Casey Thompson is an American chef and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

from

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. She is currently executive chef at Folktable, a restaurant in

Sonoma, California Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's p ...

. Thompson was a contestant on '' Top Chef: Miami'', the third season of the television series ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chef ...

'', in which she finished as runner-up and was voted Fan Favorite. She also appeared in '' Top Chef: All-Stars'' (season 8) and '' Top Chef: Charleston'' (season 14), and was a guest judge in episode 7 of ''

Top Chef Junior ''Top Chef Junior'' is an American reality competition television series that serves as a spin-off of the popular ''Top Chef'' series. Ordered in 2008 for an eight-episode run on Bravo, the show had never aired, nor is it known if any episodes w ...

''.

Career

Thompson's professional start came at Dallas'

The Mansion Restaurant The Mansion Restaurant is a restaurant in Turtle Creek, Dallas, Texas, United States. Located at 2821 Turtle Creek Boulevard, the restaurant, which occupies the former 1925 home of cotton magnate Sheppard King and later owned by oilman Toddie Le ...

, at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, under head chef

Dean Fearing William Dean Fearing (born 1955) is an American chef known as one of the earliest stars of Southwestern Cuisine."J.L. Becker. "Puttin' on the Ritz: Dean Fearing put Southwestern cuisine on the map at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. He's now moving ...

, where she worked her way up from a prep cook to becoming the

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef, usually the more hands on manager with regards to training staff and organising the kitchen. Duties and functions The sous-chef has many re ...

. She later became executive chef at Shinsei, a

Pan-Asian Satellite photograph of Asia in orthographic projection. Pan-Asianism (''also known as Asianism or Greater Asianism'') is an ideology aimed at creating a political and economic unity among Asian peoples. Various theories and movements of Pan-Asi ...

restaurant in Dallas. Thompson was formerly executive chef at Brownstone in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, and, between June and November 2014, the owner of Aveline at the Warwick Hotel in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, which she named after her grandmothers."Review: San Francisco’s Aveline, unparalleled California cuisine"
– ''

The Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'', August 7, 2014 In 2017, Thompson became executive chef at Morada, the restaurant at The Inn at

Rancho Santa Fe Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The population was 3,156 at the 2020 census. The CDP is primarily residential with a few shopping block ...

."Top Chef to bring new tastes, look to The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe’s Morada"
– '' Rancho Santa Fe Review'', January 4, 2017 She was due to open Georgette as a partner in late 2020, but it was put on hold due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Thompson has also been appointed the U.S. ambassador for Terrazas de los Andes, a Moet-Hennessey brand.

Folktable

Since December 2020, Thompson has been the executive chef at Folktable, a restaurant at Cornerstone Sonoma marketplace in

."New restaurant coming to Cornerstone Sonoma"
– ''

Sonoma Index-Tribune The ''Sonoma Index-Tribune'' is a community newspaper published twice a week in Sonoma, California. The newspaper was published by four generations of the same family for 128 years, but is now owned by a group of local media investors. History T ...

'', August 28, 2020 In September 2021, just over a year into Thompson's time at the restaurant, it was named a Michelin Guide

Bib Gourmand The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

establishment.

Personal life

Thompson's partner is Michael DeSantis, co-owner of Harumph Wines.Casey Thompson
–

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

Wine and Food

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Casey Top Chef contestants Living people Chefs from Texas Participants in American reality television series American women chefs Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women