Saint Martin’s University, in Lacey, Wash., hosts its annual Gala on November 4, 2023. The Saint Martin’s Gala is the University’s premiere fundraising event for student scholarships. Over the years, the black-tie affair has grown to be the premier culinary event in the South Sound, featuring a live auction, a five-course gourmet dinner and culinary demonstrations by such renowned chefs as Anne Burrell, Jacques Pépin, Carla Hall and Roy Yamaguchi. This year, the University welcomes three special hosts: Seattle-based chefs Tom Douglas and Roy Breiman, and Italian butcher Dario Cecchini.

Chef Tom Douglas

Executive chef, restaurateur, author, and radio talk show host, Tom Douglas has cooked up Pacific Northwest cuisine in Seattle since 1984, opening his own restaurant, Dahlia Lounge, in 1989. For the last 30 years, he’s made a name for himself alongside business partner and wife Jackie Cross and business partner (since 2006) Eric Tanaka by opening 13 full-service restaurants; an event space, Palace Ballroom; a cooking school, Hot Stove Society; and a product line including rubs, sauces, mustards, and knives. He was the winner of the 1994 James Beard Award for Best Northwest Chef. In 2012, he also won the James Beard Award as Best Restaurateur. He is the author of Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, which was named the Best American Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and KitchenAid in 2001. In 2005, he appeared on an episode of the Food Network's Iron Chef America, in which he defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Chef Roy Breiman

Roy Breiman is an accomplished Michelin-starred restaurant chef, cookbook author, and hospitality industry leader. He serves as the Vice President of Food and Beverage at Columbia Hospitality. Breiman’s most recent endeavors include competing on and winning the Food Network show "Beat Bobby Flay". He also wrote “Wine Country Chefs Table”, which is a regional cookbook centered on the world premier wine-making regions of Napa and Sonoma valleys. In 1995, Breiman became a member of the James Beard Foundation, and in 1998, joined the ranks of StarChefs’ “Chefs to Know.” PBS named Breiman one of America’s Rising Star Chefs; John Mariani of Esquire Magazine named him a “Chef to Keep Your Eyes On,” and Bon Appétit Magazine named him one of the “Top Hotel Chefs in America.”

Butcher Dario Cecchini

Dario Cecchini is a leading contemporary, internationally known Italian butcher from Panzano, Italy. Cecchini, on a mission to protect and promote the traditional local butcher from the rise of the powerful supermarkets, explained that he believed butchery was an ancient art that involved a respect for the animal, seeing his role as that of teacher and educator. According to Cecchini, there were no "premium" and "lower" cuts of meat, but rather all the parts of the animal were useful if butchered and cooked in an appropriate way. Cecchini argues that his work could amount to poetry, a combination of knowledge (understanding that you can use every part of the animal) and consciousness (respect for the animal) that can bring people back to the “original customs of the tribe" in a world where everything seems to be getting more and more commodified, processed, and impersonal. In 2019, Dario Cecchini was featured in Netflix's documentary series “Chef's Table.”

The Saint Martin's Gala will be held on Saturday, November 4, in the Hal and Inge Marcus Pavilion on the Saint Martin’s University main campus in Lacey. Learn more about the Gala by visiting www.stmartin.edu/gala or by contacting the Saint Martin’s Office of Institutional Advancement at 360-438-4366 or [email protected].