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Bellagio Las Vegas |
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Bellagio
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Bellagio Pastry Chef Claude Escamilla Claude Escamilla grew up in Perpignan, in the South of France. At the age of 14, he began studying pastry arts at La Chambre des Metiers in Perpignan, where he was trained in the following domains: pastry, ice cream, chocolate and confections. To improve his abilities and supplement his studies, he elected to participate in voluntary internships with renowned French chefs. Claude graduated with a C.A.P. "Professional Aptitude Certificate" in Pastry in June of 1995. In September, Claude joined "Le Clos Des Lys", a large-scale catering enterprise, where he would remain until June of 1997 creating new menus and preparing desserts for banquets of up to 2,000 guests. He worked under Chef Jean-Philippe Maury helping him to prepare for the Best Pastry Chef in France. Claude and Jean-Philippe as a team created recipes, which were published, in the gourmet French magazine, Thuriès . ", Claude spent the next two years pursuing a pastry degree in the master's program "Brevet de Maitrise" at "La Chambre de Métiers" in Perpignan. He received his degree in October of 1998. In July of 1997, Chef Philippe Urraca, Best Pastry Chef In France, offered Claude the position of Pastry Decorator in his pastry shop, working with a team of 25 people. This experience allowed Claude to improve his talent. In June of 1999, Claude became the Assistant Pastry Chef for the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he once again joined Jean-Philippe Maury, who moved to America, 3 years earlier. He started his career in dessert production for six gourmet restaurants as well room service and catering functions. Claude supervised a team of 12 employees. In December of 2002, Claude was promoted to the position of Pastry Chef, where he now oversees the pastry shop production including 68 pastry shop employees and 8 assistants. Chef Claude continues to raise the standards of gourmet pastry and exquisite European desserts to an international clientele at the Bellagio. The Hotel was awarded the 2001 World's Best Award by Travel and Leisure magazine, as being the #4 Best Hotel in the World and the #3 Best Hotel in the United States and Canada. In July of 2003, Claude participated in the 2003 National Pastry Championship, as part of Team Caillot. Here Team Caillot, representing the United States, won the gold medal and would go on to represent the United States of America in the 2004 World Pastry Championship, held in July of 2004. Claude Escamilla and his team members won the 2004 World Pastry Championship representing the USA. In 2005 the Pastry and Art Design named Chef Claude as one of the 10 Best Pastry Chefs in America.
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