Eileen Randall

The Project by Corazón Cocina & Taproom | Santa Barbara, CA

Chef Eileen Foster Randall was raised in Santa Barbara, California. She realized at an early age that if someone would pay you money to make cookies and play with chocolate when you grew up, that was the thing to do. She has professionally pursued her passion for food and baking since the age of fourteen.

Eileen left Santa Barbara to attend the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and began an internship at Campton Place Hotel. After graduation from culinary school she moved to Los Angeles where she put her skills to work at the Hotel Bel Air, dessert catering for the entertainment industry, and a variety of restaurant pastry jobs in Santa Monica and Venice.

After several years in Los Angeles, Eileen returned to her hometown, working at The Four Seasons Biltmore and as Executive Pastry Chef for the Wine Cask Restaurant and catering company. In 1997 Eileen founded Bella Dolce, a wedding cake and dessert catering company which expanded into a bakery-cafe that operated until 2010. After closing the bakery, Eileen switched from sweets to savory and has been a private chef for clients in Montecito, and a chef backstage at the Santa Barbara Bowl serving artists and crew.  

In 2018 Chef Ramon Velazquez invited her to develop desserts for Corazón Cocina, his incredibly popular restaurant within the Santa Barbara Public Market. The opportunity to combine her deep love of Mexico and Mexican cuisine with a return to working with pastry has been a dream come true.

In July 2019, Chef Velazquez opened a new restaurant in the Funk Zone of downtown Santa Barbara: The Project by Corazón Cocina & Taproom. This sister restaurant also carries desserts created by Eileen, and other restaurant openings are planned in the near future.