Lugano takes Manhattan

Chefs who have cooked there before have groused about the Beard House's cramped kitchen. But Neville said he's not worried; the facilities were remodeled recently. "And compared to Lugano's kitchen, it's infinitely bigger," he said. "Our kitchen here is so small that I was doing the desserts out in the dining room today."

The kitchen wasn't the only part of the foundation that was recently revamped. The nonprofit organization was rocked by scandal in 2004 when auditors found that in 2003, only $29,000 of the nearly $4.5 million in the general fund had gone directly to culinary scholarships. Then-president Len F. Pickell Jr. admitted to fraudulently using foundation funds and was sentenced to one to three years in prison.

The scandal disappointed chefs such as Jeffrey Russell of the Grand America, who is also a foundation member and has cooked at the Beard House several times.

"We had done dinners there within that year, and the money from our hard work wasn't going where it was supposed to," said Russell. But, he said, board members quickly stepped in to restructure its accounting processes, and the group is now more open with its financial statements.

The foundation seems to have regained its credibility as chefs across the country still deem it an honor to come.

This invitation is a milestone for Neville.

"I find it a little ironic that I've spent so many years working in Los Angeles and San Francisco where the chefs are usually chosen," he said. "And then after I decided to move to Utah for family reasons, I end up getting invited to come."

Neville grew up in Newport Beach, Calif., and at 17 traveled to Italy with his family. In addition to the art and culture, he was inspired by the Italian kitchens.

He earned an associate of arts degree at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland, and then a bachelor's degree at University of California at Los Angeles and a master's degree in business administration at Thunderbird University in Arizona. All the while, he worked for many high-end restaurants.

His long career includes stints as executive chef for Gastronomy Inc. (owners of Market Street Grill and The New Yorker); food and beverage director of Solitude Resort; and operations officer and executive chef with Spectrum Foods Inc., overseeing 13 restaurants with $43 million in annual sales.

As he traveled back and forth from northern to Southern California weekly, he and his wife, Julie, yearned for a simpler life of family, friends and roots in Salt Lake City. While on a Utah ski trip in 2000, they found the site to launch their own restaurant. The two worked as a team, with Julie doing the restaurant's design and decor. They named it Lugano for northern Italy's lake bordering the Swiss Alps.