SAILS

Darren Veilleux is responsible for making Sails Restaurant’s nightly service a seamless process. Many guests may recognize Darren from the restaurant’s open kitchen: Darren initially served as master of the restaurant’s custom-built wood-fire grill, relying on his heightened senses for mastering this unique piece of equipment like no other in Florida, to prepare grilled fish and steak to perfection.

A post-grad position at Kennebunkport’s Earth at Hidden Pond farm-to-table restaurant first exposed Darren to this method of cooking using an ultra-high degree oven; however, none of his colleagues had seen one quite like this.  Prior to that, on weekends during the school year and summers, he worked various culinary stations and outlets at Westerly, RI’s Ocean House.  Following graduation, Darren worked at Birch, Bon Appetit magazine’s “Top 50 Best New Restaurants” 2014 winner.  Under executive chef Benjamin Sukle, a “Best Chef: Northeast” award nominee by the James Beard Foundation, he honed his already formidable skills while adding fermentation and other innovative culinary techniques to his repertoire in this prestigious venue.  Arriving in Naples in November 2017, Darren is among Sails’ original culinary team members. His creativity is showcased in several of the restaurant’s most popular lunch and dinner offerings.