Chef Alyssa was born and raised in Austin, Texas, where she began cooking in her mother’s kitchen, and learned to love the art of creating made from scratch meals. After attending culinary school and earning her associates degree in the culinary arts, she eventually landed in Chicago. “As a chef with Elite personal chefs, I take deep pride in the fact that I am much more to my clients than the person who cooked dinner. I am a friend, a trusted confidant, and the person who has been tasked with keeping them and their families happy and healthy. I truly love what I do.”
All prices are an estimation and vary based on guest count, event location, and menu. You will get a better estimate during the booking process.
I was born and raised in Austin Texas where I lived for 25 years, I moved to Seattle for 3 years before settling in Chicago in 2018.
This is a tough question because there are so many different types of restaurants I would pick for different occasions. The best meal I have ever had in my life was at Oriole, but I wouldn’t pick it as a regular dining experience. Here in Chicago I love Boeufhaus, Armitage Alehouse, and Trivoli Tavern-Those are always the fallback restaurants I take out of town guests to if I want to impress them. But the best hungover taco spot is Tacotlan in Belmont Cragin-their birria can’t be beat.
A lot of what I eat is extra from what I cook for my clients-and I never cook anything for them that I wouldn’t be happy to serve myself/my loved ones. When I am entertaining I make a lot of antipasti/charcuterie boards. I have always loved the idea of meals being comprised of lots of different bites and tastes and textures, a meal where no two bites are the same. That said, if I really want to impress, I can make braised short ribs that will knock your socks off 🙂
Because of the nature of my specific services provided (weekly meal prep) I can’t really pigeon hole myself into a specific specialty-it would become too repetitive or boring for my clients who are eating my food every day of every week. What I love about it is that I am constantly being required to venture outside of what I know I can do, and venture into what I would like to learn how to do. Recently I decided to purchase a smoker so I could finally tackle smoked brisket, which I have never made before. I was classically french trained and worked for quite a while in a middle eastern restaurant, but I would hesitate to say either of those are my specialty. Call it jack of all trades, master of…some of them.
I grew up in a food focused environment. I am raised conservative jewish, with a mother who is from Scotland, as well as the extra detail of also being raised in the center of the macrobiotic movement as it grew across canada into the united states, before settling in Austin texas. My mom apprenticed with Michio Kushi, and travelled around the country teaching japanese macrobiotics in the early 80’s, she even was one of the original founders of Erehwon grocery store! Because of my diverse background, I was raised with the idea that cooking a meal for someone is the best way to express your love, and those ideas settled themselves very steadfastly into my psyche. I never wanted to be anything but a chef, from my earliest memories of watching Julia Child and Jacques Pepin on PBS, to going to culinary school.
I have always loved thrifting for donated treasures, it’s amazing what some people consider trash! My husband has tried and tried-to no avail-to urge me to stop picking up discarded goods from alleyways, but it’s a losing battle. I also love bar trivia, reading, and travel.
