Frances

Chef Melissa Perello has been an avid cook since childhood. Spending summers in the kitchen with her grandmother, Frances, in Northern Texas, the young chef was influenced by culinary titans like Julia Child and Nathalie Dupree. Following her passion by working in a kitchen at a local country club during high school, she later attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Upon graduation, Chef Perello moved across the country to San Francisco to begin working at Aqua, where Michael Mina was both a teacher and an important influence on the rising star chef. After her time at Aqua, Perello moved to Charles Nob Hill, working alongside Ron Siegel. Shortly after, Chef Perello ascended to the position of Executive Chef. Under her culinary leadership and guidance, she helped garner critical acclaim from local and national outlets, and was named one of San Francisco Chronicle’s Rising Star Chefs in 2002. She also earned three consecutive James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef nominations from 2002-2004, and was lauded as one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2004.