Alaska’s culinary scene is getting a revitalizing twist thanks to Alyeska Resort Executive Chef Walter Donadio. “We do Alaska food in a different way,” says Donadio. “Instead of the same old thing you find over and over, we offer a refreshed view of local ingredients.” For him, a culinary program should “have its own gravity.” He envisions “thoughtful menus that respect our surroundings while pushing culinary creativity forward.” The apex of this vision is the multi-course tasting menu at Alyeska’s fine dining restaurant, Seven Glaciers.
Donadio joined Alyeska in 2023. Born in Italy, he grew up in a globe-trotting family. World cuisines, as well as his grandmothers’ cooking, served as influence and inspiration as he got his start as a chef. “I like things as fresh as possible,” he says. At Alyeska, that means fresh seafood, locally raised red meat, and foraged ingredients.
“We want the food to be exceptional…because we know every dish is a reflection of this place, and of each other.”
We experiment with the ingredients that grow naturally in the mountains and apply them to our dishes.
Though the job of executive chef of the restaurants at Alyeska involves lots of work outside the kitchen, Donadio says he’d love to spend all his time cooking. “The team I work with is made up of people who really respect the profession of what we do day to day.” His respect for his team is evident as well. Donadio expects his staff to move between all the restaurants, from the casual aBar to the formal Seven Glaciers, to expand their culinary chops. “I also ask my cooks and my sous chefs, ‘Hey, what would you like to have this season? Is there something you’re particularly fond of?’ They bring ideas, and then we shape them into a fine dining experience that fits within the courses.”
The mountains surrounding the resort inspire the food at Alyeska’s restaurants. “We harvest fiddlehead ferns and blueberries, and birch. We’ve been experimenting with a lot of those ingredients that are naturally growing in the mountains to see how we can apply them in the dishes.” Donadio continues. “We’ve been introducing all these flavors from the Old World—French cuisine, Italian, Greek—to see how we can embellish Alaska-raised elk. I like to mix proteins with foraged mushrooms. Alaska has great potatoes, too, so we’ve been experimenting with those as well.”
“If I were to have salmon, I want it to be the salmon you won’t forget—the one you’ll call about when it’s off the menu.” Most of all, Donadio says, “As a team, we want guests to leave feeling that we cared about their experience from start to finish—and that we gave them something uniquely Alaskan, uniquely Alyeska.”
Your alpine culinary adventure starts here.
