Alessandro Stoppa

PASTRY CHEF

-Biography

Alessandro Stoppa was born in Venice, Italy in 1977. Stoppa realized his passion to be a Pastry Chef when he was a young child.  A friend of his father had a pastry shop that he would frequently visit. When he entered the pastry shop the sweet, doughy aromas hit him like a blanket of fog.  He was mesmerized by the dedication of the employees making the pastries and would spend hours on end watching them and of course sampling the delicious pastries.

During his life in Italy, he began to travel to various regions of his native country, providing him an opportunity to learn the basic techniques and ingredients unique to each area.

Throughout these travels, Stoppa received personal guidance from many highly-regarded professional chefs specific to each region, allowing him to master the diversities of his culinary skills.Gold Medal Pastry Chef Parassina Enrico is one of the chefs who influenced him to become a pastry chef. Stoppa has a thorough knowledge in the preparation of spun sugar, custards, soufflés, ice creams, sorbets, cakes, sauces, cookies, petit fours, garnishes (chocolate and sugar work), fruit consommés and dessert samplers.

In 1996, Stoppa began working at the five-star Hotel Cipriani in Venezia. During this time, he successfully transitioned from a pastry line cook to the assistant pastry chef.  Stoppa was responsible for creating the dessert menu, training, scheduling, food and labor costs, and developing innovative and exciting desserts.

In 1999, Stoppa was hired as the head pastry chef inside the four-star Hotel Rosa Alpina in San Cassiano. Stoppa worked closely with the hotel’s executive chef to create seasonal menus and was also responsible for training, scheduling and supervising.

In the summer of 2000, Stoppa moved to Spain where he became the pastry chef at Restaurante Roccoco, located in Barcelona.

In 2002, Stoppa set his sights on North America. Upon his arrival, Stoppa joined Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio’s renowned Valentino Restaurant Group. He began his career with Valentino as the Pastry Chef for Piero Selvaggio Valentino in the Venetian Resort and Casino and Giorgio Café and Ristorante in the Mandalay Bay Place. During this time, Stoppa trained a team of four individuals to produce the volume of plated desserts for three restaurants.

In 2006 Stoppa began working at the Bellagio under Chef Jean-Philippe. After nearly two years of training at the Bellagio, Stoppa returned to Valentino Restaurant Group where he is currently the Executive Pastry Chef.

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