From room service to fine dining, Chef Manuel Treviño does it all

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Kitchen Superstars: Steak Diane done right

Chef Manuel Treviño shows Kitchen Superstars how to make the French classic, Steak Diane.

If you thought running a New York City restaurant was hard, try adding food service for an entire hotel on top of it.

That’s exactly the daunting task Chef Manuel Treviño must tackle every day as executive chef at Marble Lane, located in the trendy Dream Downtown hotel.

“It is much different than having a restaurant,” Treviño told FoxNews.com’s Kitchen Superstars. “When you’re in a restaurant, you are focused on that particular dinner service and it’s usually one facet, one aspect, one menu. Here, we’re almost executing 6-7 menus at the same time.”

Treviño oversees dining throughout the Dream Downtown hotel, from its poolside café to room service for hotel guests. The hotel’s main restaurant, Marble Lane, is described as a “Steak Joint + bar” and is located in the hotel’s lobby.

“It’s a really fun place,” Treviño says. “When you come to the hotel, the restaurant is smack dab in the middle of the lobby. Marble Lane usually tends to explode about nine in the evening and goes non-stop through one in the morning.”

Treviño got his start at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York City before landing at the Dream.  After a stint at Sirio Maccioni’s famed Le Cirque restaurant, Treviño rose through the ranks at Mario Batali’s Babbo and became a sous chef, working closely with the Food Network favorite. Treviño was also featured on season four of Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

Treviño’s love for cooking began at an early age – and was prompted by his mother’s unwillingness to cook new foods.

“I learned how to cook because my mom hates to cook. She’s a good cook, but my mom had a very shallow repertoire of about 5-7 dishes,” Treviño said. “I was four years old when I started cooking, well not cooking, but assembling salads and things … by the time I was seven, I was cooking hot fire live food.”

And Treviño hasn’t stopped cooking since. The Dream Downtown is now gearing up for a busy winter season and the chef insists he’s up to the challenge of serving hotel guests and Marble Lane diners alike.

“We’re still in the basic four wall structure, you know, it expands into two buildings but I think we have the place pretty well under wraps,” Treviño said. “All we really want to do is give the best product we can to our customers and keep them coming back.”