Bio: Christopher Cody never intended to be a chef. Bypassing the typical journey of chefs nowadays, he began work at a corporate restaurant at 16. Within months, he was manning the busiest stations in the house while still in high school. After high school, he attended college where he majored in chemistry with an emphasis in biology and water chemistry. Working in kitchens through college, he gained working knowledge of not only line cooking but also scratch cooking.
After graduation, he was a manager at a family restaurant but missed being in the kitchen. He left that to work as a chef at a high volume scratch kitchen. Soon he was given an opportunity to run his first kitchen, McBride’s on the Bay on Clearwater Lake, was his home for almost three years. Within that time, he had rebuilt the entire kitchen into a professional style kitchen. Next, he moved to the Virgin Islands to work under formally trained chefs. Working under such powerhouse chefs like Andre Ronsin, from France, and Ted Robinson, of Napa Valley, he developed a repertoire of great fine dining food. Within a year, he was promoted to Executive Chef of Chloe and Bernard’s of St. John. Chloe and Bernard’s is the fine dining restaurant of the four diamond rated Westin. After absorbing all the islands had to offer and working with chefs from all over the globe, he is now returning to the Midwest.
Chris has a simplistic style of cooking. He believes in the best seasonal ingredients for his food. His specialties are Italian, French, Asian, Caribbean, Americana, and Creole but evolving, learning, and growing are essential to his lifeblood. Sometimes, the most interesting journeys are the ones never intended.