When Lisa Dahl started her restaurant 27 years ago, little did she know that she would become one of Sedona’s largest employers with a family of over 350 employees. At an International Women’s Day luncheon at the Sedona Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, March 8, she addressed more than 200 people, saying, “I am honored to do this and to help so many people in our community live their lives. I am humbled by my responsibility to affect Women’s Lifetime Achievement Leadership Award.

Dahl is Executive Chef and Owner of six internationally acclaimed restaurants: Dahl & DiLuca Ristorante Italiano, Cucina Rustica Rustic Tuscan Grill, Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill, Butterfly Burger and two Pisa Lisa Pizzeria Autentico locations. “If people didn’t know how you overcame hardships and didn’t give up, you wouldn’t get the Lifetime Achievement Award. I know that neither here nor those who died want to feel that they were not an important part of the journey.”

Initially, she says, she was a minority on the Sedona culinary scene. “From the first year until she was three months old, there were no women in the kitchen at all.”

That’s when she met Elena Jaimes at a catering event and asked her to work with him. “I started teaching her my recipes and we cooked together lovingly. To this day, she puts her love for me into every soup, sauce, meatball, etc. Elena has raised eight children and I am proud to have helped her and her children become naturalized citizens of the United States.”

One of Jaimes’ daughters is named after Dahl. “I’m her godmother. She’s now the sous chef at Butterfly Burger and is becoming an accomplished chef in her own right. Everyone calls her ‘Little Lisa.’

Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Leadership Award, Dahl took a rare pause to absorb the recognition and think about how a restaurant can become more than just a place to eat.

“As I stand here today on International Women’s Day, I am proud to contrast with 1995, when Elena and I were the only women working in the restaurant,” she told the group. Come to me and say, ‘Thank you for being a role model for women entrepreneurs,’ or research my restaurant and support a woman-owned business, or introduce your daughters to me. Don’t start telling me how much it means.” FBN

Bonnie Stevens, FBN

Courtesy photo: Chef Lisa Dahl reflected on nearly 30 years as a restaurateur last month when she received the Women’s Lifetime Achievement Leadership Award from the Sedona Chamber of Commerce. “From this realization, I’m still on cloud nine,” she said. Gathered around her Dar are Sedona Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Perry, Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Michelle Conway, and Women’s International Day Board Member Shondra Jeperson.