Culinary Director

Lucio Davila has been with us since before we opened our doors in 2015. He had a voice in the design and setup of our entire culinary program. He studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Barcelona, Spain and has been cooking and/or teaching for over 25 years. He enjoys cooking everything, but his fave ingredient would be fish. For Lucio, nothing is too difficult to cook because if it seems hard, he just looks at it as a challenge. He has been teaching now for over 13 years and loves to get people engaged in the entire process, start to finish!

Chef Instructor

Tracy joined our team in 2017. She attended Cooking Hospitality Institute of Chicago and has been working in restaurants for most of her career. She loves cooking anything and everything from scratch. And although she can bake really well, due to the technical side of baking, it’s the most challenging part of the culinary world for her because she likes to add or change ingredients to her liking. When it comes to teaching classes, Tracy enjoys it because of the guests - they WANT to be there and they WANT to learn!

Chef Instructor

Robert joined our team in 2017. He attended Kendall College Culinary Program and has worked in the food service industry since 2012. He initially was our resident Sushi making instructor, which isn’t far off of his favorite foods to cook - anything Asian! And for Robert, there isn’t anything that he finds too difficult - just recipes that are full of ingredients, like his vegan chili. Robert loves teaching classes because food brings us together and he gets to be the one to bring any cuisine within reach for everyone in class.

Culinary Team Lead & Chef Instructor

Stacy joined our team in 2015 as a Culinary Assistant, She attended Escoffier International Culinary Academy. Stacy’s fave dish to cook is Risotto as she finds it very calming watching the rice transform into a delicious meal. As for the most difficult dish she’s ever created, it would be the Seafood Stuffed Calamari. Stacy loves teaching because it’s a beautiful expression of feeling. And thru cooking and teaching others how to cook, it allows everyone to share love of food and love for others.

Culinary Team Lead

Donna joined our team in 2019 as a Culinary Assistant. She has been an incredible asset to our team, assisting the Chef’s at just the right moment in all classes and events. Donna’s fave foods to make are sides because you can always be very creative when the main dish is boring. As for the most difficult thing she’s ever made, that would be a sweet potato casserole because there are so.many.ingredients! Donna enjoys working at CCF because of the number of guests that walk away with big smiles and new friends!

Culinary Team Lead

Ashley joined our team in 2022. Little did we know that she had such a love of culinary and had worked in another kitchenwares store for many years. Ashley attended California Culinary Academy and although she doesn’t teach our classes, she has a vast knowledge of cooking and the products. She enjoys cooking sauces and doughs the most and the most difficult thing she’s ever made was croissants. Ashley thoroughly enjoys working at CCF because she says it’s like she’s on a cooking show every night!

Junior & Teen Chef Instructors

These ladies are simply amazing because they not only help teach your kids how to cook, but they make it so much fun! All three of them are or have been, teachers, so we know your kids are in good hands with them. They each joined our team at different times and they may also be found helping assist the adult classes or helping in our retail shop. Our Junior & Teen Chef classes and camps are a hit in the Northwest Suburbs and we owe it to these ladies!