Chef Camilo Velasco leaves Winter Park’s Ravenous Pig for Disney

Six months after joining the culinary team at the Ravenous Pig as chef de cuisine for lunch, Camilo Velasco has taken a post as executive chef of Disney’s Old Key West Resort.

Velasco was previously chef de cuisine at 1921 by Norman Van Aken (now 1921 Mount Dora) but left soon after Van Aken parted ways with the restaurant.

Velasco will manage all food and beverage operations for the Old Key West Resort, which includes four casual outlets and Olivia’s Cafe, the resort’s signature restaurant.

The irony of working at the Old Key West Resort can’t be lost on Velasco — Van Aken, his mentor, made a name for himself cooking in the kitchens of Key West: Louie’s Backyard, in particular.

But this should be a stepping-stone for Velasco — the man’s talents are too great to be, umm, be wastin’ away here for a prolonged period of time.

“I think he’s going to move up in Disney fast,” says Ravenous Pig general manager Scott Geisler, and we couldn’t agree more.

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This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2019.