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From New York City Kitchens to Casa de Campo

por Jhosmarty Castillo6 Feb, 201121 Oct, 2022

This post is also available in: Inglés

What a privilege to be invited as a guest author on Casa de Campo Living’s website! I am Jhosmarty Castillo, a Pastry Chef by trade and my fiance is Victor Dedvukovic, the new chef at La Caña Restaurant and Lounge by Il Circo at the Casa de Campo hotel and I am going to share with you a behind the scenes sneak peak of catering at Casa de Campo – here I share with you all, how excited my fiance and myself were during our tour of the Casa de Campo facilities and how superb the Food & Beverage facilities are, even and especially when compared to the kitchens we were accustomed to in the Gastronomical heaven of New York City!

As a classically trained Pastry Chef who has worked at different levels in many of New York City’s finest kitchens including Le Cirque, Jean Georges’ Perry Street, Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro, Le Pain Quotidien, among others, it has been very delightful to see how well Casa de Campo understands the standards they are up against internationally and for many years has sought out ways to train staff accordingly and implement standards their guests are accustomed to in their homelands.

I recently moved to Casa de Campo from New York with my fiancé Viktor Dedvukovic and although I lived in Dominican Republic many years ago I failed to realize that in my absence my country has been growing – interestingly with Casa de Campo gaining awards from Conde Nast, Travel & Leisure, World Travel Awards as World’s Leading Golf Resort for 4 consecutive years & becoming part of the prestigious Leading Hotels of the World and Five Star Alliance.

IMAGE: Cooks at La Caña Restaurant while preparing for their lunch guests

Casa de Campo employees expect different companies to audit them at all times from Cristal, the company that drops by at least once a month to ensure the employees are “implementing best practice health and safety measures” to the staff from the Leading Hotel of the World organisation, who assure that their members are“ [tested] each one at least once a year with [their] unique 800+ point quality assurance process. This test, administered without the hotel’s knowledge allows [them] to recommend each of [their] properties…wholeheartedly.”

IMAGE: Imported Vegetables in La Caña’s walk-in fridge

We were recently taken on a tour of the hotels kitchen and food preparation facilites with the Director of Human Resources Rosario Velez and were pleased to see how clean and similar the facilities are to Michelin Star holders in New York, how the walk-in refrigerators and freezers were nicely organized, with food properly labeled, all proteins were put through Cryovac (vacuum technology that helps preserve foods) and foods were separated accordingly to prevent contamination.

IMAGE: Dishwashing station at La Caña Restaurant, which uses special chemicals combined with very hot water to kill bacteria

I meticulously looked for all of these details as a cook and after receiving my Food Protection Certificate from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2005 – a qualification required by food handlers by the City of NY, which is a 15 hour course, however my preparation in food safety paled in comparison to the four month rigorous training undertaken ran by ServSafe, the international company that stringently trains the Casa de Campo staff every year.

Of course this is not enough precaution for the “Caribbean’s most complete resort” because since October 2010 with the Cholera outbreak in Haiti, all the food items served at Casa de Campo restaurants are imported, including vegetables and they even have their own reverse Osmosis water purification system, along with all the posters and different rules that remind employees of measures to help keep guests safe without any need to be worried about contracting food-borne illnesses.

IMAGE: Chef Viktor showing me the Pastry Kitchen at La Caña

It is comforting to know that the restaurants, which I frequently visit at Casa de Campo not only serve amazing food but also have “back-of-the-house” restaurant standards comparable to those of the Culinary paradise I miss fondly… good ol’ New York City 😉

IMAGE: Cryovac meat, air has been suctioned to maintain freshness nicely sorted according to protein type

What a privilege to be invited as a guest author on Casa de Campo Living’s website! I am Jhosmarty Castillo, a Pastry Chef by trade and my fiance is Victor Dedvukovic, the new chef at La Caña Restaurant and Lounge by Il Circo at the Casa de Campo hotel and I am going to share with you a behind the scenes sneak peak of catering at Casa de Campo – here I share with you all, how excited my fiance and myself were during our tour of the Casa de Campo facilities and how superb the Food & Beverage facilities are, even and especially when compared to the kitchens we were accustomed to in the Gastronomical heaven of New York City!

As a classically trained Pastry Chef who has worked at different levels in many of New York City’s finest kitchens including Le Cirque, Jean Georges’ Perry Street, Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro, Le Pain Quotidien, among others, it has been very delightful to see how well Casa de Campo understands the standards they are up against internationally and for many years has sought out ways to train staff accordingly and implement standards their guests are accustomed to in their homelands.

I recently moved to Casa de Campo from New York with my fiancé Viktor Dedvukovic and although I lived in Dominican Republic many years ago I failed to realize that in my absence my country has been growing – interestingly with Casa de Campo gaining awards from Conde Nast, Travel & Leisure, World Travel Awards as World’s Leading Golf Resort for 4 consecutive years & becoming part of the prestigious Leading Hotels of the World and Five Star Alliance.

IMAGE: Cooks at La Caña Restaurant while preparing for their lunch guests

Casa de Campo employees expect different companies to audit them at all times from Cristal, the company that drops by at least once a month to ensure the employees are “implementing best practice health and safety measures” to the staff from the Leading Hotel of the World organisation, who assure that their members are“ [tested] each one at least once a year with [their] unique 800+ point quality assurance process. This test, administered without the hotel’s knowledge allows [them] to recommend each of [their] properties…wholeheartedly.”

IMAGE: Imported Vegetables in La Caña’s walk-in fridge

We were recently taken on a tour of the hotels kitchen and food preparation facilites with the Director of Human Resources Rosario Velez and were pleased to see how clean and similar the facilities are to Michelin Star holders in New York, how the walk-in refrigerators and freezers were nicely organized, with food properly labeled, all proteins were put through Cryovac (vacuum technology that helps preserve foods) and foods were separated accordingly to prevent contamination.

IMAGE: Dishwashing station at La Caña Restaurant, which uses special chemicals combined with very hot water to kill bacteria

I meticulously looked for all of these details as a cook and after receiving my Food Protection Certificate from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2005 – a qualification required by food handlers by the City of NY, which is a 15 hour course, however my preparation in food safety paled in comparison to the four month rigorous training undertaken ran by ServSafe, the international company that stringently trains the Casa de Campo staff every year.

Of course this is not enough precaution for the “Caribbean’s most complete resort” because since October 2010 with the Cholera outbreak in Haiti, all the food items served at Casa de Campo restaurants are imported, including vegetables and they even have their own reverse Osmosis water purification system, along with all the posters and different rules that remind employees of measures to help keep guests safe without any need to be worried about contracting food-borne illnesses.

IMAGE: Chef Viktor showing me the Pastry Kitchen at La Caña

It is comforting to know that the restaurants, which I frequently visit at Casa de Campo not only serve amazing food but also have “back-of-the-house” restaurant standards comparable to those of the Culinary paradise I miss fondly… good ol’ New York City 😉

IMAGE: Cryovac meat, air has been suctioned to maintain freshness nicely sorted according to protein type

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