Navio

Executive Chef, Xavier Salomon

Fourth in his family, and only second in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to earn the title Maître Cuisinier de France (French Master Chef), Xavier Salomon is a fifth-generation restaurateur with a passion for food that began at his family’s kitchen table in Savoie, France. His European tenure includes training under Jo Rostang at his Michelin three-star restaurant La Bonne Auberge in Antibes, France. Chef Salomon continued his education at Le Bateau Ivre in Courcheval and graduated from Thonon les Bains Culinary Academy. In 1991 he joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as the executive chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Aspen and in 1996, he moved to Atlanta as executive chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead.

Chef Salomon joined The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay in July 2001, where he oversees all dining experiences at the resort including the signature restaurant Navio, The Conservatory Lounge, The Library, and 17,000-square-feet of banquet and wedding suites and ballrooms. Chef de Cuisine,

Aaron Zimmer

Aaron Zimmer joined The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay as Chef de Cuisine in April 2006 and oversees the kitchens for Navio and The Conservatory. Chef Zimmer returned to the resort after two years as sous chef at the critically-acclaimed CityZen in the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C. The restaurant won accolades, including one of the "Best New Chefs" for 2005 in Food and Wine, "Best New Restaurant" 2005 in Esquire, as well as raves in Vogue and Wine Spectator. CityZen Chef Eric Ziebeold, who worked at the French Laundry as Chef de Cuisine for many years, immersed Zimmer in his classic yet playful approach to food. Zimmer has drawn upon the best of his influences in creating his own Contemporary American cuisine, which, at its core, relies upon the interplay between the innate characteristics of his very fresh and mostly organic ingredients, relishing the simple over the complex and placing a new and sometimes unexpected twist on traditional fare.

While growing up, Zimmer loved cooking in the kitchen with his mother and grandfather. Throughout his childhood he rubbed elbows with chefs Gunter Seeger, Jasper White, and Jean-Louis Palladin at Brown Trading Co., an exclusive supplier of fine fish and caviar owned by his family in Portland, Maine. Seeger, recognizing Zimmer's talent and enthusiasm for food at a young age, encouraged him to come to Atlanta as his apprentice, which he did in 1996. Zimmer credits Seeger with encouraging and shaping his culinary talents, as well as helping him fall in love with the culinary arts. Zimmer furthered his culinary training at Culinary Institute of America in 1997 and subsequently worked with Seeger at The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta and then Seeger's own restaurant in 1998. Zimmer moved to San Francisco where he worked for Roland Passot at La Folie in 1999, learning great chefs are also great managers. A trip to Europe in 2000 led him to the progressive Italian Chef Francesco Bernadelli of Osteria Di Rendola in Rendola, Italy. Following this experience, Zimmer traveled and cooked extensively throughout Italy, Thailand, Spain and Morocco, and returned to the Bay Area in late 2001, to work along side of old friend and colleague Peter Rudolf as his sous chef in Navio.