About

Chef Eric Gitenstein

About the Chef

I am a local chef, kitchen hooligan, who resides in Phoenix, AZ. I went to college, not really sure what I wanted to do with my life work/career wise and ended up being the guy who changed majors like it was going out of style. The one constant thing was that I always had an after school job in restaurants, which I liked a lot more than class.

I then determined that I wanted to be a chef for a career, and went to school at Arizona Culinary Institute. I have been cooking professionally ever since. The places I’ve worked at have varied from pizza shops to fine dining. I don’t claim to be an expert in any one style, nor do I strive to be.

My cooking philosophy is very simple: if it tastes good use it! Learn to trust your senses; if a recipe says to cook onions for 20 minutes until they are soft, and it only takes you 15, then stop. Move on to the next step! If it asks for 2 tsp salt, and you think its bland…add more! Adjust as you see fit and make it your own. If twelve cooks were given the same recipe, and same equipment, you would still yield twelve variations.

It’s part of the joy of cooking.