Love is the main ingredient – Underground Dining at Naglee Park

50 Shades of Hospitality

In this podcast, Philippe Rey-Westlund and Byron Rey-Westlund talk about their labor of love and fine dining with the creation of Underground Dining at Naglee Park in the Silicon Valley. We learn about how this idea was born, how it blossomed into a full-time job for its creative chef Byron and how Philippe’s family history of running a hotel and restaurant in Crans-Montana, Switzerland helped him to become the welcoming host for an eclectic clientele.

Both Byron and Philippe talk about their travel and dining experiences and how cuisine from different places influenced Byron’s culinary explorations and dishes. With humour and a touch of irreverence, they describe some of their underground dining events, give advice to people who may be interested in creating an Underground Dining venue and their favourite places to go for Underground Dining.

Byron Westlund Jr. grew up in Cupertino, California surrounded by fruits orchards. Cupertino, before becoming the Apple Corp. headquarters was a small village one hour south of San Francisco populated mostly by Italian and Mexican immigrants. There he was introduced early to the delicious tasty layers of ancestral Mexican cuisine.

After college, Byron worked in technology and with the responsibilities of holding leadership positions, he was afforded the opportunity to travel the world for business. As an adventurous and curious person, Byron would explore the food scene everywhere he landed. With offices and staff he would visit, on an almost monthly basis, Grenoble, Lyon, Geneva, Mexico City, Tokyo and Singapore. Byron would go out of his way to sample all local tastes and traditional dishes.

Upon his return home to Silicon Valley, he would spend hours recreating the flavors and structures of the dishes he so loved while out in the world. Underground Dining at Naglee Park was inevitable and for ten years, became Byron's retirement-from-technology job, but way more fun and creative. Byron always loves nothing more than welcoming friends and family to his table to share with them his passion and love for good, heart-warming, soul-lifting food and good times.

Dr. Philippe Rey is the Executive Director of ACS in the Silicon Valley, California. He first joined Adolescent Counseling Services in 1998 as Caravan House Program Director. After three years at Caravan, he became a member of the executive team as Associate Director and has now been the agency's Executive Director since 2004.

Philippe was born and raised in the French-speaking region of Switzerland and came to the United States in 1984 to attend the University of California at San Diego. In 1997, his doctorate in clinical psychology with a concentration in child and family therapy was conferred by Alliant International University in San Diego. Before pursuing graduate studies and a career in psychology, Philippe graduated from business school in Sion, Switzerland.

With his husband Byron, Philippe operated an "Underground Dining" establishment which served as a cultivation & fundraising vehicle for ACS since 2011.