Chef Zachary Berger

Personal Chef In Poughkeepsie

Former owner of Cultura Paraiso in Cusco Peru, Chef Zach Berger is back in the Hudson Valley with Chef Zach Berger's Cultural Paradise LLC focusing on his love of culinary adventure with private chef services, catering and farm to table popup events. With passion of food and travel Zach brings flavors from regions all over the world while keeping his roots in the Hudson Valley very dear to him using fresh and local ingredients.

Zach is a man of many hats working with teens at risk of placement for Ulster County as a preventative service to keep them in their homes, cooking all over the place and much more!

For me, cooking is...

Passion and desire to create memories through our senses whether that be taste, sight, smell, ect.

I learned to cook at...

I traveled throughout the world playing music. I learned alot about our worlds food. Worked in a few restaurants and taught myself

A cooking secret...

Think outside the box. Get creative, blend flavors. Be bold and really work on creativity

Show me more

Chef Zachary's reviews

•

5 services

Incredible food and Chef Zach is a blast! We booked him for dinner for 4. He was communicative, professional, & attentive throughout, from chatting with us about food preferences before to sharing hilarious stories during dinner. He used fresh, local ingredients & made us unique and flavorful dishes that were perfectly catered to our tastes. He even surprised us with waygu beef - the best we've ever had! - to thank us for being flexible about a minor scheduling issue (which he'd promptly communicated and didn't disrupt our plans at all). We were left with full bellies, leftovers in the fridge, and a spotless kitchen. The only bad part was that he couldn't come back for breakfast the next day! Highly recommend him and we're already planning our next meal with him!

Zach was a consummate professional, while being so thoughtful and engaging. We sincerely enjoyed his company... almost as much as we enjoyed his food, lol. Seriously, though, the meal was incredible. Highly recommend.

What an awesome night! Zach threw down the most creative menu. Not only did it taste amazing, he introduced us to new things and it all was plated beautifully. Start to finish 5 star experience. Cannot recommend enough!

Amazing from start to finish a night we won’t forget ????????????????????????????????????

Excellent food and storytelling behind each plate served. Chef Zach was great to work with!

Super humble guy. He comes on time and very accommodating to the needs and wants of the guest. Cooking has a unique personality and an experience everyone should try. He supports local and you can tell he puts time into his craft and ingredients used in each dish. He made my night magical and very personal. Also he’s funny as well. Loved it…

We hired Chef Zach for our elopement. Chef Zach provided a few sample menus we could pick from and we made some alterations. Showed up on time, cooked, served, and cleaned up. The food was excellent and none of us had any complains. When the food started coming out it was just course after course! Would absolutely recommend and hire Chef Zach again!!

This was a great experience - loved having Zach come to the house and prepare us a 4-course dinner on a snowy night! Food was delicious and Zach was very communicative before and during the meal.

The meal chef Zach prepared at our Airb&b was amazing. Each course was thoughtfully prepared and delicious.

Chef Zach is so awesome! He took great care to prepare a delicious meal from local resources and walked us through the whole thing along the way. Can't say enough about how fun this was and all in the comfort of our home!

If you are debating getting this experience, DO IT!!! It was amazing. The food was incredible and Chef Zach was such a pleasure to plan with. I surprised my husband with this experience for his birthday. It’ll be something we never forget!! Thank you so much again!!

The food was incredible and Zach was very careful to personalize the experience for us. I would definitely recommend him for your future private event!

Can’t say enough about how amazing the experience was. Food was awesome and the chef was such a great guy. Will book him again for sure!!!!

Chef Zach was awesome!! He was super communicative upfront, and clearly really excited about food and culture in a way that was infectious. We found all of our courses to be delicious, and everything was spotless when he left. Would very highly recommend for a special night in!

Wonderful experience and the food was amazing!

We had a wonderful meal with Chef Zach. He was incredibly thoughtful and took such great care throughout the planning process and during our meal. We booked this experience to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and were so glad we chose Chef Zach! Don’t hesitate, this is such a wonderful way to have an intimate, delicious and memorable meal!

“Terrific value, terrific food.”

Chef Zach made our evening so special with his wonderfully curated menu and thoughtful cooking. Coordination and communication were a breeze (such fast responses!!) and the night was so smooth thanks to Chef Zach's preparation. Thank you for making our meal so memorable and tasty! 100/10!

Zach was fantastic. Checked in and made sure my group was sorted. Everyone was raving about the food!

Zach is extremely caring, personable, welcoming, professional, skillfull, talented and just a great chef all around. He brought a sous chef and his own kitchen tools. Every details from prepping to cooking to plating was incredible. Not only was the food incredible, but it was great for celebrating our anniversary. Highly recommend Chef Zach Berger for ANY occasion!