Five-Star Chef Andreas Kisler brings a passion for innovative, creative cooking as well as European grace and style to the “South’s Grand Hotel” and its signature fine dining restaurant Chez Philippe.
Chef Andreas, a native of Austria, began his career at the age of 15 through an apprenticeship at the Palais Schwarzenberg Hotel in Vienna, Austria. In 1980, he went to Paris to work as a student chef at La Maree Restaurant where he earned special honors for his workmanship. Upon returning to Vienna in 1981, Chef Andreas became a sous chef at the Hotel Sacher. His childhood dream of going to America came true in 1982, when he took the helm of the Vienna 79 Restaurant in New York as executive chef. By 1984, he was voted one of the 13 Best Chefs in New York, and participated in a segment for PBS Television’s “Master Chefs of New York” series. His drive led him to write a cookbook, Viennese Cuisine: The New Approach (Doubleday, N.Y.), which spent time on The New York Times best-seller list in 1987.
In 1986 Chef Andreas moved to California to serve as executive chef of Barnaby’s Hotel in Manhattan Beach, then to La Loggia, Beau Rivage, Wyndham Checkers Hotel and the new Chasen’s in Beverly Hills. In 2000 he made a career move to Memphis, Tennessee, to head The Peabody’s food operation as the executive chef.
Chef Andreas has been honored with the Four-Star Circle of Fame from the California Restaurant Writers Association. He has appeared on KBU Malibu TV, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, The Food Network’s “Dining Around,” the “James Beard House,” CNN’s “On The Menu,” and has been featured in numerous publications such as Gourmet, which voted Checkers Restaurant in the Top 20 Best Restaurants in L.A., Food Arts Magazine, USA Today, Art Culinaire, and Buzz Magazine.
He supports the Culinary Institute, where he seeks students with a passion for food. He was hand-picked by Wolfgang Puck to appear at the “Spirit Event”for the American Cancer Society. Chef Andreas was awarded the Five Star Diamond Award from the Academy of Hospitality Sciences. He is a current member of the AIWF (American Institute of Wine and Food). He is also a member of the James Beard Foundation and has cooked at the James Beard House twice, including in 2008 when he led a culinary team from The Peabody Memphis as part of the hotel’s celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Peabody Ducks
