Charlie Palmer lost a good chef in Amar Santana, but to know the guy's upward career path is to have anticipated his inevitable departure. Santana began cooking at 16 in New York, went to the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park on a full scholarship and got hired after graduation by Palmer. Santana quickly worked himself up the ladder at his mentor's restaurants in New York, Reno and Dallas, culminating with his becoming the inaugural executive chef at Charlie Palmer's in Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza when... More >>>