Hi! It’s nice to meet you and thank you for visiting the Weary Chef. I’m Anthony, the head chef at WearyChef and I am excited to share my recipes with you.
I live in Atlanta, GA but my culinary journey did not start here. I was born in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada), grew up in Vancouver, BC, and also lived in Hong Kong and Japan as a child. I was constantly exposed to great food between my parents’ and grandparents’ cooking and from living abroad. This sparked an interest in food and cooking at a young age. In high school I took my first job as a dishwasher in a small neighborhood restaurant. I would work there after school and on weekends, coming home soaking wet and exhausted but I loved every minute of it. This exposure to the fast paced and exciting environment working in restaurants had me hooked. I knew then that this was the industry I wanted to work in.
Education
After graduating high school I moved to Ithaca, NY to attend Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Here I gained a formal education in restaurant and hospitality management and operations.
Restaurant Experience
Now it was time to put my education to work and I moved to San Francisco to work on Pier 39 as a restaurant manager for Simco Restaurants. I cut my teeth working at these incredible high volume restaurants. It was an amazing experience and I got to enjoy views of the bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge everyday.
I soon started to miss being in the kitchen and cooking. I had the opportunity to leave foggy SF for sunny LA and join Hillstone Restaurants working as a chef at their Houston’s and Gulfstream concepts. This is where I developed my culinary and cooking skills and also met my amazing wife, Lindsay.
In 2014 we had the opportunity to move to NYC and I decided to switch gears and work for the fast paced and quickly growing fast casual salad restaurant, Chopt.
Finally, in 2017 we moved to Atlanta, GA, where I had the opportunity to open my own restaurant, Whiskey Bird and consulting company, Back of the Napkin Hospitality. This has been such a fun and amazing experience. I love every minute I spend in the restaurant. Over the years I have looked for ways to expand what we do at Whiskey Bird and find ways to “surprise and delight” more foodies. And now I hope to do exactly that by being the Weary Chef.
To learn more about my background feel free to visit my LinkedIn profile.