Meet TC's Next Culinary Stars

With its foodie reputation firmly established, Traverse City is now home to a range of talented veteran chefs and successful restaurants. But who will be running the region's hottest restaurants 10 or 20 years from now?

The Ticker spoke to five emerging chefs who will feature their food at an upcoming Young Chefs Dinner at The Cooks' House on March 9. Owners Jennifer Blakeslee and Eric Patterson dreamed up the event – the first in an eventual series – as a way to showcase regional cooking talent that might otherwise go unrecognized.

Chef 1: Eric Hansen
Hansen (pictured top left) won't have to travel far to participate in the Young Chefs Dinner – he's been working in The Cooks' House kitchen for  five years, beginning when he was 15. “I helped out for free for a few months to gain knowledge and see if I would like it,” says Hansen. “After that, they offered me a dishwashing job, which I did for a year. Then I became a line cook.” The young chef is now ready to offer a course of his own during the upcoming dinner's five-course, peasant food-inspired service.
Cooking Style: “I'm a vegetarian, so I like to cook that kind of food,” says Hansen. “I'm also into Indian, Mediterranean and Italian food.”
The Future: Hansen would like to open his own fine dining restaurant one day, possibly in TC. But in the meantime, he's “itching to get out” and hone his skills in a bigger culinary market. “I'm looking at New York City or Portland,” he says.

Chef 2: Adam McMarlin
Cooking wasn't a line of work Adam McMarlin arrived at “intentionally.” But while traveling the country, he landed a fateful stint at the acclaimed Farm House Cafe in San Diego. Under the influence of Chef Olivier Bioteau, McMarlin “developed into someone who was going to make a career out of working in kitchens." After relocating to Traverse City with his wife to take an executive chef position at The Bay Leaf, McMarlin later moved to the kitchen of Bistro FouFou. This spring, he'll land in new digs once again – as a chef at The Cooks' House.
Cooking Style: “A local, sustainable (focus) is something I picked up in Southern California,” says McMarlin. “When people come to your restaurant, they should experience things available where you're at, in the season you're in.”
The Future: “I definitely plan to have my own place,” says the chef. “I'd want to do something more casual – simple, rustic, approachable."

Chef 3: Adam Raupp
Raupp (pictured bottom right in photo) has an extensive culinary background, stretching back to when he was 14 working summers at Manistee's House of Flavors. Since then, he's worked at numerous restaurants in both front and back-of house positions, and was a sous chef at the award-winning Dillon Dam Brewery in Colorado. Now a teaching assistant at Great Lakes Culinary Institute, Raupp is also a sous chef at Mission Table.
Cooking Style: Raupp describes his style as “simple and eclectic.” “I have had many mentor chefs that I constantly draw from and am inspired by,” he says. “I'm drawn to Asian and Mexican flavors most often.”
The Future: “Long-term, I see myself here in TC,” says Raupp. “I would love to own and operate a smaller breakfast/lunch restaurant, and possibly teach culinary arts one day.”

Chef 4: Michelle Rodriguez
Even while majoring in comparative religion and marketing at Western Michigan University, Rodriguez (pictured at top) knew she wanted to be a chef. “Every day I went to work (at my marketing job after college), I died a little bit inside,” she says. Rodriguez finally quit the job to start working in a food truck at a catering company – by year's end, she had catered for Paul McCartney. Since then, she's traveled the world studying global cuisine, worked at Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard's Girl and the Goat restaurant in Chicago and is now cooking at Black Star Farms.
Cooking Style: “I cook with spice, I like bold flavors and I like my plates to be brightly colored,” says Rodriguez. “I'm inspired by flavors that aren't often found in TC.”
The Future: “150 percent, I want to own my own restaurant,” affirms Rodriguez. “I want to sell my own spices, pickles, jams and jellies and do my own butchery. I feel passionate about seeing more ethnic food in our area.”

Chef 5: Rebecca Tranchell
“My cooking first started when my older brother became vegetarian, which in a Midwest family wasn't an option at the dinner table,” Tranchell notes wryly. After learning to cook vegetarian dishes with her brother, Tranchell decided to attend the Great Lakes Culinary Institute. Prestigious stints at Alice Waters' Cafe Fanny in Berkeley and Green's Restaurant in San Francisco eventually led to Tranchell's job as executive chef at TC's Om Cafe. Last year, she left the restaurant to launch her Friends with Food food truck downtown.
Cooking Style: “I cook for health,” says Tranchell. “I like everything to be simple, straightforward and in its natural and prime state.”
The Future: Rather than a restaurant – “I'm over stressful, high-volume cooking,” says Tranchell – the entrepreneur would like to eventually open her own bed-and-breakfast. “I'd like to cook in front of people, maybe have a little garden out back,” she says. “I want to share and care for others through food.”

The Young Chefs Dinner will take place at The Cooks' House on Sunday, March 9 at 6pm. Reservations are $65 per person. For more information, call 231-946-8700.