Diogo Veladas was born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal. He was top of his Culinary Arts class at Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Lisboa where he was fortunate to be mentored by Nuno Diniz, one of the best Portuguese chefs of our time and with whom he was present twice at the Portuguese National Cooks Conference.

He got his training in the kitchens of the two Michelin starred Ocean, by Hans Neuner, in the three Michelin starred Arpège, by Alain Passard, and recently was part of the opening brigade at Manzke, by Margarita and Walter Manzke, in Los Angeles, which went on to earn one Michelin star in just 8 months of being open.

Being fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, English and French, he traveled all over the world in a prior career for 12 years which contributes to his knowledge and experiences therefore enhancing his culinary purpose.

Diogo’s family comes from Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. Local cuisine is known for the heavy use of the minty herb pennyroyal, poejo in Portuguese, his all time absolute favorite.

He is currently based in Los Angeles and happy to travel anywhere in the world.