Meet Chase Meneely of Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chase Meneely

Hi Chase, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started cooking as a child and as I grew up I started watching a lot of Good Eats and my cooking became more involved and complicated. Flash forward 4-5 more years and I was 15 and looking for a job. My mom new a guy who ran a steakhouse back in Indiana and I started washing dishes and quickly moved to the salad station. For many years I simply asked a LOOOT of questions and put care into what it was that I was doing and was able to work my way through a lot of different positions in a lot of different restaurants until I was running my own line and making specials at a Mediterranean restaurant I was able to help open at 19. It wasn’t much, different wraps and sandwich specials, but they were mine and people were eating them and love them. It was wildly validating. I worked there for about a year and half before I found my way to working at a Japanese restaurant as a server/sushi roller of all things. I wanted more hours and asked for a shot of working in the kitchen a day or two because I was only masquerading as a front of house employee and then was immediately put in charge of the kitchen and their catering program, a year later and I was helping the owners open their second location as the CDC and was able to create my first recipes and menu items that became the Staples of the business. I was making dinner specials every weekend and really doing the damn thing, all for 10 dollars an hour. Funny how that works right?Fast forward 15 years and a whooooole lot of restaurant openings and different jobs happened and I eventually found my way to running a wild salad concept in Denver that grows its own lettuce. You know, the classic tale. (note this is a willlllldly simplified version of what has led me to this point )

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh of course not, this industry can be brutal and wild, and when your young and dumb and talented many people will use that willingness to work for their own gain. I am owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages and have been paid 10 dollars an hour to be an executive chef. I tried and failed MISERABLY to open my first restaurant at 22 with people who had absolutely no clue what there were doing (I also had no clue what I was doing). This is not to say that I wasn’t a large portion of the issue as well. Trying to navigate life as a young chef when you move across the country can be a weird and wild experience. But I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I run a salad restaurant called Farm and Market. I specialize in menu and recipe development as well as training people. I am most known for among my friends as their goofy friend who has compete in a slew of hokey Food Network game shows, but between me and my peers I would say I am most well known for being an incredibly hard worker who is a quite the food nerd. I have been in the industry for so long and I ask A LOT of questions. I have worked at approximately a billion jobs from all backgrounds of cuisines and quality and I have learned from every single one of them. I hope I am known for being a solid person and mentor in the kitchen. It is honestly the thing I am exceptionally proud of is see how many people I have had a direct hand in coaching and guiding in this and and back in Indiana go on to lead successful and fulfilling careers. One of my first people who I took under my wings years ago is now the culinary director of a wildly successful restaurant group in Henderson, Kentucky. My friends Alyssa and Peter are now running Mezcaleria and Dio Mio, respectively. I taught all three of these folks house to holds knives properly, how to stand with intention in a kitchen, and what this industry can offer you. I can easily say that is my proudest accomplishment as a chef, not some dish or special or something along those lines. I think just who I am is what sets me apart from others. Anyone can run a kitchen or make a fun special, but just my own individual take on creating flavors and my weird influences of southern Midwest, Asian, and Mediterranean (the three types of cuisines of kitchen I have ran) go on to create a strange and fun flavor profile that only someone who has lived my life can come up with. I am also immensely proud of Farm and Market, which is the first (of 10) different restaurants I have helped open but the first that is enirely up to me. The owner doesnt come from the industry, so being able to help him realize his dream and to build a team that has turned this into a viable business is immensly gratifying.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If the job doesn’t serve you/teach you anything. Find somewhere else. If you wake up miserable everyday to come into work, there are a million service industry jobs that you can be a part of. There is no reason to stay in a posisiton where you are under valued or made miserable by the people you work for. Ask 1000 questions, because if you ask 999 and don’t learn that one thing or mess something up.. then what’s the point. If a chef is making you feel less than because you ask a lot of questions, then that person is awful and there is no reason to deal with it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thefarmandmarket.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefarmandmarket/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/farm-and-market-denver?osq=farm+and+market