Meet the Chefs

Michael McNutt

I was born in Wilmington, Delaware and raised in the suburbs near Stanton. Attended and graduated from Saint Mark’s High School in 1989. From there I decided to take a year off after High School to decide what career path to venture down. I got a job at the Hotel DuPont and a rare opportunity to work under some great European Chefs. During that time I developed a passion to become a chef. As the year progressed I learned what kind of dedication is needed to make a career in this industry. I received an award from the Hotel DuPont for outstanding service and dedication during that time. At that point I decided to further my education and enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island the following fall. What I learned at the Hotel DuPont really helped me stand out at Johnson & Wales helping me to make the Dean’s List. I worked at the Marriot Copley in Boston during my cooperative program adding more hands on experience to my career. I graduated from Johnson & Wales with honors in 1992 receiving a degree in Culinary Arts. At that point I got a job at a small private company called Phelps Grace in Providence, R.I. On the ground floor of a company just starting out developing and opening new restaurants from fine dining seafood, upscale New York style steak house and a casual family oriented steak house. As time passed we become a public company and changed our name to Rare Hospitality opening restaurants nationwide. I started off as a Kitchen Manager. From that point I worked my way up to an Executive Sous Chef to Executive Chef. As the company expanded I was promoted to Regional Director of Kitchen Operations involved in multiple openings of the different concept of restaurants. Also, I was given 3 awards for Outstanding Quality & Dedication, Leadership Skills and the Chairmen Award for over 10 years of great service. I worked for this company for a total of 17 years before deciding to move on to a different venture. At this point in my career I was looking for a new exciting place to apply my skills and nothing better than a restaurant group from my home state that has the same type of standards, passion for freshness and great food like I do. Now here I am Executive Chef at Delaware’s Big Fish Grill.