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The Conundrum I was working at a large resort a few years ago, killing the prep list for our New Year’s celebration. Running up to the last several hours before execution, I found myself in front of a six-foot griddle getting ready to sear of…

Why Addiction is Everyone’s Problem Caution: the following contains frank, raw and vulnerable language. If you’d rather keep your head in the sand about one of the most important issues facing our culinary fraternity and industry popula…

After 10 years in this industry, there was a part of me that was proud to realize that I had become hard as coffin nails. I was as the industry had made me. I had also become quick: quick witted, nimble in close quarters, and fleet of foo…

There have been times in my career when I have been my own worst enemy. “Chef, I can’t keep,” my voice caught in my throat, “I can’t keep doing this.” I practiced the speech in my mind a dozen times but was ta…

“Dear Chef, Today I learned compassion, something this industry is lacking. So many times we don’t care about what’s going on in other’s lives and respond with ‘suck It up sunshine’. Something happened to me pers…

“You know, you’re the only chef I’ve worked for that I didn’t want to burn down and take his place,” my sous chef said quietly, head down as we both cut fish. I didn’t say a word in response. I just kept slicin…

How do you plan on sustaining your chef success? Last month, I wrote a piece called Culinary Core Principles and Why They Matter, where I outlined the power and clarity that can be derived by discovering and embodying core principles. I in…

Once, after having personally cooked a staff meal for the prep crew, I stood off to the side with my sous chef, beaming like a proud poppa as they tore into the food. My sous chef, sensing my smugness, elbowed me into the prese…

I recently accepted a contract position for the summer at a large resort in the mid-Atlantic region. On my first day, a cook asked me, “So, what’s your mission?’” There had been plenty of talk d…