What’s your earliest memory of food?
Nearly burning the house down when I was two years old! I had the intention of cooking the traditional Sunday breakfast for the family – cracked the eggs (shell and all) into the pan – turned on the gas – and waited. It was only when my grandmother woke up on the second floor to the smell of the gas that a possible catastrophe was avoided. I was reprimanded as you can expect, but this didn’t deter my spirit!

How would you best describe your personal philosophy on food?
I like to focus on procuring the best raw ingredients available. What is natural, fresh and in season. Then prepare these ingredients simply, using good technique and seasoning. Most important is that the dish is delicious and well balanced, cooked with care and a lot of love!

Hailing from Chicago, how do you think your background influences the way you work, create and develop menus?
Chicago is in the mid-west United States. This is corn and cattle country. We eat a lot of meat and tend to like our food boldly seasoned and full of flavour. You can see this in the deep dish pizzas, Chicago style hot dogs (which have a salad bars worth of garnishes on top), and the famous Italian beef sandwiches. Not to mention the barbecue! I love to play with all kinds of ingredients, but I will always fall back on what I know best – these bold flavours and delicious slow-smoked barbecue!

 What ingredients do you love working with at the moment?
At the moment, we have been spending a lot of time developing smoker menu as part of Sundays in the Garden at Garden Kitchen & Bar. My love for all things slowly smoked inspired us to buy a Yoder smoker all the way from Kansas, USA. We have sourced some fantastic pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken wings, and brisket that are slow smoked for hours to deliver an amazing bold flavour that keeps people coming back for more. Most importantly, it is exciting to introduce this style of cooking to our team who are taking it to the next level with enthusiastic abandon!

What occupation would you love to do, if you were not a chef?
I have never done anything except cook. So this is a tough question. I love to travel, so I would probably take any job that allowed me opportunities to see the world and experience other cultures.

If you could prepare a meal for anyone in the world right now, who would you choose and what would you cook?
There’s the chef part of me that wants to cook for the best chefs in the world and get their advice and feedback. Someone like Eric Ripert – who I highly respect not only for his fantastic cuisine and attention to detail, but also his progressive thinking. I would probably cook my foie gras with crispy crepes, wild spinach and blueberry verjus. But then, there is the boy in me who misses home and my mum – I love to cook for her. So that would be my real wish any day of the week!

What keeps you inspired and progressing your craft?
My inspiration is drawn mostly from my team and the atmosphere around me. They keep me motivated to always strive for excellence, every day! These days, in my role as Executive Chef of The Star Gold Coast, I don’t spend as much time in the kitchen as I would like, so I love to see what my talented team is doing, and offer any advice and direction that I can. They are amazing, very talented, and full of spirit – producing some unique and amazing experiences, as well as some very delicious food. I also read a lot of cookbooks from the best chefs in the world. I probably buy a cookbook every two weeks – currently I am bit behind and have some catching up to do! The cookbooks these days are fantastic, as each of these chefs tells an amazing story that is truly unique. It is enthralling!

If we rummaged through your fridge at home, what would we find?
You would currently find an array of items – I love to fish with my partner, and we freeze some of our catch. Currently we have snapper, flathead, tuskfish, and Spanish mackerel cryovaced and ready for a good old fashioned fish fry! In the fridge you would find some natural yoghurt, fresh vegetables, homemade chilli jam, lots of various condiments, cheese, and some leftover chicken. Plus some beer to accompany the dishes.

What words of wisdom do you live by?
“We the willing, led by the unknowing, have been doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have been doing so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.” – Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I think this speaks to the hearts of a lot of chefs who sacrifice body, mind and soul daily for the love of their craft.

If all this talk of slow-cooked American barbecues has your mouth watering, then get yourself to Garden Kitchen & Bar on for its Sundays in the Garden.