Le Jeune Chef Restaurant

Lifelong Education Center, Rm. B107 · For reservations phone (570) 320-CHEF or (570) 320-2433

Visiting Chef

* This biography was accurate at the time of the chef's appearance on campus. (April 28, 2001)

Charles M. Carroll, CEC

Executive Chef, River Oaks Country Club, Houston, TX

Darrin L. Aoyama

Pastry Chef, River Oaks Country Club, Houston, TX

Chef Carroll is currently the executive chef of River Oaks Country Club in Houston, TX. With over 1,500 members and 46 culinarians, River Oaks enjoys the reputation of being ranked the No. 4 country club in the United States.

Charles, a 1985 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has been part of five different award-winning Culinary Olympic Teams. Recently, he was on the Team USA 2000 National Team.

Charles has received over 60 national and international awards, including Chapter Chef of the Year in 1988 and the American Culinary Federation President's Medallion in 1990 and 1999. Twice he has been nominated for ACF Regional Chef of the Year. In 1993, the James Beard Foundation selected Chef Carroll as one of the Great Country Inn Chefs, and the ACFEI awarded him the Educator of the Year award. He was a guest chef of Cooking of the Americas, a one-hour nationwide live broadcast. Charles also has been a guest speaker at several ACF meetings, regional and national conventions, as well as culinary classes, colleges and universities. Most recently; he was presented with the Epicurean World Master Chef's Medallion in July 2000.

Darrin Aoyama was born and raised in Southern California. Chef Aoyama has a very diverse background that began in the medical and health-care field. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from the University of Southern California in 1990, and is a registered nurse and Public Health Certified Nurse. Chef Aoyama's culinary education was supervised by Master Chef Raimund Hofmeister at the Los Angeles Culinary Institute, Inc.

After graduation, Chef Aoyama attended a Fellowship Program with Master Chef Raimund Hofmeister in the Classroom Restaurant and became Chef Instructor at the Institute after completion of the program. Chef Aoyama then took a position as Executive Pastry Chef at the Hollywood Park Racetrack and Casino. In 1996, he became the General Manager and Executive Pastry Chef of the wholesale bakery and taught in the Culinary Arts Department of Orange Coast College. He then returned as Executive Chef at the Clarinet Restaurant in Old Town Pasadena. In January 1998, he returned to the institute as an instructor and dean of students.

Chef Aoyama has distinguished himself in culinary competitions both nationally and internationally. He won a Silver Medal as a member of Team California in the 1996 International Culinary Olympics in Berlin, Germany, and has also won a number of ACF gold, silver and bronze medals in competitions in the states. He was the National Pastry Chef on the ACF Culinary Team 2000, where he helped bring home gold and silver medals at the World Cup in as well as the Culinary Classic in Chicago, IL. He will represent the States in the upcoming Culinary Olympics in Germany.