Athlete Chef Directs Multiple Outlets and Innovative In-Room Dining Experience

John Coleman, executive assistant manager for food & beverage and culinary for The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, hadn’t always planned to be a chef. His career route toward the kitchen met a 1989 crossroads when he faced the decision either to become a chef or to pursue life as a competitive freestyle skier. It is a choice that has been faced by few, if any, culinary luminaries.

The Boston native grew up loving the outdoors. Coleman has always liked nothing more than skiing, kayaking, rock climbing and competing in triathlons, and he supported himself through New England winters as a ski patroller, and in summers as a climber and Appalachian Mountain Club trail cook. Taking up freestyle skiing with a passion in the 1980s, Chef Coleman excelled enough to compete alongside Olympians and other champions of the sport. To this day, he still spends his free time on the mountain with skiing’s heroes.

John Coleman’s culinary training, passion and creativity ultimately led him toward the kitchen path, though, and they have led to an acclaimed 18-year career with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Considered a culinary Renaissance man, Coleman was originally influenced by his native New England landscape. He was influenced as well by student travels abroad, becoming familiar with the cuisines of Europe while bicycling through Ireland, Germany’s Black Forest, France’s Alsace and the Netherlands.

Coleman’s further repertoire includes New World, Southern, Florida, Texas and mid-Atlantic/Piedmont cooking, all of which he has come to know through his outdoor travels. “Through traveling, I’ve finally figured out what a restaurant means,” says Coleman. “It’s not just about the food, but about the setting, the culture and the local people.” Adding to his many favorites is a unique passion for cooking with smoke and fire. “I love the simplicity of working with flues and dampers to perfect the taste and temperature of foods,” Coleman explains. The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas provides ample opportunities for Coleman to showcase his award-winning specialties.

Not willing to settle just for culinary leadership, Chef John Coleman also has received accolades for innovation in restaurant management and process development. In his 25 years in the culinary arena he has trained restaurant teams, optimized kitchen and restaurant design and been in high demand for hotel restaurant openings. Dallas was his seventh Ritz-Carlton hotel opening.

Chef Coleman joined The Ritz-Carlton in 1989, beginning as a saucier at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston and developing new organizational and management programs for the renowned hotel’s kitchen operation. From 1991 to 1996, he worked under the tutelage of Gary Danko at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, serving for three years as chef of the hotel’s Terrace Restaurant, named among the top twenty restaurants in San Francisco by Gourmet Magazine. His achievements in San Francisco were followed by three years as executive sous chef for The Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix, where he developed and opened the hotel’s popular concept restaurant, Bistro 24, tripling hotel dining revenues, redesigning the kitchen and streamlining operational processes.

Chef Coleman joined The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas from his most recent post as acting executive chef for The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in Virginia. While there he oversaw a staff of 70 as well as the hotel’s Lounge, Steak House, 25,000 square feet of meeting space and 24-hour in-room dining for 398 guest rooms. He was a key member of the hotel’s leadership development program and directed numerous improvement processes that resulted in a #1 area rating for the hotel’s lounge and brunch.

As Executive Assistant Manager for Food & Beverage and Culinary for The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, Coleman directs all food & beverage and culinary activities for the 218-room luxury hotel’s state-of-the-art meeting space, in-room dining operation, Fearing’s Restaurant breakfast service, lobby lounge, spa dining and year-round hotel holiday festivities and events. Chef Coleman is the father of three young daughters, including a 2 year-old, a 8-year-old who is already a climber and tae kwon do expert, and a snow-loving 3-year-old who took up skiing way back when, as a toddler.

Morgan Wilson’s culinary career has spanned the United States, Europe and South America, with his love of pastry placing him alongside many masters of the art. He began the process in California, attending the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, California and then joining Arnold Wong after graduation to work at the city’s EOS Restaurant & Wine Bar.

With pastry in his blood and fluency in both French and Portuguese, Wilson next traveled to Paris, continuing his education at the demanding Ecole Le Cordon Bleu. He returned to the United States in 1999 and worked with the renowned Bradley Ogden and George Marrone at One Market Restaurant in San Francisco, followed by a three year trip to Brazil to open Cannelle and Supra restaurants in San Paulo and to further his knowledge working alongside famed confectioner François Payard of Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro.

Wilson later joined Chef Tim Goodell at Aubergine and the Viceroy Hotel’s Whist, both in Southern California, also taking time to teach his techniques and to create a pastry program for the venerable California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena.

Before joining The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas for its opening in August of 2007, Wilson was the pastry chef at Bijoux Restaurant in Dallas, Texas, where he gained a national reputation for creating refined, artistically-presented desserts with an impeccable balance of flavors and textures. He has gained further recognition in his position at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, creating spectacularly- designed wedding cakes that have won major competitions as well as media and consumer acclaim. His “Pretty in Pink” multi-tiered wedding masterpiece won the peoples choice at Dallas’ prestigious 2008 Let Them Eat Cake competition, while his non-wedding specialties are equally in demand – especially his signature espresso mascarpone trifle. Wilson’s favorite ingredients? Almonds, bananas and dark chocolate.

When not overseeing pastry for multiple hotel outlets from The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas’ bustling pastry kitchen, Morgan Wilson can be found cheering on the Los Angeles Lakers or rock climbing in various outdoor locations across the country.