How Cala's executive chef Peter McQuaid talked his way into the Valley's best kitchens at age 15
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In The Show's Chef Talk series, we sit down with a chef each month — from fine dining rooms to nightclub kitchens — and find out what makes them tick.
Today, meet Peter McQuaid. He’s a 25-year-old prodigy of an executive chef who recently took the helm of Cala, the restaurant inside Senna House Scottsdale, a hotel near Old Town Scottsdale.
McQuaid started his career in food early — talking his way into some of the Valley’s best kitchens before he could drive. At 15, he was working for Beau McMillan at Sanctuary after relentlessly messaging him on Facebook. After that, he was mentored by Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza at Barrio Cafe. Then, he won "Chopped" Grand Champion on the Food Network.
Full interview
PETER MCQUAID: Yeah. So I just kind of fell in love with cooking, you know, always loved food, loved holidays, loved seeing my family in the kitchen. You know, I realized at an early age that food, you know, brings people together. I love being around a dinner table. You can take 10 strangers and if you put amazing food at that table, like everyone's gonna get along and just something, something really drew me to that as a kid.
And then I got involved with actually CCAP, which is Career Through Culinary Arts Program that gives out, you know, a bunch of money and a bunch of scholarships to kids interested in the field and is a really amazing organization. And that's where I won my scholarship through their, their yearly competition.
LAUREN GILGER: So, is it like an actual like competition in real time?
MCQUAID: Yeah. So CCAP is a good program for people to be involved in. A lot of it helps, you know, culinary school kids in high school, you know, kind of really get into it. And then every year they host a competition and you go through two rounds. And then if you make it to the final round, it's a 30 kids, I believe, everybody wins something, which is amazing. So you can compete, you sit down with the mentors, You kind of talk what you want to do, what school you're going to go through and then they kind of pick something that'll suit your needs, that'll just like propel you into your career.
GILGER: So, what dish did you cook?
MCQUAID: Yeah. So we had to make a salad with like these little like cucumber rings. So we had to shave the cucumber super fine, like put it in a ring mold, you had to dice all the veggies perfectly. They would like dissect your, your salad dressing and to how much salt and pepper you put in. And then we had to make an omelet, which was, I was a bad ass at making omelets for two years. Still can rock one out right now. Then we had to make crepes and a chicken dish.
GILGER: None of those incredibly easy I would, I would assume so. OK, so you're really young, clearly know you want to do this. What would would like go through high school where you're just like, well, I know I want to cook so why am I in history class, basically?
MCQUAID: Yeah. So it's kind of a funny story, you know, like I said, I loved, you know, cooking for holidays, seeing my family in the kitchen. But what got me into this field was I had to do a Spanish project, right? Spanish was my worst class. This is probably my sophomore year in high school. Not doing well and our teacher was like, you can do whatever you want, you know, do as long as it has to relate with, you know, Hispanic culture or the language or something. So I was like, you know what I, you know, love to eat, love food. Let's do it on food.
So I Googled best Mexican chef in Arizona and her name is Silvana Salcido Esparza popped up. Of course, everybody knows and loves her Barrio Café and that you know, great empire she's built. I messaged her on Instagram probably like 20 times until she and she was like, hey, come on down, you can do your project. So I went down with my mom. My mom filmed us like making guacamole together. We made a little chicken poblano dish in the kitchen. I can remember it to a tea like this very day of like every working with her in the kitchen. And I was just so amazed by the experience and she was like, I'm opening a new restaurant bono and she was like, you can start working this weekend if you want a job. And I was like, hell, yeah, let's do it.
GILGER: So you started in her kitchen after a school project. How old were you?
MCQUAID: I was 16.
GILGER: OK. So what did you start doing? What was your first job there?
MCQUAID: So it was awesome. The restaurant wasn't open yet. So I got to see like the buildings of a restaurant you got, I got to see people bringing furniture in. We are getting all the first orders, building the walk in prepping. And she taught me how to make. I remember she taught me to make, it was like a like sour cream from scratch. I remember was one thing and then we braised short ribs and we like took the sauce and she uses a spice called chili tin that people love. And I remember like, you know, reducing that sauce and using all those spices that I've never even heard of before. It was just an incredible experience, you know, actually prepping with her in the kitchen and watching the restaurant come to life, you know, was pretty incredible.
GILGER: So, from there you're on a clear track, thanks to Silvana. That's so cool. So you go to culinary school in New York City? How old were you?
MCQUAID: I, it was right out of high school. So I was 19, 20 years old.
GILGER: Tell us about that experience. I mean, was it like just getting thrown straight into the deep end?
MCQUAID: Yeah, New York City, you know, a dream of mine as a kid was to go to New York. Obviously, it's a culinary, you know, mecca of the world, you know, all the best chefs in the country are there and I just, I really wanted to live and, you know, and breathe that environment. So I went to culinary school there. I worked at a restaurant Danielle for a year and a half, which was an incredible experience.
GILGER: Danielle Boulud's restaurant?
MCQUAID: Daniel Boulud, his flagship, you know, one of the best restaurant, French restaurants, you know, you can go to, which was incredible. So I worked through the ranks there all through high school. And then I did my externship there once I graduated. Then I can continue to working there. Love New York City but after a year and a half, it wasn't the place for me and I wanted to get back to the desert.
GILGER: So you're from here, you came back and you've been, I mean, incredibly successful since coming back. How many restaurants have you opened at this point?
MCQUAID: Two. So we opened a restaurant in Las Vegas about two years ago called Money Baby. And then we have the beautiful Cala Scottsdale, you know, right here in our hometown.
GILGER: And you're 25.
MCQUAID: Yeah, 25.
GILGER: I mean, like that's really young for having accomplished so much. Do you look at it from that perspective?
MCQUAID: You know, sometimes I do but I forget honestly, you know, I think, you know, age is, is, is nothing but a number and it doesn't matter how, how old, how young you are, you know, if, if you're driven and you have the goals, I think you can go and reach them. You know, in culinary school, there was young kids like me, but there were also people in career changes that were in their 30s and 40s wanting to get into the field. And I think you can, you can be as equally as successful and driven, you know, at any age, especially in this industry.
GILGER: So, so is it the food itself? Is it the experience around food for you? Is it like the work ethic it takes to be in kitchens? Like, what do you love about it?
MCQUAID: Of course, I love cooking. You know, at the end of the day, that's what we are as chefs, right. We're cooks. And I think, you know, I always, I always got to remember that and go back to that because sometimes you get lost as an executive chef. You're, you're in paperwork, you know, you're doing all the financial numbers and you got to remember that at the end of the day, we are cooks and that's what we're here to do is cooking.
But I also love hospitality and it's something I fell in love with as a kid. I love pleasing people and I love, I love the, the nature of the restaurant where you can, you know, make somebody's night special and you can do it for so many people. You know, that was what food was for me is watching somebody take a bite of my dish and smiling and it instantly made somebody, you know, happier and, and more pleasurable and I just, I love that aspect of it.
GILGER: So I mean, you probably have a lot on your list in terms of what you want to accomplish in the rest of your career. But I mean, what does that look like for you? You're so young and you've come a long way. What's next?
MCQUAID: Yeah, I mean, what's next? You know, we got a couple of things in the works that are super exciting. You know, right now here at Cala, we're just really kind of getting better every, you know, each and every day with our team and want to put out the best food we can give the best service we can, but that's really the goal right now, you know. I've never really in my life, you know, planned my future out, to be honest and never really had like a clear set, you know, goal. I've always just kind of gone with the flow and kind of like seen what is thrown at me. So that's kind of where we are.
GILGER: OK, so a couple of questions I ask every chef in this segment. And the first is your favorite dish to cook on the menu here at Cala and describe it for us.
MCQUAID: My favorite. Oh. My favorite dish to cook here at Cala. You know, we have a handmade pasta program which is something that I just, I just loved and I love all our pasta dishes. I have a beautiful extruder in the back, so that was really fun opening. Cala was experimenting with, you know, the ratios to semolina flour, to water to olive oil and all the different things you can do with pasta. We've done a rolled pasta, we've done stuffed pasta, we've done extruded pasta. And that's just kind of the one of the funnest things about this restaurant is that creative, that creativity on the pasta side of life.
GILGER: Pasta all in. OK, and then this is always an interesting one for chefs, but what is your favorite thing to cook at home? What's in your fridge?
MCQUAID: Favorite thing to cook at home? You know, I love a whole roasted chicken is like one of the best things anybody can make, and I probably make it once a week and I have an amazing cast iron pan I've used for the past five years and I'll throw, you know, split some potatoes, throw them down a bunch of herbs, onions, throw a whole chicken on top, season it up and throw it in the oven. And that's how I like to cook at home, you know, easy, but, you know, incredibly delicious.
GILGER: So you won't say you just have beer and condiments in your fridge.
MCQUAID: Well, that's true too. Yeah. Vodka and you know, all that kind of good stuff.
GILGER: As most chefs. All right. Chef, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
MCQUAID: Of course, of course. Thank you.
