Chef Michael DeMaria

Chef Michael is renowned throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan region and beyond for his inventive and superior culinary American and Italian contemporary cuisine.  Chef Michael was trained by the superior chefs at the five-star Arizona Biltmore.  His dynamic background includes teaching culinary arts at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, working at well-known destinations such as San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix’s famous Royal Palm Hotel and Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn, the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles and Westin Hotel Corporation.  In 1992, Chef Michael was selected as one of 25 chefs to comprise Team U.S.A., which represented the United States in the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany.  For a decade, 1997-2007, Chef Michael’s highly acclaimed namesake restaurant, Michael’s at the Citadel, located in the high Sonoran Desert of North Scottsdale, received recognitions such as the AAA 4-Diamond award, Mobil 3-star award and the Zagat Survey’s “extraordinary.” 

Chef Michael continues to receive awards such as Wine Spectator Magazine 2001-2006 Award of Excellence; Phoenix Home & Garden 2002 “Master of the Southwest” Master Chef; New Times “Best of Phoenix;” Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame Inductee 2002; as well as several PHOENIX  Magazine’s “Best of the Valley” recognition awards.