Stephen Beckta is President of the Beckta Restaurant Group that includes Beckta, one of Canada’s premier fine-dining restaurants, along with the critically acclaimed, small-plates Play food & wine, and the upscale Westboro neighbourhood restaurant Gezellig.

After graduating with honours from Algonquin College’s Sommelier program, Stephen departed Ottawa to hone his skills in New York City for four years with the top players in the restaurant industry. Stephen managed the wine programs and dining rooms at Café Boulud working for the celebrated chef Daniel Boulud, followed by two years with renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer at Eleven Madison Park before returning to his native city.

Beckta, Play and Gezellig have received glowing reviews in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The National Post and countless others, being applauded for their extraordinary hospitality and inspired cooking. Just two months after opening, enRoute Magazine rated Beckta dining & wine the fourth best new restaurant in Canada. Other accolades include nineteen consecutive CAA/AAA four-diamond awards as well as being named the #1 restaurant in Ottawa by Ottawa Magazine three years in a row. Beckta was named “Ottawa’s Signature Restaurant”, by the Ottawa Citizen, and has been on the Top 100 list of Best Restaurants in Canada four times, most recently in 2022.  Play was named “Favourite Fine Dining Restaurant” at the Ottawa Restaurant Awards, and Gezellig was said to “redefine the neighbourhood dining experience” in the Ottawa Citizen.

Stephen has personally contributed to his industry in many ways: sitting on the board of ORHMA, teaching at Algonquin College, sitting on the advisory committee for the Hospitality School at Algonquin College, mentoring dozens of burgeoning restaurant entrepreneurs and donating his time to various local and national causes whose values he shares.  He is most engaged with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, being an active member of board since 2011.

Professionally, Stephen has been named Top Independent Restaurateur in Ontario by the Ontario Hostelry Institute, won the National Terroir "Outstanding Service Professional" Award, won the Bill Joe Restaurateur of the Year Award in Ottawa by ORHMA, named one of Ottawa Life Magazine’s Top 50 people twice, one of Ottawa’s Top 40 under 40 by the Ottawa Business Journal and Algonquin College’s Alumni of the year, giving his college’s convocation address the same year.  He created & executed “Canada’s Table”, a 1000-person dinner at a single table in front of Parliament Hill for Canada’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, featuring 20 top chefs from across the country.

Clay Cardillo is the Managing Partner for Beckta, as well as for its sister restaurants Play food & wine and gezellig. Clay completed the Algonquin Culinary Program in 1998 before becoming the Sous Chef for LeMetro in Ottawa. From there Clay worked in the kitchens of the NAC and The Keg,and was soon promoted within The Keg to open restaurants as Kitchen Manager. Here he began to find that while he got into the business to work with food and wine, he enjoyed working with the people in the restaurants as much as the product. Before long, Clay was recruited by SirCorp, then a small Canadian restaurant corporation, to be the opening Kitchen Manager and then General Manager for a number of restaurants throughout Southern Ontario. After 9 years and soon after the birth of his first child, Clay left SirCorp to become Business Development Manager at Cara, where he helped owners develop their people and restaurants. In 2012, Clay joined the Beckta family of restaurants of Beckta dining & wine, Play food & wine and gezellig, where he is happy to fulfill his passion for building business by driving hospitality.

For 13 years, Pieter served and managed at Ottawa’s Courtyard Restaurant. Along the way, he fell in love with two things. The first was the rewarding experience of looking after people. The second was all things wine. Both of these passions led him to become a graduate of Algonquin’s College’s Sommelier Program and earn a Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits from the WSET. First joining Beckta as Service Manager in 2006, Pieter became our Sommelier in 2008. Since then, he’s crafted a diverse wine list, which promotes delicious Canadian and international wines from great producers who make wine with a sense of place. Outside of Beckta, Pieter continues to spread the word about wine through his teaching at Algonquin College and his articles in Diplomat magazine.

Chef Kyle Wilson was at Play Food & Wine for six years before becoming our Head Chef at Beckta. Having graduated from George Brown College in 2014 in Culinary Skills Chef Training, Kyle has worked in notable establishments in Toronto, where he fostered his passion for farm-to-table. Kyle appreciates the importance of the relationships we have to food, the relationships with its growers and how food is grown. A lover of a variety of cuisines from Indian to Italian, he loves that at Play, the menu isn’t focused on a specific cuisine but rather on how to best express the ingredients we work with from our farmers and suppliers. Looking ahead, Kyle would like to teach culinary students and someday open his own restaurant where he can cook and serve his guests in order to be fully immersed in the hospitality experience.

Sergio Da Silva Ramos started his career as a bartender in the lively night industry in the Algarve, Portugal, where he became fascinated with the history behind classic cocktails. He improved his knowledge of different types and qualities of spirits to be able to create his own cocktails that became popular among tourists and locals. Sergio then moved to London, United Kingdom to continue to work in popular restaurants and cocktail bars while learning about the operations of hospitality in a cosmopolitan city. Sergio perfected his skills in mixology at the House of Wolf in Islington, and later joined the team at the Toy Shop Bar, an upscale cocktail lounge renowned for its unique drinks menu. He quickly rose up the ladder to become General Manager and worked with staff to build a vibrant atmosphere at the Toy Shop which made it into a popular destination. Sergio moved to Canada during the pandemic, and he has recently joined the Beckta team as the Service Manager. Sergio values the importance of quality customer service and he strives to provide a positive space for guests and staff to have a remarkable experience.

From a young age Jordan developed a passion and appreciation for good food and the dining experience. His family enjoyed traveling and dining out but also made time everyday for delicious homemade meals. In 2001 he began his journey in the hospitality industry while doing post secondary education and quickly discovered where he belonged. Shortly after finishing his education he began studying wine at Algonquin college to hone his skills and advance in the industry. Since 2009 Jordan has been with the Beckta Restaurant group embracing their brand of hospitality and striving to create memorable dining experiences for all guests.