Casey Thompson is an American chef and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

from

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. She is currently executive chef at

Folktable Folktable is a farm-to-table restaurant in Sonoma, California, United States. Established at the Cornerstone Sonoma marketplace in December 2020, the restaurant's executive chef is Casey Thompson and its sous chef is Melanie Wilkerson, who pr ...

, a restaurant in

Sonoma, California Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's ...

. Thompson was a contestant on '' Top Chef: Miami'', the third season of the television series ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

'', in which she finished as runner-up and was voted Fan Favorite. She also appeared in '' Top Chef: All-Stars'' (season 8) and '' Top Chef: Charleston'' (season 14), and was a guest judge in episode 7 of ''

Top Chef Junior ''Top Chef Junior'' is an American reality competition television series that serves as a spin-off of the popular ''Top Chef'' series. Ordered in 2008 for an eight-episode run on Bravo, the show had never aired, nor is it known if any episodes we ...

''.

Career

Thompson's professional start came at Dallas' The Mansion Restaurant, at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, under head chef Dean Fearing, where she worked her way up from a prep cook to becoming the

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef, usually the more hands on manager with regards to training staff and organising the kitchen. Duties and functions The sous-chef has many re ...

. She later became executive chef at Shinsei, a

Pan-Asian Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection. Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asia ...

restaurant in Dallas. Thompson was formerly executive chef at Brownstone in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

, and, between June and November 2014, the owner of Aveline at the Warwick Hotel in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, which she named after her grandmothers."Review: San Francisco’s Aveline, unparalleled California cuisine"
– ''

The Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'', August 7, 2014 In 2017, Thompson became executive chef at Morada, the restaurant at The Inn at

Rancho Santa Fe Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The population was 3,156 at the 2020 census. The CDP is primarily residential with a few shopping block ...

."Top Chef to bring new tastes, look to The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe’s Morada"
– ''

Rancho Santa Fe Review ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', January 4, 2017 She was due to open Georgette as a partner in late 2020, but it was put on hold due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

. Thompson has also been appointed the U.S. ambassador for

Terrazas de los Andes Terrazas de los Andes (Spanish for "Terraces of the Andes") is a winery located in Luján de Cuyo in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. Terrazas de los Andes was founded in 1996 as a Moët-Hennessy subsidiary in Argentina, refurbishing an ol ...

, a

Moet-Hennessey LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French holding multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house ...

brand.

Folktable

Since December 2020, Thompson has been the executive chef at

, a restaurant at Cornerstone Sonoma marketplace in

."New restaurant coming to Cornerstone Sonoma"
– '' Sonoma Index-Tribune'', August 28, 2020 In September 2021, just over a year into Thompson's time at the restaurant, it was named a Michelin Guide

Bib Gourmand The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

establishment.

Personal life

Thompson's partner is Michael DeSantis, co-owner of Harumph Wines.Casey Thompson
–

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws v ...

Wine and Food

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Casey Top Chef contestants Living people Chefs from Texas Participants in American reality television series American women chefs Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women