Ladan Raissi - Chef de CuisineCurrent Restaurant & Tides Bar

Cooking has always naturally been a part of life for Ladan. Her father was an entrepreneurial giant, the “Pizza King” as he was called and a maverick in the restaurant world. Ladan was ever present among the aromas growing up in the the buzz of activity of her father's many restaurants. She went on to wear her own toque, earning her chef’s certification at the Natural Gourmet Culinary School and Institute for Food and Health in New York City.

Specializing in the properties and preparation of whole foods and indigenous cooking methods, she believes in using fresh, seasonal and organic ingredients to impart the very best in her cuisine. She spent a year in the south of France learning about regional wines and provincial cooking. Having worked at such notable establishments as the James Beard House in New York and sailing around the Caribbean as a private chef on a yacht, she brings together the traditional flavors of other cultures with a fresh twist on contemporary cuisine.

Ladan strives to maintain the vitality and flavor from the wonderful abundance of California produce to deliver healthy revitalizing dishes to the table. Be sure and sample some of Ladan's designs in Current Restaurant and Tides Bar.

Sample Chef Ladan's signature Tapenade recipe at home.


Current Tapenade

1 cup kalamata olives
2 cups soft sundried tomatoes
1 whole peeled garlic
1 cup of good quality extra virgin olive oil
½ cup roasted red peppers
1 handful fresh basil basil leaves

Put all ingredients in a food processor and stream in extra virgin olive oil until well combined.

Norbert Bertram - Sous ChefCurrent Restaurant & Tides Bar

Norbert Bertram was born a year after World War II in Communist East Berlin. As a boy, he read many books about America, Canada and the South Pacific. He listened to "The Voice of America" every morning and dreamed of traveling to all those places.

At fourteen, he escaped Communist Germany to West Berlin. He enrolled in the Berlin Hotel and Restaurant School for three years and also completed a cook's apprenticeship at the same time. After graduating, he traveled to Canada, arriving in Quebec with $150.00 speaking only Russian as a second language. He learned English quickly and got a job in Toronto at the Park Plaza Hotel where he had the opportunity to cook for the British Royal Family. In 1965, he left Canada for San Francisco where he became the Chef de Cuisine at the Trident Restaurant which was owned by the Kingston Trio. He also opened a wholesale fruit and vegetable business and worked as maitre'd, manager, and chef at San Francisco's famous Julius Castle
Restaurant where he cooked for many celebrities, including President Carter.

In 1993, he left San Francisco and traveled for one year in the wilderness of Mexico. He then became a merchant marine and worked on the S.S Constitution in Hawaii as Head Saucier. In 1998, he came to the Coronado Island Marriott where he is presently the Sous Chef.