Chef Michael Graham’s culinary journey began when he circled a “Cook Wanted” ad in a newspaper’s classified section. At the time he was a college student in Iowa studying music and theology, “and a couple of other random things,” he says.
“The classified ad was for a banquet prep or a buffet prep cook, and I needed a part-time job, so I responded,” Graham recalls. “It didn’t pay very much, but it seemed flexible enough for my schedule. It was a small hotel that had banquet facilities. It had two different restaurants; one was like a buffet restaurant and the other was an evening-only steakhouse, more fine dining.”
From there, a lifelong relationship with the professional kitchen began for Graham, a direction for his younger self at a time when he’d been lacking it, he says…