DOUG PSALTIS has worked in some of the world’s most prestigious kitchens with the industry's most lauded chefs from New York City to Monaco, San Francisco and now Chicago. Today, he is part of the nationally renowned Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) and is the Chef and Partner in some of the Windy City’s most popular restaurants including the hugely successful RPM Italian and RPM Steak; two locations of Bub City; the tiki lounge Three Dots and a Dash; Ramen-san, and il Porcellino. And, in 2016, he launched another RPM Italian in DC that has been packing in crowds ever since.
Psaltis was part of the kitchen team that opened Bouley Bakery in 1999. Following that, he spent three years working under Alain Ducasse at Essex House, which earned four stars from The New York Times in 2000. He was singled out by Ducasse and offered the opportunity to study at the chef’s three-star Michelin restaurant in Monaco, Le Louis XV. When Ducasse opened his next New York restaurant, Mix, he chose Psaltis as the chef de cuisine—it was the first time an American had been given the position in any Ducasse kitchen. After Mix, Psaltis helped run Thomas Keller’s highly acclaimed French Laundry in Napa Valley before returning to New York to open Geoffrey Zakarian’s Country as Executive Chef. Country received a three-star review from The New York Times as well as a Michelin star in each of the years that Psaltis headed the kitchen.
In September 2005, Doubleday Broadway published Psaltis’ memoir The Seasoning of a Chef: My Journey from Diner to Ducasse and Beyond.