Chris Wilson is currently one of the country's most sought after Chefs within the drug and alcohol rehab industry. He has spent the past five years at several of the top facilities and has established himself as a knowledgeable Executive Chef dealing with a high profile clientele with specific nutritional needs. Chris also serves as a consultant to many rehabs around the country and is currently working on opening Hollywood’s newest rehabilitation facility this fall.
Born to a Greek mother and Bulgarian father, Chris learned his way around the kitchen by watching his mother adapt her traditionally Greek dishes into their Americanized versions. Keeping these culinary traditions alive has always been a meaningful and important part of Chris’s work.
A native of Los Angeles, Chris attended North Hollywood High School where many of his current interests and talents where formed. He was a track star, a gifted musician, a talented artist and the only student in Los Angeles to win an opportunity to shoot with professional photographers on the red carpet at the Academy Awards. But aside from his obvious artistic abilities, Chris's passion was working in restaurants, and through high school he worked in some of the more notable kitchens in Los Angeles. His easy going demeanor and friendly personality made Chris a popular guy at each of his jobs. After high school Chris went to Greece and worked his way through the kitchens of different tavernas. It was during this time in Greece that Chris knew he would one day open his own restaurant, a trade that was in his blood as his Bulgarian grandfather owned his town's only restaurant. Chris returned from Europe and completed the Culinary Arts program at UCLA.
The Los Angeles restaurant scene placed Chris in his element. For seven years he was a Chef and Consultant for three of the Santo Pietrros Restaurants where he managed the kitchens, created the menus and established himself as an up and coming Hollywood chef. In 1991 Chris opened his first restaurant, Aqua Blue Cafe in West Hollywood. Aqua Blue gave Chris the platform to really expand his reputation in Hollywood and he gained a very loyal following. Two years later Columbia Pictures/Sony Music recruited Chris to be the private chef to all of their top executives. This high powered position helped Chris move on to other distinguished positions at Granita, one of Malibu's most famous restaurants and then on to the CBS Studios where he was the Chef for the Executive Dining room. By the time he left CBS, Chris was in such demand that he began working as a personal private chef to some of Hollywood's top celebrities. But fate took an interesting turn for Chris when his private clients began asking for his services in an unusual setting. A few of Chris's clients and some of his close friends were in rehab battling addictions and looking for something familiar, something comforting, they asked Chris to cook for them. He made their favorite dishes, recreated their family recipes, gave them familiar comforts simply by cooking for them. It was this experience that solidified for Chris how food, his cooking, the familiarity of different dishes could serve as a healing tool.
During the past twelve years Chris has also run his own company, Chris Catering Co., a private catering company that services Hollywood's elite parties and events. Clients include Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw, Sting, Jim Carrey, David Geffen, just to name a few. In the past six years Chris has also served as a Consultant to One World Catering, a Production catering company which services large production catering jobs for the television industry.
In his spare time Chris attends to some of his other artistic interests. A successful composer, he is best known for composing the original score to the blockbuster film My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Chris paints regularly and has had several exhibits and regularly sells works (chriswilsonart.com) The consummate outdoorsman, Chris has cycled all over the world, fishes frequently and attends as many baseball games as time permits - he's a Dodgers fan of course. < less
United States of America
Subscribe
