Geoffrey Lanez, MBA, CEC, Executive Chef of The Patterson Club (Fairfield, Conn.), doesn’t waste movements. In the kitchen, on the competition floor, or in conversation, everything is deliberate. He leads with composure, coaches with energy, and cooks like he’s writing his résumé in real time.
At The Patterson Club, where he has served as Executive Chef since 2019, Lanez has spent the past six years shaping a program defined by sharp execution, cultural fluency, and technical growth. He trains his team to compete and holds himself to the same standard. When he returned to the 2025 Chef to Chef Conference this year to vie for Club + Resort Chef of the Year, he wasn’t looking to make a splash. He was looking to win. And he did.
A Menu With Meaning
The three-course meal he presented as part of the live culinary competition was deeply personal and rooted in the professional relationships that have shaped his career thus far.
For the appetizer course, Lanez served a citrus-cured sea scallop with pickled jalapeño, orange, mango, and a passion fruit sauce. The technique drew from Oaxacan-style agua chile and was inspired by Jesus Olmedo, Executive Sous Chef of St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla. Lanez had worked closely with Olmedo and crafted the dish to reflect their shared history and influence.
The mocktail, a passionfruit and mango mule with ginger beer and mango popping bubbles, was developed in collaboration with Lanez’s best friend, a former bartender who now works as a general manager. The boba was a personal touch, a nod to Lanez’s weekend bubble tea runs with his wife in Boston. (She watched the entire competition on FaceTime, held steady by another friend just off the kitchen. At one point, Lanez caught sight of her and was overwhelmed with how much her presence meant to him.) The drink wasn’t a throwaway pairing. It carried meaning, just like the food.
His entrée—butter-poached flounder with shrimp toast, cauliflower and coconut purée, fennel and herb salad, and lime emulsion—drew from multiple chapters of Lanez’s career. The poaching technique came from his time alongside Michael Shannon, who is now Executive Chef of Philadelphia Country Club. The shrimp toast traced back to nights on the line at the Somerset Club (Boston), when Lanez and Tony Le, now Executive Chef of White Cliffs Country Club in Plymouth, Mass., would improvise with whatever they had on hand. What began as a line cook’s late-shift snack became a refined component on a championship plate.
Training for the Unknown
New to the competition this year, chefs were allowed to bring three pre-approved ingredients from home. Lanez chose white bread, a reduction for the lime emulsion, and the mango popping bubbles. Everything else was built on-site in 45 minutes with an apprentice he had never met.
To prepare, Lanez ran the menu four times with cooks of varying skill levels, including his sous chef, banquet cook, and prep cook. Each run was a live test of timing, communication, and adaptability. He didn’t want perfection in practice. He wanted realism.
“I knew I wouldn’t get to choose my partner,” he says. “I needed to be ready for any variable.”
That variable turned out to be Jack Wagner, Executive Sous Chef of Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles. The two locked into rhythm immediately.
“We were dancing in the kitchen,” says Lanez. “He anticipated everything. He kept me calm. It felt like we had cooked together for years.”
When the dishes were served and the final knife was down, Lanez knew he had hit his marks. “We had a plan. We stuck to it. The food tasted right,” he says. “I could feel it.”
When his name was called, Lanez shook hands with every competitor, then turned and leapt into the arms of his apprentice. It was unfiltered joy, the kind that only comes after years of building toward something bigger.
“The other competitors pushed me to be better,” he says. “You put in the work, and sometimes you just need to know it’s landing. This made it real.”
The Win, the Work, and What’s Next
Chef of the Year comes at a moment of momentum for Lanez and his team. In January, The Patterson Club also won a regional culinary competition against other local clubs. Spirits are high. Focus is sharper.
Upon returning to the club after the Chef to Chef Conference, Lanez took his team out to lunch to celebrate. He plans to feature elements of the competition menu for members, not as trophies, but as part of the ongoing evolution of the program.
That continuity is intentional. Lanez has always treated the kitchen like a classroom. He builds systems and fosters leadership. He speaks about balance but works with purpose. He has trained under strong operators who gave him range. He was also named to the Club + Resort Chef 40 Under 40 Class of 2024 and is a frequent mentor to emerging culinarians.
His next goal is the Certified Master Chef exam by the American Master Chefs’ Order. He’s already training, both physically and mentally. He’s back to hot yoga, working on mobility and breath control, and building long-term endurance for the grueling test ahead.
“Some days are better than others,” he says. “But I know what I’m chasing.”
Lanez doesn’t compete for attention. He competes to refine. Every move and decision is calculated and grounded in purpose. He isn’t chasing trends or applause. He’s building something more durable.
“I used to try to cook what I thought judges wanted to see,” he says. “Now I cook what I believe in. That’s what this win represents.”
The title might be new, but the discipline behind it is not. “I’m proud of this achievement,” says Lanez. “But I’m more proud of how we got here.
