Amici Miei – Sardinian Cuisine
Roma Pizza from Amici Miei
David G. Binkle CEC CEPC CCA FMP
As a native Canadian from the Toronto, Ontario area, Dave provides nearly Thirty-Five (35) years of culinary experience as an award-winning professional chef, pastry chef, culinary educator, and featured presenter and keynote speaker.
Chef Binkle began his career at an early age learning the basics from his Irish Grandmother "Mud" then going on in high school to line cook and kitchen supervisor positions at the critically acclaimed fine dining Charcoal Steak House and Lower Deck Seafood Restaurant.
After moving south to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Health at Oklahoma Panhandle University, Binkle accepted a position at the famed Hilton Palacio Del Rio Hotel on the historic San Antonio, Texas Riverwalk.
Following his tenure in large volume dining, catering, banquet, and guest room service, Chef Dave was recruited to the Morrison Custom Management and Restaurant Group as a corporate chef and culinary instructor. It was here he honed his cooking and baking skills in the deep south Morrison Cafeteria division serving the nation's largest volume of Healthcare, Business, and Institutional cook chill and cook serve production kitchens all while supporting the Ruby Tuesday, Tia's Tex Mex, L & N Seafood Grill and Silver Spoons Cafe concepts. Binkle worked in many of the largest hospitals in the US like Jackson Memorial, Miami, FL. UTMB, Galveston, TX, and BJC Health System St. Louis, MO.
With the sale of the Ruby Tuesday Restaurant Group Binkle changed focus to the student nutrition segment as a director of food services for Fresno State University and several school districts including the nation's second-largest school system Los Angeles providing over 700,000 meals daily.
Chef Binkle has taught Culinary Arts for several community colleges, including the Institute for Culinary Education, and was a full-time Baking and Pastry Instructor at the Art Institute of Dallas.
He recently served as the onsite Executive Chef Corporate R&D for Food Service Partners (FSP) at the Georgia International Food Center (GIFC) at Renaissance Park.
Dave is a Certified Executive Chef (CEC), Certified Executive Pastry Chef (CEPC), Certified Culinary Administrator (CCA) from the American Culinary Federation (ACF) and carries the highest Foodservice Management Professional (FMP) lifetime designation from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).
As a dedicated chef and Director to natural clean ingredients, his commitment has earned Binkle featured stints on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC news and was featured in the acclaimed PBS Documentary Series Food Forward and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. He has lectured and presented at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Greystone and San Antonio campuses Menus of Change and Healthy Kids Series and the prestigious Harvard University.
Chef Binkle was featured in the Amy Rowat UCLA Food and Science series "An Evening with Alice Waters and David Binkle" and Farm to Table International (F2Ti) New Orleans Keynote with Bill Yosses former White House Executive Pastry Chef. Dave also is a TEDx Manhattan "Change Food" veteran featured speaker sharing the stage along with Tom Colicchio and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). Binkle also accepted the Golden Carrot Award a decade ago from the Physicians for Responsible Medicine (PFRM).
Chef Binkle was awarded the Chef of the Year in Los Angeles, ACF President's Medal and was inducted into the Les Amis d' Escoffier Society at the world-renowned Bellagio Hotel and Casino Resort, Las Vegas.
Additionally, the chef has provided cooking demonstrations at the International Hotel and Restaurant Food Show, New York City; Western Food Service Expo, Los Angeles; Louisiana Restaurant Association Convention, and at various other meetings including the School Nutrition Association (SNA) National Convention.
He holds a Master’s Degree from California State University Northridge in Public Administration (MPA).
His community service commitments include volunteer service at the San Diego and North County Food Banks and is a lifetime Rotary Club International Paul Harris Fellow.
Binkle and his wife Linda have three (3) boys Chris 39 John 36 and Tyler 24 and 2 dogs Lily and Jax.