Culinary Team
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.
Victor Casanova, Chef de Cuisine – Il Terrazzo
Leading the culinary team at Il Terrazzo, Chef Victor Casanova oversees kitchen operations and food preparations for Il Terrazzo, the Thirsty Camel Lounge and the resort’s In-Room Dining Department. He is also the innovative mind behind the new restaurant’s authentic Italian menu, commanding a culinary staff of 43, while procuring the premium ingredients featured in the many signature dishes presented for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As director and implementer of these numerous functions, Casanova provides the creative vision for one of the Valley’s finest Italian dining experiences.
Proudly incorporating rustic and robust flavors into the entrees served at Il Terrazzo, Casanova designs menus to go beyond the conventional tomato, mozzarella and basil combinations, resulting in savory cuisine inspired by Tuscany, Sardinia and Sicily, yet adapted to an American style.
Committed to using only the freshest, highest-quality ingredients, he produces colorful and exuberant dining selections that are pleasing to both the eye and the palate. Such temptations include agnolotti filled with sweet corn, mascarpone, goat cheese and thyme; and Black Angus rib cap tagliata served with wilted spinach and squid ink gnocchi. Another palatial pleasure on the menu is cacciucco, a spicy Tuscan seafood stew with plum tomatoes, Sardinian fregola, squid, clams, shrimp and mussels.
Casanova brings a great diversity to his new role, previously holding positions at numerous well-known and respected upscale dining establishments around the country. A graduate of The Institute of Culinary Education, he most recently served as Sous Chef at New York’s Ocean Grill, where he was in charge of menu development and staff training while overseeing the operations of two dining rooms.
His prior experience also includes two years as Sous Chef for Neros at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and four years as Chef at Buca Giovanni in San Francisco, where he designed a boutique all-Italian wine list while executing a daily farmers’ market menu. Casanova honed his culinary skills as a line cook at such celebrated New York establishments as the chic, Northern Italy-influenced Alto, the Tuscan-style Beppe, the French-American DB Bistro Moderne and the inventive American Gramercy Tavern.
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, Ariz.
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.
Ben Hershberger, Master Baker
Ben Hershberger is the Master Baker for The Phoenician. Holding the esteemed title of Certified Master Baker through the Retail Bakers of America organization, Hershberger is truly an expert of the “science” behind bread making.
By manipulating the time, temperature and hydration rate of the dough, Ben creates the recipes to the wide variety of breads, which are baked fresh daily on property and featured at Il Terrazzo, Windows on the Green, In–Room Dining and the Banquet Department. Hershberger uses organic flour, natural sourdough (which has been passed down for over 100 years) and Mediterranean Sea salt for the highest possible quality.
Hershberger, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, California, has been baking for over 25 years. His first started as a young child growing up in Nevada, where he would make homemade pastries and breads by milling whole grain millet, rice, barley and wheat by hand to use in his creations.
In the corporate world, Hershberger held the distinctive title of corporate baker and trainer for Ritz-Carlton Hotels, opening bakeries in Japan; Jamaica; Puerto Rico; Cancun, Mexico; and Colorado, USA. Most recently, he was an instructor at the Florida Culinary Institute teaching students the art of baking. He was also a baker at Maddy’s and Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.
Greg Tresner, Master Sommelier
Greg Tresner joined the Phoenician in 1998 after 20 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 abilities and professionalism. Tresner helped design the wine list and purchase the wines for Mary Elaine’s, The Phoenician’s modern French restaurant, which garnered its first Wine Spectator Magazine “Grand Award” in 2000 and the seventh in 2006. Tresner also helped bring Mary Elaine’s wine service to the AAA Five-Diamond/Mobil Five-Star status, resulting in James Beard Foundation nominations for “Best Wine Service” 2001, 2003, 2006 and “Best Restaurant Service” 2004.
Tresner continues to foster wine education in Mary Elaine’s and throughout the resort. Recently, he assisted four hotel associates to attain the Advanced Third Level Sommelier Course, two associates to pass the new Certificate Second Level Sommelier Examination and thirty-two to pass the Introductory First Level Sommelier Course from the Court of Master Sommeliers.
He frequently contributes articles for local and national magazines including Arizona Food & Life, Scottsdale Magazine, Phoenix Magazine and Santé. His wine and culinary experience was developed at award-winning restaurants. Most notably Café Terra Cotta in Tucson, Arizona, and The Flagstaff House in Boulder, Colorado.
Sean Marron, Director of Wine
As Wine Director for The Phoenician, Sean is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the wine and spirits program at the resort, including purchasing fine wines and developing educational training programs for associates. He holds the distinction of being a certified sommelier of the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Marron is a 30-year veteran of the food and beverage industry, with more 20 years experience with wine. Prior to his current position, Marron oversaw the food and beverage program at the Grande Colonial Hotel in La Jolla, Calif. Under his guidance, the hotel’s restaurant, Nine-Ten, earned recognition from media such as Gourmet Magazine and Los Angeles Times. Prior to that, Marron served as general manager of Conundrum Restaurant in Aspen, Colo., where he sharpened his food and wine skills working with award-winning chefs and fine wine connoisseurs. Earlier, he was the beverage manager of the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in Coronado, Calif.
Marron is a Scottsdale native and began his career by being on the opening team for The Phoenician in October 1988, where he served as a sommelier for nine years.
