For the past 11 years, Chef Christopher Lauro has been cooking up creative and delicious dishes in the Vail area. Born in New York and raised in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Christopher hails from a family of fishermen, which showcased all the opportunities of using fresh-caught seafood and experimental, zesty flavors to his young, impressionable self. Christopher grew up in a warm Italian household and quickly developed an interest and passion for food and flavors. Thriving in a family that loves food, he found himself wanting to create food that his family would love, inspiring him to become a chef. Upon graduating from Eastern Carolina University, he went on to pursue his desire to work with food.
Christopher started working as a pizza cook at the age of 13. After working as a cook in various restaurants in North Carolina and Vermont, Christopher made the life-altering decision to move to Vail, Colorado to pursue his career in culinary arts in some of the best restaurants in this well-to-do ski resort community. Management at several local fine dining restaurants quickly noticed that he had an excellent knack of knowing how to expertly craft and present dishes in a way that would enhance their flavor and aesthetic appeal, and quickly promoted him up the ranks until he reached senior status in the kitchen.
His current position as Executive Chef at Deca + Bol reflects his dedication to nourishing food as well as his heritage, as some of the menu features Italian and Mediterranean-inspired flavors and ingredients. Christopher enjoys featuring dishes from all cultures and hates being restricted to a specific type of cuisine – he wants to have something on his menu for everyone to relish in. He feels that he is still gaining culinary knowledge as he navigates through this lifetime and he strives to learn something new each day. Christopher is incredibly grateful for his hard-working and dedicated incredible staff, especially his talented right-hand man and sous chef, Lalo Mata, who shares his creative vision for creating new menu concepts.
When he is not developing new seasonal menu concepts, experimenting in the kitchen or teaching, you’ll find Christopher in his Vail home enjoying peace with his girlfriend. Besides cooking, he also enjoys snowboarding, camping, surfing, traveling, great food paired with a nice cocktail and most importantly: the Tar Heels.
