Like many professional chefs, I have been cooking my whole life- as far back as I can remember. From shaking aluminum foil pans full of Jiffy-Pop popcorn atop a carefully placed stool in front of my grandmother’s stove to cooking for two James Beard award-winning chefs in Boston, Massachusetts, I’ve cooked everywhere from Logan Airport; to a former prison turned high-end boutique hotel on the Charles River in historic Beacon Hill. Life then landed me in sunny San Diego where I had the opportunity to cook at two local farm-to-table eateries, one being Local Habit, under local chef and restaurateur Nick Brune. Until the pandemic, I was also the Chef at the Waldorf School of San Diego, serving grades 1-12 nutritious, locally-sourced and organic school lunches.

Along the way, I have constantly been striving to find balance in my work life and personal life. And as you may know, we don’t always have as much control over these things as we would like. I slowly realized that there were a few simple things I could focus on that I could control. The first is what I eat, the second is getting exercise, and the third is getting enough quality sleep. As it turned out, these things profoundly affect how I feel about myself daily and give me the energy to do all the things I want to do regardless of the brutal schedule of high-end kitchens and then life as a father. As I have learned more over the years and tried many different approaches to my diet, I have improved upon those effects by making life-altering changes to my diet and being disciplined with exercise and sleep.

Fast forward to today. Through many years of sifting through fads, trendy superfoods, buzzword diets, and misinformation about what a healthy diet consists of, I am learning to support the focus on an ancestral-based diet. My journey and research has led me to a place that I feel is very much in alignment with the mindset and teachings in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. As a father (of a 4.5 month old and 11 year old!), I have seen the benefits of incorporating these foods into my family's diet while avoiding other popular lower quality processed food products.

I enjoy nothing more than creating and cooking delicious meals that families can enjoy in a straightforward way by taking the time to source the proper ingredients and cook intentionally. 

My vision for this business has a focus on braised and grilled meats, (organic, pastured and grass-fed and from locally sourced farms when possible). We will offer beef, pork, lamb, turkey, and chicken. We intend on using organ meats when available in our bone broths. We also plan to avoid processed grains, inflammatory seed oils, and all meals will be naturally gluten-free. We will focus on offering carbohydrates in the form of rice, potato, sweet potatoes, and fresh, organic vegetables. Organic dairy will be used on a minimum basis, (and raw will be sourced if or when appropriate), concentrating mainly on the use of animal fats, olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, and coconut oil.

Our hope is that many of you will show your support and join us in this expedition of regaining our ancestral health and nourishing our bodies to connect us with food in the same way we connected with food over thousands of years of evolution. For those of you that may not relate to this type of cooking, I would simply say give it a try and see how you feel.