Personalities

Peter McNee

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Executive Chef - Poggio

Peter McNee Executive Chef and Partner Peter McNee, Executive Chef and Partner

Toscana may be where Executive Chef Peter McNee began his love affair with Italian cuisine and culture, but it is in Sausalito where he keeps the “forno” burning. Peter’s passion for authentic Northern Italian cuisine – some of which cannot be found outside Toscana, is the heart of Poggio in scenic Sausalito. With Poggio’s organic garden at his fingertips and a wealth of memories and experiences to draw on, Peter has developed a signature style using fresh local ingredients simply prepared and representative of that which you’d find in a classic neighborhood trattoria.

A Minnesota native, Peter moved to San Francisco, California to attend the California Culinary Academy after graduating college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Driven by a deep love and respect for Italian cooking and with the desire to learn first-hand, Peter embarked for Italy to cook in rustic Italian kitchens and live in the homes of families.

From there this passion developed into a quest to not just cook, but to understand, live and breathe Italy. “It is difficult to really understand a cuisine unless one gains an understanding of the language, history and culture of that cuisine. The friends I’ve made and the time I spent in Italy are more valuable than any recipe I ever wrote down. It’s really more about the conviviality and connections created through sharing food and enjoying the times spent together in the kitchens, at the markets and around the table.”

Peter returns to Italy often to visit friends, wineries and Alba’s world renowned truffle market to bring back white truffles to Poggio. It is on these trips that he finds inspiration for new menu items and ideas. Peter recreates dishes as he remembers them. His signature porchetta is the same as he prepared in Toscana, a young pig stuffed with herbed sausage and slowly roasted over a wood burning fire and the restaurant imported a carello (cart) from Italy in order to serve the classic Bollito Misto presentation of mixed simmered meats served tableside.

Since joining Poggio in 2003 as Sous Chef to help launch the restaurant, and becoming Executive Chef in April 2006, Peter has devoted himself to recreating the best of Italian culinary traditions through local ingredients. As is common in Italy, Peter develops his menu around seasonal ingredients available from local farmers markets, seafood and naturally raised meats. Following peasant tradition, he tries hard to use every part of the animal and was honored to come in first place at Cochon 555 in June of 2009 where he competed against five Bay Area chefs to prepare a whole hog.

As a member of Slow Food, and dedicated to preserving Italian traditions, Poggio prepares nearly everything in house from the house cured salumi and prosciutto to the hand pulled burrata and tender pastas. It is this authenticity and dedication that have helped earn the restaurant the “Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area” ranking in the San Francisco Chronicle since 2008.