Chef De Cuisine
Lionel Uddipa
Born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, Chef Lionel Uddipa is the third generation of chefs in his family. His first restaurant job was as a dishwasher in his family's diner, where he made the kitchen his "playground" and decided to further his career in culinary school.
He was classically trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked with world renowned Chefs such as Chef Craig Strong from the Montage Hotel & Resort (Laguna Beach) and Chef Jesse Frost, Estencia (La Jolla, CA), Chef Dave Berran (Next, Chicago). After his travels to Asia to learn the culture and cuisine of his Filipino roots, he eventually returned home to open Salt Alaska in 2014.
Chef Lionel brings creativity, and enthusiasm to his kitchen at SALT. He and his team are always striving to showcase local fresh and sustainable seafoods, forested mushrooms, herbs, berries and flowers to create unique dishes and flavor profiles.
His favorite past-times are riding his bike and spending time outdoors where he brings his 3 year old daughter, Juniper to help forage.
Accolades
Chef Lionel recently had the privilege of being chosen as one of 6 chefs around the world to film with famous Chef Gordon Ramsay for an upcoming new cooking show airing in Summer 2019.
Awards include the Great American Seafood Cookoff winner (2017) and the Great Alaska Seafood Cookoff (2014). Seafood Demonstrations include the James Beard House (NYC) with Martha Stewart as guest in 2018 plus the Food & Wine Magazine test kitchen. His passion includes using local foraged elements of Alaska’s sea and land in his cooking.
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