Over the summer, Foxwoods hired Aron M. Lesko as Executive Pastry Chef and Heiko C. Bendixen, one of America�s 54 certified master chefs, as Director of Food Services in the Food & Beverage Department. Both Chef Aron and Chef Heiko are at the top of their professions and highly respected by their peers.

�This brings the highest caliber of creative food preparation skills to Southern New England,� said Bob Sheldon, Chief Operating Officer for Foxwoods. �These highly skilled culinary artists can compete on an international level and can satisfy the most discerning palate.�

�When you serve up to 40,000 meals a day to employees and guests, it�s a challenge to make sure every meal is distinctly individual,� said Vernis Winfield, vice president of Food & Beverage. �These two fine chefs are up to exceeding that challenge and our employees and guests are going to notice the difference.�

Aron Lesko was born in the town of Louvain, Belgium. The son of a Russian Orthodox Priest, he developed his interest in the baking and pastry industry at the age of 13 in a small hometown bakery located in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, where his family had moved. He began by washing pots and pans, and by the age of 14 was mixing dough, baking into the night and rising for school the next morning. By the time he was 19, Chef Aron had worked at two of the best European style bakeries in Pittsburgh and became the night supervisor of 13 bakers on grave shift at a wholesale bakery.

During his career in the baking field, he worked for the Walt Disney World Yacht and Beach Club Hotel and for the Hilton Corporation as Assistant Pastry Chef. He also spent some time as a private Executive Pastry Chef for a wealthy family. Lesko also worked at the Garden City Hotel, which was the only 4 star and 4 diamond privately owned hotel in Long Island, New York.

In 1998, Lesko accepted the Pastry Chef�s position at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square in New York City. The following year he began working at his first casino when he went to work at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.

A member of both the Pastry Alliance and the Society Philanthropic Gastronomic, he has just recently completed his work to become a Certified Executive Chef working towards becoming a Master Pastry Chef.

Chef Aron�s dessert style has a contemporary outlook with an abstract infusion. All are based on traditional renditions.

�For those of us who are passionate about what we do, there are no limitations and all other boundaries are imaginary,� said Chef Aron. �It is my aim to put into this trade a factor from which posterity could draw economical and social betterment.�

Master Chef Heiko also was fascinated with cooking as a youngster. In his native Germany, he took an interest in pots and pans at the age of 8. He began to watch his grandmother cook and eventually became a chef�s apprentice at 14. For most of the last 20 years, Chef Heiko has worked in Atlantic City, starting in 1979 as executive chef at Bally�s Park Place. In 1988 he became executive chef at the Showboat hotel and casino. Showboat sent him to Sydney, Australia where he was vice president of Food and Beverage, eventually opened the Sydney Harbor Casino and met his wife, Ivy.

He returned to the U.S. in 1997 to become executive chef at Caesars Atlantic City. He longed to get back to the excitement of creating thousands of meals a day. He brought his vast experience to Foxwoods in September.

Chef Heiko has studied at the Culinary Institute of America and serves on the committee of the American Culinary Federation, which tests chefs in the master chef program. Certified Master Chefs are more common in European countries where it is required in order to take on apprentices. Final exams can last as long as 10 days.

As director of food services, Chef Heiko is responsible for culinary services and stewarding at Foxwoods. He will be closely involved with the opening of Foxwoods� newest restaurant, part of a new high-end casino complex opening in December on the 24th and 25th floors of the Grand Pequot Tower. He and Chef Aron will create one of the most unique gourmet dining experiences in the region.