Brad Cecchi

The Climb

Formal training gave the early structure: El Camino High School, American River College, and The Culinary Institute of America sit in Brad Cecchi’s foundation before the work moved fully onto the line. The opening line cook post at Embassy Suites in Old Sacramento, CA, put that training into a live system, where pace, mise en place, and precision are tested while the kitchen is still settling its own habits. Apprenticeship and opening work extended the base. The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO, gave Cecchi an apprentice role; Mulvaney’s in Sacramento, CA (2006–2008) put him back into a restaurant opening as opening cook, then lead line cook. That part of the record is the working grammar of the trade: repetition, urgency, attention, and the accumulation of correct small decisions under pressure. Kitchen leadership required a wider command of the same fundamentals. At Grange in Sacramento, CA (2008–2013), Cecchi worked as executive sous chef, a role that depends on technical fluency as well as steadiness across people, prep, and service. He then became Executive Chef at Westin in Cleveland, OH, before taking the Executive Chef role at Solbar in Calistoga, CA (from 2014). During his tenure at Solbar, the restaurant earned a Michelin star, placing that chapter of the cooking inside one of the industry’s most closely watched forms of recognition. The current portfolio holds two active fronts: Brad is Executive Chef and owner of Canon (since 2017) and Executive Chef of Camelo.

Today

Camelo in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, is the current Portuguese kitchen where Cecchi serves as Executive Chef. Its Bib Gourmand places the restaurant within Michelin Guide recognition, a category that values craft, restraint, and value in the guest experience. In that context, the cooking is read through location as much as résumé: the plate has to answer to where it is served. Canon in Sacramento, California, gives the work another agricultural and dining context. As chef and owner, Cecchi serves a menu centered on playful, shareable, seasonal small plates, including the Badger flame beet salad from its inventive small plates menu. The format matters: small plates rely on pacing, contrast, and the social mechanics of passing, tasting, and returning to a dish.

Signature

The named dishes—chicken wing, badger flame beet salad, Pork Belly with Avocado, Pickled Onions and Sweet Potato Kimchi, Sweet Potato Dumplings, and Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lebneh—show a working interest in contrast. In Brad Cecchi’s hands, richness is set against acidity, sweetness against smoke, and familiar forms are given sharper edges. A chicken wing remains an appetite-driven form but can carry texture as the main argument; a beet salad can lean earthy and vivid; Pork Belly with Avocado, Pickled Onions and Sweet Potato Kimchi sets fat, freshness, tang, and heat in close range. Sweet Potato Dumplings and Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lebneh work from a humbler ingredient base, using sweetness, char, and creaminess without adding unnecessary weight.

In Their Words “I am a fan of food and the cultural influences that drive flavor, preparation, and presentation. I look towards these things for inspiration for my own creative expression.”

Recognition

Recognition sits on two different parts of the record: Michelin star for Solbar while Cecchi was Executive Chef (2016) and Bib Gourmand for Camelo (2024). One belongs to a Calistoga, CA, chapter; the other to Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Taken together, they mark cooking able to meet guide-level scrutiny in more than one setting while continuing to respond to place.