Culinary Philosophy
I believe that delicious food comes from the best fresh ingredients and simple preparations. It is the combination of simple preparations in complex ways that makes a dish elegant
Background & Experience
Exposed to the kitchen at a very young age Chef JD started a lifelong culinary journey that would take him from making breakfast in his parents’ home kitchen in middle school to an innovative restaurant in Woodstock Illinois where the chef got a crew of inexperienced cooks and trained them himself to create everything from scratch, to a Michelin Star kitchen (for one night) where he learned a thing or two from Charlie Trotter. This was all before he decided to formalize his training by attending the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Greystone in St. Helena, CA in the Napa Valley.
The CIA allowed Chef JD to continue to build on his love of spending time in the kitchen and take it to a professional level. He got the nickname “Captain Soup” at school because his classmates always voted him to make that day’s soups and stocks. He also got exposure to international cuisine and picked up a few tips on perfecting his pizza crust. It was during his CIA education that he worked under his second Michelin Star chef, Chef Ken Frank of La Toque.
Prior to and on a parallel path with his informal culinary experience, JD joined the Army as a tanker with the First Infantry Division serving one tour each in Iraq and Kosovo. After he was honorably discharged, he got a history degree from Northern Illinois University. His last position prior to jumping headlong into the culinary world was as Deputy Director for the First Division Museum.
Lessons - in leadership, accountability, and patience - learned from these different lives have contributed to making JD a successful chef. In the Army he was both the learner and the teacher, discovering that he could learn almost anything just by reading a book (including how to drive his 1999 Harley Davidson Fat Boy). But his favorite thing to learn from books are dishes that will impress his clients.