Dave Dekker

Dave began cooking at 16 after his dad left the family and he had to help with income. Restaurant work was easy to find and he enjoyed it. He worked in a pizzeria learning to make dough and pizza. He stayed in the industry.

Having been the kitchen manager at the Improve in San Diego, he felt he was qualified for a sous chef job at a hotel. During his interview, he was encouraged to get a job in a hotel and work his way up. He took the advice. In the late '80s he worked at Bally's in Las Vegas. He stayed until 1993 when he moved to Caesar's Lake Tahoe as the banquet chef and restaurant chef of their 24-hour restaurant Cafe Roma. He left in 1995 when he answered an ad in a San Francisco paper for a spot on the opening team at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii. He spent eight years in Hawaii, the last two at Hualalai Resort where he worked for the development company that serviced people who had purchased Estate Homes. It was in Hawaii that he met his wife. They are still together and have five children.

When his mother became ill, Dave wanted to be closer, so he took a job at the Rio Hotel in Vegas. One day he received a call from a chef he had worked with before, telling him about a job at Staples Center with Levy Restaurants. It was his first experience with the changes in sports entertainment food, and he was amazed at the great food they created there. The family moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and stayed for three years.

Levy had contracts all over the country and they sent Dave everywhere to help: the Kentucky Derby; the opening of a Nascar track in Illinois; a plated dinner for 18,000; a party for 14,000; the US Open in New York, the NBA finals in San Antonio, the NBA All Star game in Houston. Plus there were the 270 events at Staples Center.

His next move was to Kansas City to be the opening chef at the new $255 million Sprint Center in the summer of 2007. He stayed until May 2009, when he took over as the executive chef at the Angel's Anaheim stadium where he stayed for two seasons.

He was offered the executive chef job at Safeco Field and moved here in March of 2011. "I loved the the awesome energy at Staples Center, but as an overall job experience, Safeco is the best. I love this ballpark and the Mariners are a great client. I have a lot of creative freedom and haven't had it any better. I've lived in nine states and Seattle was not on my list of weather destinations, but I love the vibe of this town. There is food in spades, much better than bigger cities. They've gotten trendy and everyone copies their neighbor. Here people are still willing to step out and try things. They haven't forgotten the reason they got into it, and they want to do it right. I also love music and this is a great town for that. It's very accessible. You don't have to buy an expensive ticket; you can go to local clubs or Bumbershoot and hear someone good. This is a great place to be. I can't see going back to a restaurant or hotel. This is organized chaos at its finest."