The Phoenician’s culinary team represents decades of experience with an unsurpassed love of food, dining and the pleasures of the table. From developing innovative menus for each of the resort’s restaurants to overseeing a large staff of dedicated professionals, these highly trained and exceptionally skilled culinary artisans bring taste and style to every meal served.
Paul Carter, Executive Chef
As Executive Chef, Paul Carter supervises a staff of more than 150 and nine kitchen operations throughout The Phoenician.
Including Il Terrazzo, the Café and Ice Cream Parlor, the 19th Hole, Oasis Grill, Canyon Grill, In-Room Dining, and all Banquet kitchens. He also
oversees pastry, bakeshop, butcher shop, pasta shop and garde manger operations.
In addition, Chef Carter is in charge of all menu creations and preparations, providing daily supervision and training while sharing his mantra with restaurant staff: “Perfecting simplicity is the essence of great food.”
Chef Carter’s worldwide 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, he attended Colchester Institute of Culinary Arts in Essex at the 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, 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. He served as Executive Sous Chef at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Florida and was the Executive Chef at the exclusive Vinings Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to joining The Phoenician, he was Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, Ohio. Carter is the 1991 recipient of the coveted William Heptionstall award, an honor given to “The Most Enterprising Young Chef in the U.K.” He also received the Maitrise Culinaire Diplome by Palmes Culinaire in 2002.
Jacques Qualin, Chef de Cuisine - J & G Steakhouse
Accomplished chef Jacques Qualin first teamed with world-renowned chef and businessman Jean-Georges Vongerichten in 1998 to become First Sous Chef at the now legendary Jean Georges. A decade later, the dazzling duo joins together once more for the highly anticipated J&G Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Acclaimed as a “master of his art,” Qualin hails from the Franche-Comté region of France, a verdant area near the Jura Mountains. At age 16, he began his apprenticeship in a hotel kitchen, spending the next five years honing his craft at various hotels across France.
Qualin was soon lured to the bright lights of Paris where he studied under Michelin-rated chef Michel de Matteis before landing a prestigious post at the three-star Restaurant Taillevent, described by The New York Times as, “the best in Paris, if not all of France.” Qualin spent a year learning from celebrated chef Claude DeLigne before jumping the pond in 1990 to work for another French icon — Daniel Boulud at New York’s Le Cirque.
From 1991 to 1996, Qualin worked in Paris as Chef de Partie at famed Restaurant La Marée and again at Restaurant Taillevent before returning to New York for a stint at JoJo.. Qualin’s considerable culinary talent captured the attention of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who hired him to serve as First Sous-chef at Vongerichten’s AAA Five Diamond and Mobil Five Star Jean Georges Restaurant, the restaurant that launched Vongerichten’s growing empire.
In 2003, Qualin became the executive chef at Le Périgord, where his revisions of traditional French cooking received rave reviews from New York City’s top food critics. He later left to launch his own fine-dining restaurant, called The French Corner, in upstate New York, which was well-received by critics and locals alike. After five years away, Qualin returns to the Vongerichten fold, happy to collaborate once again with his friend and to head up what is sure to be the Valley’s best steakhouse.
Roy Pell, Executive Pastry Chef
Roy Pell is Executive Pastry Chef for The Phoenician, where he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Pastry Department, including training and development and all bread, bakery and dessert products for the resort’s nine food outlets and banquets.
Pell is a graduate of Westminster Catering College in London.
He brings over fifteen years of experience in the pastry/culinary field to his position, most recently with nine years at Ritz-Carlton properties in San Francisco, St. Louis and Phoenix.
Prior to that, he worked in Pastry at Harvey’s Restaurant in London, the Amway Grand Plaza in Michigan, the Savoy Hotel in London and Peter Island on the British Virgin Islands.
You can see some of Chef Pell's culinary creations throughout the resort for the holidays, including our larger-than-life gingerbread house displays.
Greg Tresner, Master Sommelier
Greg Tresner joined the Phoenician in 1998 after 15 years in the restaurant industry. He earned the distinction of becoming Arizona’s first-ever Master Sommelier by the American Chapter of the Court of Master Sommeliers, the hospitality trade’s highest recognition of wine, liquor and beverage service
and professionalism.
As part of his initial duties, Tresner helped design and purchase the wine list featured at the award-winning Mary Elaine’s, The Phoenician’s former
Modern French restaurant. Two years later, the iconic establishment garnered its first “Grand Award” from Wine Spectator magazine, going on to earn its eighth such honor in 2007. Tresner also helped bring Mary Elaine’s wine service to Five Diamond/Five-Star status, resulting in James Beard Foundation nominations for “Best Wine Service” in 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2007; and “Best Restaurant Service” in 2004. During this time, he worked closely with
Mary Elaine’s Chef de Cuisines Alessandro Stratta, James Boyce and Bradford Thompson; as well as Guest Chefs Roger Verge, Jacques Pépin,
Daniel Boulud and Michel Richard.
Tresner continues to foster wine service and education at The Phoenician’s contemporary American-Italian restaurant, Il Terrazzo, and throughout the AAA Five Diamond resort. He has guided numerous associates in achieving Level I, II and III Sommelier status from the Court of Master Sommeliers, in addition to serving as a Court instructor.
He is a frequent contributor to a variety of publications, serving as a featured expert in local and national magazines including Arizona Food & Life, Scottsdale magazine, Phoenix magazine, Santé, LUXE, United Hemispheres, Wine Business Monthly, Arizona Foothills and Phoenix Business Journal. He was tapped for What to Drink with What You Eat, a culinary book by the award-winning writing duo of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.
Tresner has also participated in national culinary and wine events, serving on panels for the Masters of Food and Wine Pebble Beach, Guild of Master Sommeliers and Bon Appétit magazine, as well as providing wine service for the Jackson Hole Wine Auctions. In addition, he has appeared on many local TV and radio programs.
He developed his wine and culinary experience at such award-winning restaurants as Café Terra Cotta in Tucson, Arizona, and the Flagstaff House in Boulder, Colorado.
