3rd Generation Chef

God is good!

What can I say...It's in my blood. Maynard Martin & Gladys Martin, my great grandparents, laid the foundation for me. It's an honor and privilege to grasp the flambe' saute' pan as the torch and run with it.

I never had the opportunity to cook with my great -grandfather, thankfully I witnessed many meals soulfully serenaded to our family by my great-grandmother, grandmother & grandfather. There's no doubt that I inherited the passion for food from my family lineage. I was always intrigued by the men in my family that were present in the kitchen. Seeing a masculine man confidently preparing food was not the norm.

Circa 1950, Gladys and Maynard Marshall (my great grandparents) operated a popular 9th Street diner in Wichita, Kansas. They were also personal chefs for local business tycoon O.A. Sutton. They eventually relocated to Cascade, Colorado where they provided gourmet dining at the historic melodrama theater, Bob Young's Cabaret.

My grandmother, Phyllis, also worked the 9th Street diner and later was a cook on the Union Pacific Railroad. At her side, I got my first exposure to the food industry.