Goals & Inspiration

It all started when...

Growing up I always wanted to be like my dad. My father raised me, my brother and my sister all around cooking. He taught us more than I thought was possible. My passion for cooking was inspired from him. In 1989, he graduated from The Culinary Institute of America and opened up seven restaurants within the twenty five years of being a chef. Accomplishing goals that I have set myself will hopefully bring me to where I see myself in the next five years. 

    Starting off with my short term goal, I want to focus on school and to figure out strategies which will help me to expand my knowledge and experience. After my first term at CIA, I hope to do my externship at George's at the Cove in La Jolla. While there I want to refine my cooking skills and experience working in a creative environment. Graduating from The Culinary Institute of America is one of the major goals for the path I wish to take. This will help me for my dream career of becoming a Chef. Once I graduate from school, I want to start working with my father in his latest restaurant, Valley Smoke BBQ. Valley Smoke has been my father's biggest dream. Which began when he was in college. Modern southern barbecue was his thing. Watching him accomplish such prodigious goals has given me the ambition to accomplish mine. Working there will help me develop the understanding on how the business works and how to take on the responsibility which comes with becoming a chef. My final goal is to take over my father's restaurants so he can retire, and to keep it in the family’s name. In addition to that goal I want to have a family and to raise my children the same way my parents did, and to give them the same opportunities which they have given me.