At Poggio, he earned multiple 3-star reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle and placement within the coveted “Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area” rankings every year since 2008. In 2009 Chef McNee took top honors at San Francisco’s Cochon 555 competition. As Executive Chef at Mindel’s Sausalito restaurant, Poggio, a lasting friendship and partnership formed. Returning to the Bay Area, he was drawn to iconic restaurateur Larry Mindel, the founder of Il Fornaio restaurants, and their shared passion for Italy. While Chef McNee was living with his host families, cooking and traveling throughout the country, he fell in love with Italian food and culture. He worked at Ristorante Campagnola in Salo, Italy and for Alain Ducasse trained and Tuscan born Chef Matteo Temperini at Hotel Bel Soggiorno in San Gimignano, Italy. Restless with his stateside education, Peter embarked on a yearlong culinary pilgrimage to Italy. Upon graduation, he headed to wine country where McNee continued his culinary education at Ristorante TraVigne in the Napa Valley. This farm-to-table approach has remained a constant throughout his career. He attended the California Culinary Academy in 1999 while working at Jeremiah Tower’s famed STARS restaurant, building relationships with local farmers. Simple ingredients shine in the hands of Chef McNee.Ī native of Minnesota, Peter moved to California after receiving a degree in Economics from Gustavus Adolphus College.
The menu is subject to the seasonality and the hyper local availability of ingredients from Santa Barbara County. McNee describes the cooking at Convivo as ‘nomad Italian’, sourcing inspiration from around the globe, melding other cultures’ cooking with coastal Italian cuisine.
A tireless pursuit of the bounty of seasonal ingredients, a new home rich in culture and community and a passion for Italian culinary traditions led Chef McNee to Santa Barbara and the opening of Convivo.
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