INSIDE
New Talent DIEGO LEPORINI GENERAL MANAGER, OPM RESTAURANT & LOUNGE Diego is a wine and beer connoisseur who has created wine and beer programs for a number of hotels, restaurants and bars around the world. Diego was trained by renowned chefs in the United Kingdom and U.S.A and brings extensive experience managing operations of high profile restaurants, bars and lounges to Orange County dining. Some of his previous experience includes the management of the popular Sophie’s Place in Redondo Beach, Yellow Vase Cafés in Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes, Café Buenos Aires in Santa Barbara, B@1 London, Bottle Inn Riviera in Redondo Beach, F&B Manager at Parking Hotel in London, F&B Manager at Thistle Hotel in London, GM at Oneill’s Great Marlboro St. in London, as well as part of the Slug & Lettuce Group in London. Diego has opened and designed 19 additional restaurants from the ground-up as manager, owner and/or as restaurant consultant and
is
currently
the
Director
to
Specialty
Cellars
(specialtycellars.com) a boutique wine importer and distributor and Inside the Cellars, an online-based wine and beer retail store (insidethecellar.com). Welcome Diego. Sounds like you’re a busy man.
CHARLES CHO EXECUTIVE CHEF, OPM RESTAURANT & LOUNGE A note from Chef Cho: My name is Charles Cho and I am a 33 year old South Korean American. At the age of 3 my parents moved us to Ranch Palos Verdes, CA where I grew up. After graduating high school in 1999 I fantasized about joining the culinary industry. Even though my father was hesitant he helped me enroll at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School. I appreciate my father every day because his help allowed me to find my passion early in life. Culinary school was one of the most enjoyable times of my life and after graduating I was still hungry for more. To pursue more knowledge I've trained under Chef Kyle Connaughton, Chef Michael Kang, Chef Soerke Peters, Chef Alan Wong, Chef Ritsu Osuka, and I’ve enjoyed numerous stages at Morimoto's, Providence by Michael Cimarusti, Ink by Michael Voltaggio, Redbird by Neal Fraser, and hopefully this list that also includes Noma, Eleven Madison Park, and Alinea continues to grow. I was lucky enough to be enlightened by these amazing chefs and would like nothing more than to cook for them at a restaurant of my own one day. As for now I am the Executive Chef at OPM Restaurant & Lounge in Huntington Beach. It will be 4 months since entering the OC realm and honestly I don't know what to expect! What I do know is that I will continue to love my job and I will continue to raise the bar for myself as well as the rest of my team.
OPM Restaurant & Lounge 8901 Warner Ave Huntington Beach, CA 92647
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www.great-taste.net | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2015