Writing itself has never been my niche, food has been. 

I’m Alix, a resort chef, the head cook at the local school district, a culinary student, farmer, and mother of three spunky daughters ranging from tween to teen. Food has always been at the center of my life.

Growing up, my grandmother showed me how food could bring people together, and with that came laughter, joy, and warm memories. That’s all I wish to create for my family. From my own children now, to my grandchildren in the future. 

I started my restaurant journey at the young age of 14, bussing tables and washing dishes at a small Italian restaurant in Wisconsin over the summers. Before long, I found myself watching the Italian women in the kitchen hand roll pastas and make gnocchi while chatting effortlessly in Italian. Thinking this is far too tedious to be worth it. It was absolutely worth it. Every bite. 

Twenty-two years later and countless restaurant experiences later, there’s nothing about the hospitality industry that doesn’t interest me. I enjoy knowing I am making an experience for someone else’s evening out with loved one. 

I started in the dish pit and climbed my way through the restaurants as time went on. Waitressing, bartending, bar managing, prep cook, line cook, expediting, catering, kitchen manager, general manager, and now landing as a chef.  

At 28, I helped open my first restaurant. My first big girl job and my kitchen manager quit months before opening day. There was no menu, no kitchen flow, not one road map in sight. Sure, some flash backs of pasta, but other than faint memories of bus bins, all I knew was how to make a mean cocktail. Self taught is an understatement, we’ll say I learned by fire. Nicer than, “thrown to the wolves”. I was brought in as a semi-smart bar manager to be trained on how to be the best general manager I could make myself become, and now what? Fire.

It was a rough and rocky start. The owner wanted “everything from scratch and local”. The menu I built needed constant revisions. The food waste was out of control and I’ve never line cooked before opening day. Tickets hanging and 63 employees under me, watching every move. Not only them, but three little girls too. 

6 years later, I’m a consulting chef at a new resort helping them with their own menu and staff. Happily employed with my easy 6-2 job working and seeing my children in the lunch line at our local school. Building recipes using the Farm to School program we have just implemented into our district. 

I’m currently studying at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts because I strongly believe that the best chefs strive to never stop learning.