Executive Chef Sean O'Toole has spent over fifteen years in some of the most highly regarded restaurants in the United States and Europe. He has developed a broad understanding of different cuisines and techniques as well as a deep appreciation of locally sourced, artisanal foods. His experience, passion and culinary skill have come together to define the cuisine at Bardessono Restaurant.

Growing up in Wakefield, MA outside of Boston, O'Toole developed his early affinity for food and hospitality while spending time with his father, a hotel general manager, who he followed through a number of hotel and restaurant properties. By the time he graduated from high school, O'Toole was certain that he wanted to make a career in the kitchen.

After graduating from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI with both an A.O.S. in Culinary Arts and a B.S. in Food Service Management, O'Toole took a position at Season's Restaurant in the Bostonian Hotel working under Chef Peter McCarthy. During the year and a half he spent in that kitchen, O'Toole developed a passion for locally farmed produce that eventually led him west to San Francisco, CA to revel in the abundance of local artisan foods and produce.

O'Toole spent five years at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where Chef Sylvain Portay mentored him in the essence of true French cuisine. During that time he reinforced his studies by traveling to France to apprentice with Chef Jacques Maximin at his Michelin starred Restaurant Maximin. Next came two years in New York City spent in the kitchens of Tabla Restaurant and Cafe Boulud.

In 2002 O'Toole returned to San Francisco to work with Chef Laurent Gras as Sous Chef of the Fifth Floor Restaurant. The following year he moved to the three-and-a-half star restaurant Masa's where he served as Sous Chef under Chef Ron Siegel. In 2004 O'Toole returned to France, this time to Paris, but before departing San Francisco he spent two months in Chef Michael Tusk's kitchen at Quince restaurant. In Paris O'Toole trained in the kitchens of the Group Alain Ducasse in preparation for the opening of Chef Ducasse's Las Vegas outpost Mix, where he joined the kitchen management team as Chef de Cuisine. In 2007 O'Toole became the Culinary Director of Operations at the award-winning Mina Group. In February 2009, he joined Bardessono, Yountville's new highly acclaimed luxury hotel and restaurant, as Executive Chef.