As you may imagine, growing up in NOLA was exciting, and filled with food and culture from many worlds. My first cooking experience was making pancakes, while standing on a kitchen chair, and quickly learning how to stuff artichokes and roll braciole, for St. Joseph’s Day, or Sunday dinner.

What moves my soul is, creating custom meals for people visiting the Bay area, THE GULF COAST AND New Orleans, teaching them how to cook and PROVIDING AN ELEVATED GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE. . I ALSO TRAVEL TO Santa Fe, SEDONA, New York, AND TAOS TO ACCOMMODATE GUESTS.

I recently discovered my biological heritage of Spain and The Canary Islands, along with meeting biological siblings, and have incorporated this love into my cooking.

Background

With a radiology degree, and bored with my career, I decided to go to culinary school at the age of 30. My apprenticeships were at The Intercontinental Hotel-New Orleans, The Fairmont Waldorf Astoria Hotel- New Orleans, and Chef Emeril Lagasse.

in 1997, I opened the first “upscale take out” restaurant in an affluent area of New Orleans. The food was cooked a-la-minute, and weekdays

Maria Vieages…I was born in New Orleans, and had a wonderful life with my adopted parents, Mimi and Tony. Mimi was Sicilian (Domenica Rita Famiglio), and Tony was Portuguese.

between 5-6:30 p.m., the line was out of the door. There was music playing, laughter, and gifts of wine and beer from customers, who shared with everyone present. I built a business of 2 employees to a contracted staff of 42, and 8 full time employees. It all ended on August 29th, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina left 14’ of water in my beloved business.

A CLIENT WHO USED TO FLY TO NOLA TO TAKE COOKING CLASSES, SENT ME A PLANE TICKET IN 2006, TO VISIT SONOMA COUNTY, CA. I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BEAUTY, THE CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE ABUNDANCE OF LOCAL PRODUCE, SEAFOOD, CHEESE, AND ALL THAT THIS SMALL PARADISE HAS TO OFFER. I MOVED TO THE AREA IN 2007.