About The Chef

I love food, and I love cooking, and I've been able to fulfill that passion and hone my craft through my work as a chef and writer over the past 25 years.

Early on, before I knew that food and cooking was my calling, I worked the standard restaurant jobs while in college at The University of Colorado getting my English Degree: scooping muffins at a small bakery here, bussing tables at an Italian restaurant there.

After graduating with honors from New England Culinary Institute in 2005, I worked in Atlanta, GA as a line cook on a tight-knit crew at a super hip restaurant that served as a bit of a chef factory, most of that crew moving on to great things. Meanwhile, I also spent a bit of time learning the tricks of the TV trade while working on the television show Good Eats with the legendary Alton Brown.

Moving on to Chicago, I spent several years as a chef at a couple restaurants before diving into culinary instruction at a recreational cooking school—it was here that I found my voice, learning how to talk to people about food rather than just prepare it for them.

At that point, I’d been in Chicago for about seven years, so I took a sabbatical of sorts, moving to Bozeman, MT for the summer to help a good friend fine-tune his ever-expanding business, returning to Chicago in the fall to help another friend open his restaurant, a spot that would go on to be listed on Bon Appetit’s “Best New Restaurant” list soon thereafter.

Finally, I took a job as a private chef for a firm in Chicago, and stayed there for a dozen years, cooking a different menu, solo, every day for about 100 people. It was here that I was able to focus on my writing, and it was here where I learned the most about food, cooking, and cuisine as I strove to expose my guests to as many of the world’s delicious flavors and beautiful cultures as possible.

Now, my wife and I live in Montana, where despite my new, self-assigned title of “recovering chef,” I still scout the endless world of food for flavors new and familiar, challenging and comforting as I cook for family and friends.