Chef Carlos Jorge

25+ year veteran accomplished chef with experience spanning multitudes of cuisines/regions. Graduated from the Institute for Culinary Education in NYC, albeit I was already cooking in professional kitchens in Manhattan at the time. Settled in New Orleans for 2 years pre 9/11 under the tutelage of Donald Link at Herbsaint, events of Sept 11th dictated I return to NYC where I began working at the famed Mercer kitchen under celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. This in turn led to the opening team of the original Butter restaurant ( of Alex Guarnaschelli fame, though she came much after myself and is now the figurehead). From there stints in South beach Miami at the Iconic Raleigh hotel minted me with my first Executive role under the direction of famed celebrity chef Eric Ripert.

I joined Starwood hotels and resorts Worldwide and was fortunate to have been selected to head up the openings of the Resort at Singer Island Florida, and the fabled St. Regis hotel and Resort on Kauai, Hawaii. My move back to the mainland was for Stephen Starr restaurants to head up the kitchens at the W Resort on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale FL.

After four years in Ft. Lauderdale, I was recruited by Zuma London, to open the flagship location of ZUMAin midtown Manhattan, NYC.

My longing for the Hawaiian islands brought me back to Honolulu, where I opened my first solo-owned fast casual concept HICRAFT KITCHEN in the winter of 2019.