Meet Your Chef

Being a Chef isn’t just an occupation for me; it’s my life. I have wanted to be a cook/chef since I was born. I grew up with severe learning disabilities from kindergarten through college, but with the help of my family, I got through it, and here I am today. The reason why this industry always grabbed my attention was that you could create something from nothing, and that’s a fantastic thing. As cooks and chefs, we can take raw ingredients from nature and alter their appearance, aroma, taste, and texture, and there isn’t any other profession that does that.

I started in the industry at the age of 15, working at Joe Kools and Jim Bob Rays in London, ON as a parking attendant and barback. This was an amazing job for a 15-year-old, as it showed me a lot and what I didn’t want to be. Working at bars isn’t as glamorous as people think.

By age 23, I received my chef papers – the youngest in Ontario then. From there, I had the pleasure of working under Kirk Weiss (Riverbend Golf Community) and Executive Chef Josh Sawyer (Byron Free House). To add to my experience, I helped open Earls as their Sous Chef, Icarus Restaurant as Executive Chef and opened my own restaurant Spruce.

At The In Home Chef, we specialize in fine dining and using local ingredients that dive into Molecular Gastronomy. We have two private farms with local farmers within 5 km of our kitchen that grow close to 80% of the products we use. I’m passionate about making fresh pasta, braising techniques for various types of meat, utilizing less-used cuts of proteins and getting creative – using parsnips to create a white chocolate parsnip gel.

While film and art fill up my downtime, the only thing I know for sure in this lifetime is that I will always be a cook first. Nothing will ever take me out of it, and I am damn proud of that. I love cooking– it’s my peace.