Chef Aaron LeRoi / Napa, California

When the occasion calls for a culinary experience you can’t get in a restaurant, Chef Aaron LeRoi brings it home. Aaron’s passion for fresh, creative cuisine and a client base of professional athletes and busy professionals who want to stay healthy makes him known as the “Napa Fit Chef.”

Along with personalized menu planning and in-home preparation, Aaron caters weddings, parties and events of all sizes from corporate luncheons and professional athletic events to wine tastings and intimate dinners in and around Napa Valley, the North Bay and the East Bay. His inspired menus draw cultural influence from Maryland (his birthplace); the Carolinas (his mother’s family), the Caribbean (his father’s family) and California (his adopted home state).

Aaron’s informal chef training began as a 5-year-old watching Emeril Lagasse’s BAM! routine for adding spice to dishes. “I was hooked!” he said, and he hasn’t looked back since. He pursued his high school’s culinary arts concentration and led the team to win the state ProStart competition. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park and St. Helena, and cooked at the five-star Artist Point Resort in Orlando. In 2015, he moved to Napa to start his own business.

“Honest food to fuel everyday lifestyles” is Aaron’s philosophy. Seafood, high-quality meats and vegetables take center plate seasoned by fresh herbs and homemade spice blends. Non-dairy milk and plant-based butter are easily substituted for dairy products. Handmade butternut squash and parsnip purée, cauliflower purée, and carrot and yam purée are menu staples. But every day is a hustle so when Aaron found a company in his backyard that can increase efficiency without compromising quality, he didn’t hesitate.

This is exemplified in a recipe he created for a winery dinner—fried lobster tails with a plantain mash and pineapple chardonnay sauce. The result was a full on flavor with better ingredient options. The first time he made it, he charred and caramelized the pineapple himself before discovering The Perfect Purée Carmelized Pineapple Concentrate. Now, he incorporates The Perfect Purée Strawberry Puree, White Peach Puree, Tamarind Puree, Coconut Puree and Green Apple Puree on a regular basis.

For a busy chef, timing is everything and Aaron says, “I like to think of it as giving back some time to yourself. [The Perfect Purée] really helps. The consistency makes it ready to go and gives me back some time.”