Chef Lisa Dahl is one of the country’s leading female chefs and restaurateurs who has pioneered the culinary scene in Sedona, Arizona. for more than 27 years. Dahl is the executive chef and CEO of six outstanding restaurants in Northern Arizona’s red rock country where she has earned international acclaim for Dahl & Di Luca Ristorante Italiano, Cucina Rustica, Pisa Lisa(2), Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill and her newest, most buzzed-about addition, Butterfly Burger, A Couture Burger Lounge.
After leaving her life in the Bay Area and a career in the fashion industry following the loss of her son Justin, Dahl sought healing and moved to Sedona, a town famous for its spiritual energy and restorative powers. Once settled, she rediscovered her long-held passion for cooking, one that she and Justin shared. Honoring Justin’s memory is part of each of her restaurants.
Lisa's passion for food extends beyond the kitchen and has self-published two cookbooks; The Elixir of Life Cookbook - Finding love and joy in the passionate pursuit of food. Elixir has sold over 20,000 copies since 2010. Chef Dahl's most recent cookbook, A Romance with Food - Latin Fusion Cooking shares her interpretation of bold cuisine. Romance combines a particular cooking style intertwined with stories and compelling visuals.
Along with being a two-time James Beard House-featured chef, Dahl was recently recognized with the prestigious top honor of “2019 Food Pioneer” award by the Arizona Restaurant Association’s Foodist Awards where she also took home the honor of “2018 Top Chef” the previous year. She was also recently awarded the “Best Chefs of America Hall of Fame Award” by National Elite, a national restaurant industry organization.
Dahl is widely credited for Sedona’s emergence as a national “foodie destination”. As a self-taught chef, she was the first to introduce fine dining to Sedona in the late ‘90s with the opening of Dahl & Di Luca and has since expanded to become the largest restaurant group in the area with accolades spanning the culinary spectrum.
Dahl’s cooking styles are diverse and includes high-end traditional Italian cuisine, rustic Mediterranean fare, South American-inspired dishes, indulgent and inventive burgers and wood-fired pizza, considered among the best in Arizona. She’s also a grill master whose burgers reigned supreme three years in a row at Scottsdale’s Burger Battle, which garnered her the attention of celebrity Chef Bobby Flay who challenged Dahl to go head-to-head on an episode of Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay”.
Chef Dahl and her restaurants have been featured on The Food Network, Travel + Leisure, USA Today, The New York Times, Wine Spectator, Travel Channel, Huffington Post, SOMM, and Forbes to name a few.
Today, Dahl Restaurant Group welcomes nearly 500,000 guests annually across all six restaurants and employs close to 280 people, many of whom have been with the company for over 25 years. Each of Dahl’s restaurants continue to garner prestigious recognition and accolades. Eighteen consecutive years of Wine Spectator awards decorate the walls of Cucina Rustica and Dahl & Di Luca, and most recently; five years for Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill.
The restaurants are philanthropic engines that feed Dahl's desires to help those less fortunate. If there is a natural disaster Dahl stretches the purse strings to contribute those in need, include Chef Jose Andres, World Central Kitchen.
Food Philosophy
Chef Dahl lives by her mantra, “when you cook with love, you feed the soul.” She believes that flavors should never be overworked, food should speak for itself and only the finest ingredients should be used from the best sources available.
Dahl prides herself on her relationship with local and regional organic growers, selecting the highest quality specialty purveyors of meats and seafood. Chef Dahl is hands-on when it comes to attention to detail in choosing the resources for her guest’s dishes, which focus almost entirely on organic produce, health-conscious ingredients and meats raised without antibiotics, hormones or GMOs and sustainably-harvested seafood.
A love of comfort food, bold flavors and Old-World methodology are the essence of Chef Dahl’s cooking, as are her secret “elixirs” used within many of her ethnic dishes. Her signature Latin-inspired chimichurri sauce, made from herbs grown on the property of Mariposa, combine local sourcing and bold flavors. Perfecting the balance of her ‘mother sauce’ has become the foundation of her unique Italian dishes, as well as the pizzas at her award-winning Pisa Lisa.
A health nut at heart who lives by the credo “we are what we eat,” Dahl is a self-taught chef that became enthralled with vegetarian cooking as a teenager. That experience continues to inspire many of her most popular dishes that feature vegetables as the star.
