Michael Whiteman, Bluestem Brasserie
Saturday, June 22, 2019, 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Stop by the CUESA Classroom for a cooking demo featuring the seasonal bounty of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and highlighting one of our market sellers.
Michael Whiteman, a Bay Area native, grew up a picky eater but his curiosity for food and the culinary world shifted as he reached adolescence. As a regular sous chef to his father in the family kitchen and beneficiary of the local produce in his backyard garden, Michael was involved with food from a young age. He began his culinary career working in the front of the house during college and quickly grew an interest for hands-on kitchen experience.
During college, Michael made the decision to follow his true passion and enroll in culinary school in the pursuit of a degree in the culinary arts. He attended and graduated from Diablo Valley College as a member of the Culinary Arts Program and shortly after began working in the kitchen at Bluestem Brasserie.
The new American style Brasserie had only opened three months earlier where Michael started as a food runner. A little over a year later, Michael made his transition to the back of the house by way of an opportunity presented by his mentor, Francis Hogan (Bluestem’s executive chef at the time). Over the years, Michael worked closely alongside Hogan building his repertoire of skills as a chef and working his way up to his current position as Chef de Cuisine.
Michael continues to work alongside co-owners, Adam and Stacy Jed, as the Chef de Cuisine to maintain Bluestem’s reputation for sustainable ingredients and seasonally driven dishes. At the restaurant, Michael showcases produce from local farmers capturing the peak of the season with playful plating and diverse composition of flavors and textures. Over the extent of his career at Bluestem Brasserie, Michael has developed a second family among the rest of the staff and looks forward to continuing his culinary growth at the restaurant for years to come.
All demos take place in the CUESA Classroom (under the tents in front of the Ferry Building) and are free to the public, with recipes and samples for all.