Eric DiStefano - CEC

Geronimo, Santa Fe

Eric DiStefano was born and raised in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He developed a passion for food at his mother’s table. From his mother’s prodigious garden came heaps of tomatoes, fresh basil, onions, a multitude of zucchinis. Sunday evenings, friends and family gathered around sumptuous groaning boards of pasta, meatballs, Braciola, crusty loaves of bread from Memmi’s bakery slathered with butter and fresh garlic and of course, plenty of red table wine to quench those thirsts.

Eric began the natural evolution of his stellar career with a 5-year apprenticeship at the Hotel Hershey, doing under mentors Heinz Hautle and Rory Reno, and went on to work at the Breaker’s Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida and The Registry Resort in Scottsdale. He had returned to become Chef de Cuisine at Hotel Hershey, when, handed the telephone one night during dinner service, he was told, “Hey Chef, there’s a French guy on the phone.” That apocryphal call was in fact from Chef Daniel Boulud, calling to ask Eric to come to New York to discuss an opportunity he had for him in Santa Fe.

The owner of Hacienda del Cerezo, an extremely high-end inn, had put in a call to Boulud to ask, “Who is the best up and coming young chef on the Scene?”

The answer Boulud gave, was Eric DiStefano.

Eric and his wife, Jeanne, arriving for the interview, having never visited Santa Fe, were amazed and intrigued by the architecture and landscape. He debuted, and was immediately offered the job, which he accepted.

After a year and a half, having developed a loyal following, Eric was ready to head back East, when friends, photographer Peter Vitale, and Santa Fe gallery owner Ron Messick, mentioned that Cliff Skoglund of Geronimo was looking for a chef…and the rest is certain to be culinary history writ big.