Peter McNee - Truffles

A rising star on the west coast culinary scene, Peter McNee – who possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics – honed his skills in some of the Bay Area’s top restaurants. Before cultivating his fondness for Italian cooking in Tuscany, the young chef ‘s culinary trajectory took flight at the famed San Francisco restaurant Stars, where he cooked while attending the California Culinary Academy in 1999. There, he moved up the ranks – garnering extensive knowledge of local produce along the way, knowledge he would refine in a subsequent role as Sous Chef at Tra Vigne Restaurant in St. Helena. While at Tra Vigne, Peter’s interest in Italian cuisine peaked, inspiring him to self-sponsor a yearlong culinary pilgrimage to Italy in 2003. While cooking and wine pairing in the acclaimed regions of Toscana and Lombardia, Peter began turning his burgeoning passion into a quest for mastery in the art of Italian cooking.

Poggio in the position of Sous Chef and helped launch the enormously successful opening that established Poggio as one of the Bay Area’s top restaurants. Peter then left briefly to gain chef experience in the hotel industry at Bacchus Restaurant in Sonoma County, before returning as Poggio’s Chef de Cuisine and assuming the role of Executive Chef in April 2006.