CHEF GORDON SMITH

California native Gordon Smith entered the culinary world from the ground up as a prep cook in an upscale seafood restaurant as a young student as Sacramento State University.  The owner took the apprentice under his wing and before long, Chef Gordon was opening a second restaurant for his mentor.

What interests this culinarian most is creating wholesome meals with exceptional taste. He trained under legendary chef Michel Stroot of the Golden Door where he learned to prepare flavourful meals for exclusive clients with rigid dietary strictions. Chef Gordon himself became a respected specialist in spa cuisine and was instrumental in opening Deepak Chopra's Center for Well Being.  Soon afterwards, he became executive chef of the Montecito Resort in The Sequoia National Park.  During Los Angeles Olympics, he helped plan, organize and feed three healthy meals to 7,000 athletes each day in addition to catering presidential and mayoral events.  At the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt Germany, Smith was part of the American Natural Food Team which won two Silver Medals.

A long time advocate of organics, his company, Gordon’s Specialty Produce, serviced independent markets in San Diego with a wide variety of gourmet vegetables. He was thrice awarded Best Chef of North County for his own restaurant, Basil Street Café in Encinitas where also owned a full service catering business, Contemporary Cuisine. In addition to events, he gave demonstrations on the use of fresh herbs in food preparation and taught cooking to special education students.

Chef Gordon is working on a cookbook called Save the Males! Real Kitchen Advice for Real Men ,a cookbook aimed at men on their own to empower them in the kitchen.  He was recently named governor of Southern California for Slow Food USA, an international movement dedicated to supporting the small farmer and preserving global food traditions. His private chef clients include Michael Eisner, Saudi Prince Fahad and James Garner.

 

Chef Gordon Smith brings to Aah…Yum Catering a unique perspective on food as an instrument of pleasure.