Paul Carter is the Executive Chef at The Phoenician, a 654-room luxury resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Chef Carter supervises a staff of over 150 and nine kitchen operations including Windows on the Green, The Terrace, Mary Elaine’s, the Phoenician Café/ Ice Cream Parlor, the 19th Hole, Oasis Grill, Canyon Oasis, In Room Dining, and all the Banquet kitchens. He also oversees pastry, bakeshop, butcher shop, pasta shop and garde manger operations. As the resort’s Executive Chef, he takes charge of all menu creations and preparations, overseeing daily supervision and training of restaurant staff. According to Carter, “Perfecting simplicity, is the essence to great food.”
Chef Carter’s worldwide background has provided him with a culinary expertise that far exceeds his 17 years of cooking. His love affair with the kitchen dates back to his early teens. A native of London, Carter attend Colchester Institute of Culinary Arts in Essex, at the young age of 15 yrs. Upon earning a three-year culinary degree, he began his cooking career at the Hotel Sonnenhügel in Bad Kissingham, Germany where he held the title of Commis de Cuisine. He later served in the same capacity at Chateau de Montreil in France for three years. After rising through the ranks in the kitchens, he moved to the venerable Connaught Hotel in London where he held posts in all kitchen operations from butcher, to garde manger, saucier of fine dining, to banquets. In 1992, Carter moved to the United States to head up kitchens at world class resorts including Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, California where he held the position of “Saucier” for the fine dining restaurant. He held the position of Executive Sous Chef at the Ritz Carlton, Naples, Florida and also the Executive Chef at the exclusive Vinings Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to joining The Phoenician, he was Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland, Ohio.
Carter is the 1991 recipient of the coveted William Heptionstall award, an honor given to “The Most Enterprising Young Chef in the U.K.” He also received the Maitrise Culinaire Diplome by Palmes Culinaire in 2002.