Chef Rich Hall
Maxwell’s Head Chef / Executive Sous Chef
Rick Hall was inspired to cook at a very young age, while living with his grandmother in Brazil. During the four years Hall lived there, his passion for food easily became a part of everyday life. While in school, Hall got a two-hour lunch break each day during which his mother and grandmother would often take him to restaurants. It was these early experiences that truly inspired Hall to pursue the culinary field. “I got the cooking ‘bug’ when I was seven years old,” recalls Hall. “My Brazilian grandmother was a fabulous cook, and is still a huge influence on my cooking today.”
In 1978, Hall began his career in the foodservice industry by working as a dishwasher and part of the food prep staff at the Leamington Hotel in Minneapolis, Minn. After a short while, he moved on to work at Byerly’s, another restaurant in the area, where he did everything from front-of-the- house supervision to cooking in the kitchen. After a several years at the restaurant, Hall began working at the Sofitel in Minneapolis, Minn. while taking a 13-month cooking course at a nearby vocational school.
In 1984 Hall began what would be one of many summers working at a family-owned resort in Watervale, Mich. where he managed the kitchen, and made everything from scratch. After two years, Hall extended his culinary skills one step further by enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. During his two-year program, he returned to the same Michigan resort to work every summer, including his post-graduation internship.
Upon graduation from the C.I.A., Hall jumped on the chance to move to Chicago, where he
joined East Bank Club’s kitchen team in 1988 as a cook, and was later promoted to sous chef before securing today’s executive sous chef post. In 1997, Hall left East Bank Club for a short period to open his own restaurant in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood. The skills he learned through having his own restaurant helped him become a more gifted chef, and exceptional kitchen manager.
In addition to his Executive Sous Chef duties, Hall also serves as the Head Chef for Maxwell’s at the Club. Hall collaborated with East Bank Club’s executive chef, Mike Lodes to develop the restaurant’s menu, which boasts contemporary American cuisine, including many nutritious selections. Hall appreciates the simple, straight- forward cooking he does for Maxwell’s, and always works with the freshest, high quality ingredients.
Throughout his culinary career, Hall has had the opportunity to travel the world, working as a chef in Europe, South America and North America. As a result of his international traveling, Hall has become fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish, and is conversational in Italian and French. His global travels have also helped him hone his skills and study the various cooking techniques around the world.
Thirty years after entering the culinary scene, Hall, who always wanted to be a chef, can easily identify his favorite part of the job, aside from cooking of course. “The energy from the dining room,” he says. “It always provides instant gratification, and that’s the greatest feeling anyone could ask for.” |
