Chef Rui Correia Douro Restaurant

As you have read in my past posts, Portuguese chefs are becoming rising stars in the culinary world. Portuguese Chef Rui Correia is one of them. His dreams of opening his own restaurant was fulfilled in 2009 when he opened Douro Restaurant in Greenwich Ct.

“DOURO features a combination of traditional Portuguese dishes with a modern twist and Mediterranean dishes infused with Portuguese flavors”. The restaurant was recently featured in an article for ctbites.com: Douro: Portugese-Mediterranean in Greenwich – CT Bites – Restaurants, Recipes, Food, Fairfield County, CT

This past May, 2011 Rui became a chef instructor at The Clarke Culinary Center in Stamford, Ct

He’s also had guest appearances on The Today Show demonstrating his Pizza and Paelha recipes.

Here his bio from the restaurants website:

“Chef Correia was born in Porto, Portugal, a coastal city on the banks of the Douro River. Rui was raised in restaurants working with his grandfather at his restaurant in Gaia, Portugal. This is where his interest in the culinary arts started brewing, but the passion didn’t hit him until he moved to America.

Rui first attended Concordia University on a soccer scholarship, within a years time he decided to follow his passion of cooking. He left Concordia to attend the New York Restaurant School, in New York City. His studies and talent led him to some of the best kitchens in New York. Rui went to work for Bobby Flay at Mesa Grill Restaurant, then to acclaimed restauranteur Danny Meyer at Union Square Cafe.

Rui returned home to Westchester, and joined Palmer’s in Bronxville, New York as Executive Chef. Rui assisted in the opening of Palmer’s second restaurant in New York City called Washington Place, in the West Village. After traveling between both restaurants Rui decided to take the leap and open his own place, Cafe Porto.

Cafe Porto opened in 1999 and was located in Yonkers, New York, Rui brought a combination of his talent and what he learned years ago in Portugal with his grandfather. After five years of having Cafe Porto, Rui sold his business in 2004 to become the Executive Chef at Oporto Restaurant in Hartsdale, New York. During the five years Rui was at Oporto he always had dreams of getting back to his own kitchen and restaurant. In 2009 thats just what he did, in opening DOURO.”

R C

Congratulations on your success Chef Correia!