I started my first cooking job at the age of 13. I had the pleasure of traveling through the state to serve Pronto Pups at festivals and fairs. It taught me from the start that the service industry can be a grueling and often unrewarding job, but when you get that sense of pride for what you've made and see the customers enjoy it - there really isn't anything better than that. 

It was shortly after obtaining this job that I lost my father to a sudden heart attack. It was devastating for my mother, my siblings and I, but it propelled me to grow up very fast at a young age and to take my work and health seriously. It was a defining time in my life for sure, and strangely enough, I wouldn't be where I was today if that hadn't happened. 

 

I had various restaurant jobs through my teen years and eventually did a small stint at Winona State University where I met my wife, Madeline.

I did not finish that degree that I was pursuing, but instead sought a new restaurant job after realizing that university education wasn't for me at the time.

 

I found my way to my first kitchen management position at Timbers restaurant, a long standing, family owned breakfast restaurant. It was there when I really began to realize my love for cooking. 

I later found my way to Morgan's farm to table as the sous chef. 

I established a lifelong relationship there with my chef and mentor Olivier Lagier as we turned Morgan's into what we thought a farm to table restaurant should really be; scratch made food, as fresh as possible, with ingredients sourced ethically and as locally as possible, with our passion for the food coming through in everything we made. 

The 2020 pandemic eventually caused me to move on from Morgan's, which is when I found my way to The Herbivorous Butcher and J Selby's as the Chef/KM where I was able to pursue more knowledge of alternative diets and cooking methods. It became a fun challenge to "veganize" many of my favorite traditional meals. 

 

I'm proudly born and raised in Minnesota. I grew up in little ol Morristown with about 900 people. Like most small towns there isn't much for kids to do. We played in the woods, rode our bikes, went fishing, and drank way too much at way too young of an age. We had our fun. 

I now live in the Minneapolis area with my wife, our three cats; Roux, Zest, and Oeuf, along with our two turtles Luna and Sol.

I'm a big fan of anything science fiction or superhero oriented. I'm quite engrained into Marvel and DC comic books and movies which occupy a lot of my down time. I love getting lost in a good story. 

 

I've become quite the world traveler in the recent decade also. Before meeting my wife the only other state I'd been to was South Dakota. 

Now I've had the pleasure of visiting over 30 states, 3 Canadian provinces, Mexico, Argentina, London, Prague, Munich, and the Guernsey isles - where my wife's family hails from. 

Not only do I love experiencing these different cultures and climates but it's also an amazing opportunity to learn about food all around the world.