Heather Hiltl

Kitchen manager

The DeLille En Ville kitchen is supported by Kitchen Manager and Chef Heather Hiltl, who joined the DeLille team in the summer of 2025 for the opening of our newest restaurant location. With over 15 years of culinary experience, she brings a high level of expertise to the team alongside a desire to create welcoming, simple but exceptional dishes that perfectly bring to life the DeLille approach to joyful hospitality. 

Biography

Born in Germany and raised between there and Texas, Chef Hiltl began cooking at an early age, particularly with her grandmother while living in Germany. While the two spoke different languages, they spent much of their time together cooking (her grandparents owned their own restaurant and cooked often at home). “We had our own garden and used what we grew ourselves,” she says, “which inspired my love for what I call ‘kitchen sink cooking’, challenging myself to be creative with the components of past menu items to create something new.” Her professional journey began later, as she attended The Art Institute in Dallas, Texas, to study culinary arts. 

While in school, Chef Hiltl began working at Bizzis in Dallas, her first and most influential restaurant job. When the main chef was let go soon into her time there, the owner offered her the opportunity to take over – at just nineteen years old. The risk paid off for everyone: Chef Hiltl embarked on seven-year, largely self-taught course of restaurant operations, learning everything from how to cut down salmon to menu development and food costing through DIY and trial and error and the restaurant thrived.  

After moving to Washington in 2017, Chef Hiltl began her PNW career at Adam’s Bistro in Monroe, spending time there as Sous Chef & Kitchen Manager. She then moved to Woodblock in Redmond, where she held roles of Sautee Cook and Sous Chef before being promoted to Chef. Over her seven years there, she was able to experience running a restaurant on a larger scale for the first time, taking over and managing the kitchen through the challenging COVID period. 

When the opportunity to join the opening team at DeLille En Ville came her way in summer 2025, Chef Hiltl was ready. “I’ve never opened a restaurant before, so it was an exciting challenge to build something new and work within such an established Washington wine brand,” she said. She looks forward to working with the DeLille team to bring wine-paired dinners and other new formats to life at En Ville. 

Outside of the kitchen, Chef Hiltl enjoys relaxing with her two little kitties at home, playing video games and has developed a love for paddleboarding and camping during her time in the Pacific Northwest.