danny boylen, II
Chef/Owner
If his mother is to be believed, danny started his culinary career at age four by making a Mother’s Day breakfast in bed and hasn’t stopped cooking since. His kitchen/management positions have included 1910 Restaurant, Butterfield 9, Bossa Bistro & Lounge, and Notti Bianchi (while at Notti Bianchi he won a Washington Restaurant Association RAMMY Award, Two Star Chef awards, and received his first James Beard Nomination). He is also an Advanced Sommelier, an avid cigar smoker, jazz lover, and a huge fan of all things pork (he has pit-crewed for a Memphis in May Grand Champion). His chili is undefeated in five cook-offs.
danny is also the author of the James Beard nominated cookbook “An (in)Appropriate Amount of Butter”.
In case you're curious, the lower case nomenclature is a thing danny learned from his father about humility and the work being more important than the artist.
Celeste Goodspeed
Business Manager/EA
Celeste is a lifelong lover of food (please don’t call her a “Foodie”, that label makes her kinda stabby.) She joined Cogito Ergo Sauté in early 2018 to manage the scheduling, financials, marketing, and generally keep the boss in line. While Celeste will occasionally appear at events, her primary role is behind the scenes working to make things easier for clients and danny. She has worked in restaurants and law firms in her native London and adopted hometown, Washington, DC. Though the restaurant work was primarily to fund her wine and food habits while studying to be a barrister, Celeste has returned to the culinary world (part-time) after taking a break from the law to raise twin boys who love to help make guacamole and are the center of her world.
Celeste would trade her last bottle of vintage champagne for a perfect vintage dress.
Kat Schroeder
Pastry Chef/Senior Culinary Associate
Kat spent most of her childhood driving her mother nuts by refusing to eat anything that wasn’t chicken nuggets or hot dogs. Thankfully both she and her taste buds matured over time! She now loves anything made with cheese, and her favorite food is freshly shucked Raspberry Point oysters (if you force her to narrow it down). After learning to bake pies from her great aunt, she took over the family Thanksgiving baking duties and has since expanded her repertoire from apple pie to zimsterne and everything in between. She spends her days writing software, but you can find her at events filling in wherever she’s needed with a smile and a taste of whatever is on the menu!
Morgan Keese
Senior Culinary Associate, Emerita
Morgan has been with CESaute for more than 10 years. Her rather impressive day job makes it difficult for her to work events on more than the rare occasion, but, she is such an important part of the company that emerita status is the only appropriate acknowledgment of her contributions.
If you are what you eat, Morgan may be made entirely of good tagliatelle (preferably languishing in one of Danny’s sauces,) a medium-rare steak, and the best whiskey she can find. A born and raised Californian, Morgan fell in love with fusion food first but the more she cooked, the more she came to appreciate the salivating elegance of thoughtful simplicity. True to her CA roots, however, she does attempt to add avocado to everything. Morgan spends her daylight hours pounding the halls on Capitol Hill and her evenings at home concocting her own body scrubs, poorly plucking away at guitar strings, and dreaming of the perfect powder day in her ski-tacular hometown of Truckee, CA.
Other Team Members
Culinary Associates, Servers, Bartenders, & Event Managers
Other Team Members complete our staff for larger events. Cecilia, Rachel D., Rachel M., Kimberly, Tony, Lauren, Amy, Steve, and Michael have each worked with the company for 3-8 years and are extremely valued members of our team.
Pictured: Kat, Justin, Monica, Rémi, and Mo