Michel E Wahaltere

Belgian-born Michel Wahaltere began his culinary career in the United States as a Sous-Chef at Champagne in Los Angeles. After several years as Executive Sous-Chef at Remi and as Executive chef at Farfalla, his career led him to Aspen.  In Aspen, he served as Executive Chef of Farfalla and Campo de Fiori, awarded “Best New Restaurant in America” by Esquire Magazine and USA Today. In 1996, he took the position of General Manager/Executive Chef at the renowned Mirabella Restaurant in Aspen.  There, he was nominated for “Best Chef of Aspen,” and in 1998, as Executive Chef/Partner, his Trattoria Caffé Amici was awarded “Best New Restaurant in Aspen.” He moved to Denver in 2005 to open the 9th door as Executive Chef, the 9th Door in LoDo, has been well received by the press and the public (5280 Magazine named it as one of “Best New Restaurants 2005” and Westword “Jason Sheehan Top Five 2005”).   For more than 15 years, W DESIGN, LLC has been consulting for corporate and private clients, such as Cb5 Restaurant Group (ViVO and Bleu Cafe in Greenwich Connecticut, Moda in New York, and Zoe at the W Hotel in New Orleans), His prior work in two Connecticut restaurants (ViVO and BLEU) received three stars and “Excellent” ratings by the New York Times.  Giordani Restaurant Group (Campo de Fiori in Aspen/Vail/Denver and Gusto Ristorante in Aspen as well). Furthermore, W DESIGN’s president/chef Michel Wahaltere has worked closely with Larry De Pasquale of Epicurean Catering on private events (President Bill Clinton’s meet and greet brunch, holiday party for Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen).   W DESIGN, LLC’s previous clients, Seven eurobar in Boulder, acknowledged by many critics (A- Rocky Mountains News, “Where to eat now” in Gourmet Magazine, “Mediterranean in the Rockies” in Wine Spectator) as well as appreciated by the Boulder community as best new restaurant 2007. W DESIGN, LLC consulted at Lulu Wilson in Aspen, Colorado as well as Suite 200 nightclub with Lotus Entertainment’s (Francois Safieddine). In 2010, he started the Food Truck movement with Chicago Louie’s and a few others well known chefs in Denver. He was well known for his International sausage selections by the late might crowd in LoDo. His latest Aspen restaurant consulting was Gisella Ristorante in 2011 a fine dining Italian restaurant for the Giordani Restaurant Group. He currently works as a Consultant/Executive Chef with Amine Megder and Ray Jafari for their restaurant Dorchester Social Eatery and Prive Social Club in Denver.   In addition to restaurant design and consulting, Michel enjoys teaching cooking classes.  In the past he was a popular teacher at Mise en Place Cooking School in Denver where he has offered courses in Spanish tapas, Middle Eastern, French, Italian and Belgian cuisine.  Previously, he taught Italian cooking classes at the Cooking School of Aspen.  While living in Connecticut, he made several appearances on channel 12’s show “The Exchange,” preparing specialty dishes.  During the Food and Wine festival, Michel served as the invited resident chef for the Grana Padano cheese consortium for several years. 

Skiing, biking, teaching, hiking, NBA, NFL, European soccer