Jeremy McMillan Speaker & Booking Information

When Jeremy McMillan was a high school student in Phoenix, his mother worked full time and occasionally arrived home too late to prepare dinner. So he often cooked for his younger brother and himself. But football not cooking was his main interest as a teenager. He played tight end for his high school team and in his senior year received a football scholarship from Western Illinois University in Macomb. Subsequently he transferred to Central Washington University where he studied economics.

At CWU he found it hard to endure dormitory meals and concluded "there had to be something better than eating dorm food." So one day, after watching an episode of the "Great Chefs of the World" on television, he jotted down a recipe, bought the required ingredients at a local grocery and cooked dinner for himself and a roommate. The word got around that he could out-cook the cafeteria and soon many admirers of McMillan's self-acquired culinary skills emerged. One was the son of the general manager of a prestigious Seattle country club. This classmate told his father about McMillan and he was invited to work in the club's kitchen for ten days. The chef, who was a Culinary Institute of America graduate, took a liking to McMillan and spent time with him each day not just giving him cooking tips but explaining how a restaurant kitchen functioned. "Those ten days changed my life," McMillan said. "I found my profession."

Lack of restaurant experience loomed as a major obstacle for gaining employment when McMillan returned to Phoenix. Fortunately a French restaurant called Zinc Bistro was staffing up at the time to open in nearby Scottsdale and chef/owner Matt Carter had many openings to fill -- one being a pastry plater. Seemingly not a terribly challenging position, this at least was a paying entry-level job. McMillan learned quickly by voluntarily staying after his shift ended to see and learn how the rest of the kitchen functioned. He secured a second (part-time) job at restaurant called Michael's at The Citadel to help pay the rent. He didn't stay a pastry plater for long.

Advancement at Zinc Bistro followed during the next five-and-one-half years to chef de partie, garde manger, poissonnier, sous chef and eventually to chef du cuisine. When McMillan heard that newly opened Redd in Yountville, Napa Valley had an opening for a chef de partie, he knew this presented an opportunity to work for Richard Reddington, a renowned California chef formerly with Masa's and Jardiniere in San Francisco and Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley. He won the job and headed for California.