Chef Sebastian Cechet is in a staff meeting on the dining room floor of L.G. Smith’s Steak & Chop House when I arrive. He stands in a black chef’s uniform amongst a circle of staff in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Renaissance Marina in Oranjestad. To me, it looks like the team has just sampled beef served with the butcher table experience—tableside-sliced and seasoned black Angus prepared your way. 

The amount of knowledge available to gain in the restaurant industry is one aspect that drew Cechet to the profession. “You can really never stop learning in this industry. No matter how old you are or how many years you’ve worked as a chef, you will never know everything. There's always something more to learn,” Cechet says. “Other trades usually have a code book. As a chef, you have more freedom.”

His passion for learning first steered him toward studying accounting. He attended university in Canada and stopped after a few months to take a year off from school. That year, he says, turned into more than 20 years in restaurants. He got a job in a restaurant at the beginning of what he thought would be a gap year, completed a Red Seal certification as a cook and yet, “I wanted to do something more,” Cechet says. He went on to study at a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Taillevent, and work at the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Violon d'Ingres in Paris, France. “It was a really eye-opening experience. The way of working, the pace of work, but I learned so much,” Cechet says.

Cechet built the foundation of his kitchen training in France, but the lesson that he carries with him to this day is one related to standards. “I learned to set the bar high and not negotiate on that,” he says. “We work toward perfection, which we can never get, but we work toward it.”

As the meeting comes to a close, Cechet offers a reminder to keep an eye out for ways to continuously improve service in the restaurant. “There's no getting comfortable,” Cechet tells me later. “Other places out there are looking at you. If you rest comfortably, they will swoop in and roll you over.” The front of house team, he says, plays an important role in sharing their knowledge about flavors and food preparation to offer guests the best experience. Then, the gathering disperses. Each person heads in their own direction to get ready for dinner service. There’s a lot to do before opening, but everyone is equipped with a common goal and a sharpened expertise on the cut of beef they’ve all just sampled.

This is just one of the many staff meetings Cechet attends from day to day. He is currently the executive chef at the Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort where he divides his time between L.G. Smith’s Steak & Chop House, Fresco, Papagayo Bar & Grill, Mangrove Beach Bar & Fish Shack, Aquarius, Solé, The Lounge and Blue. Cechet says he is proud of his time so far at the Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort. “I think if you're from the island, you could perhaps agree that where some of our restaurants were five years ago is not where they are now,” Cechet says. “We're able to compete with some of the top restaurants. It’s not that we're better, but at least we’re in the mix and we're known.”

The key, Cechet says, has been a commitment to continuous learning. “We work hard to try to learn from our mistakes, improve on them and always push so we can execute a better product,” Cechet says. “I think that's our biggest team achievement.”