six days a week was the highlight of his time at Martini House. Cooking for his chef, peers and co-­‐workers became his favorite ‘dish’ to prepare—for the creative freedom and the challenge of thrilling palates using by-­‐products and inexpensive ingredients.

Ame in San Francisco’s St Regis hotel was Payton’s next stop, where he cooked under consulting chef Hiro Sone and executive chef Greg Dunmore. Working with pristine fresh ingredients and items not usually available in America was a thrill, but when Union policies restricted his creativity and did not allow him to spend extra hours in the kitchen on his own time, he moved on to Quince.

Quince was the new Italian darling on the San Francisco dining scene and Payton was eager to work under Chef Michael Tusk. So eager in fact, he spent a month working without pay while waiting for a line cook position to open. With no prep cooks and minimal recipes, Quince was a true proving ground. Pressure was intense daily and unrelenting during nightly service, but the opportunities for growth and personal expression were invaluable. In Chef Tusk’s kitchen, Payton found his mentor and industry role model. He learned to maintain grace under fire while producing exceptional food with minimal staff.

Payton arrives at Caffe Boa from a long tenure at the now defunct Digestif in Scottsdale, where he spearheaded the farm-­‐to-­‐table vision with renowned restaurateur Peter Kasperski. Known for championing locavore dining, Payton has aligned with various local organizations and causes to bring fresh produce and farm goods closer to his kitchen than ever. Together with Caffe Boa owners Jay & Christine, Payton aspires to revolutionize the way people think about food and restaurant dining with his signature cooking style and dedication to providing the freshest culinary experience possible.

Payton’s favorite ingredients: stocks and fresh greens. Favorite foods: bacon, veal, braises, crusty breads. Ethnic cuisines: Mexican and Thai. Influenced by chefs he has trained under and inspired by Mexican-­‐born Shantal and her family, Payton is a fanatical disciple of the farm-­‐to-­‐table mentality. Even beyond that, he values relationships with each and every purveyor whenever possible, from the chief butcher at the meat packing house to the cheese buyer at the importing company. His approach to cooking is simple: “I always cook as though I’m cooking for my own parents or Shantal’s, like I’m being judged by the people to whom I’m closest.”

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
Ahnala Mesquite Room – Radisson Fort McDowell Resort & Casino

“When it’s time to work, we work hard; when it’s time to play, we play even harder”

Being the fourth generation chef in his family has made Executive Chef Kenneth (“Chef Ken”) Arneson no stranger to the kitchen.

Chef Ken prides himself on having learned under some of the best chefs in the country and adopting a “No Compromise” attitude in the kitchen. After completing his apprenticeship under the tutelage of CMC David Callaway and Chef Bruce Fry, Chef Ken continued his education by attending the famed Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, where he was able to work under such renowned chefs as Charlie Trotter and Wolfgang Puck.

Traveling the world as Corporate Chef for Cruise West taught Chef Ken to use only the freshest ingredients, and to present food in its simplest form utilizing its natural flavors and textures. He used this philosophy of food effectively to head and open such great kitchens as the House of Blues (Anaheim, CA) and Matisse Restaurant inside the Ayres Hotel (Manhattan Beach, CA). His culinary creativity and attention to detail earned Matisse three stars and a four-diamond rating, placing it among the “Top Ten Best New Restaurants” in the 2005 Zagat Rating for Los Angeles.

Chef Ken’s commitment to quality has helped him receive top scores in many local culinary competitions, including the 2007 Taste of the Season Best Chefs of the West where he was awarded first place. Believing that his career has just begun, Chef Ken enjoys being involved in local charities such as the SOS and Taste of the Nations, “because giving back to the community is where the culinary arts truly begin”.