Chefs

Wally Joe

Executive Chef
Brushmark Restaurant

A pioneer of the Southern culinary revolution, Chef Wally Joe created his eclectic, modern American cuisine for his namesake restaurant in Memphis, Tenn., and shares his culinary expertise on Turner South’s original series, Off the Menu.

Joe began his culinary education as a child growing up in KC’s – the award-winning restaurant owned by his family in Cleveland, Miss. His early childhood experience greatly influenced his philosophy of serving seasonal food. His cuisine reflects his Asian heritage and hints of the American South.

Joe also has served has executive chef for Viking Range Corporation – the originator of the commercial-style cooking appliances – and enjoys donating his time and culinary skills to many worthy causes and charities. Among the many benefit dinners with which he has assisted include Share Our Strength, the March of Dimes, the American Heart Association, and, of course, The Art of Good Taste.
Known affectionately by the Brooks staff simply as “Wally,” he joined the Brooks team in October 2006 and now serves as executive chef at the Brushmark Restaurant.

Andrew Adams

Chef de Cuisine
Brushmark Restaurant

Adams’ career began in the kitchen of KC’s at the young age of 16, where he learned the basics of the kitchen. After working with Wally Joe for three years, he attended the Culinary Institute of America. Graduating with honors, he worked under Jamie Shannon of Commander’s Palace and Craig Shelton at the Ryland Inn. He then returned to his roots to help Wally Joe open his signature restaurant. Adams now showcases his many talents as the Chef de Cuisine at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Dean James Max

Owner, 3030 Ocean
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Max is true third-generation ‘foodie.’ His grandfather, a chef at an upstate New York resort went on to open and operate a quaint bed and breakfast in Cape May. His father grew up on a farm in New Jersey and started his own farm on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Max recalls tending his own pepper patch as a small child and enjoying the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay.

It may be that he inherited his chef genes from his grandfather, but his youth was spent in farm coveralls rather than chef’s whites.

Growing up in this environment gave him early insight about freshness and how foods work together. His family would harvest the crops, pick only the finest and then test their creative cooking juices in the kitchen at home.

The family later relocated from Virginia to Stuart, Fla., where Max’s father became a produce broker for major Florida supermarkets, and Max enrolled in Florida State University, where he earned a bachelor of science in marketing, with minor in hotel and restaurant management. A season in Italy “making his bones” in the cooking business and enrolling at the Florence Study Center, confirmed Max’s love for food, particularly when it is prepared naturally. He returned to the United States with new skills, new recipes and a renewed commitment to cooking.

To this day, Max credits his time in Italy with his decision to become a chef, his classical training in French cuisine for his precise cooking technique, and his farming family for planting the seeds that grew into his passion for creative cooking with only fresh and flavorful ingredients.

Furthering his cooking career, Dean went on to hold positions with Brasserie Savoy in San Francisco’s boutique Savoy Hotel, the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room in Pentagon City, Va., and Gerard’s Place in downtown Washington, D.C., as well as the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta, Ga.

Now a seasoned chef, Max’s next endeavor was an executive chef and part owner of Atlanta’s popular Mumbo Jumbo Restaurant. His culinary star clearly on the ascent, he was beckoned back to the West Coast where he was named executive chef of the Woodside in Brentwood, one of Southern California’s most popular restaurants.

It was there that Max received a call from Marriott and an offer to create and design his own restaurant and dining concept at one of the lodging giant’s most prestigious properties, Marriott’s Harbor Beach Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The move to Fort Lauderdale would prove to be an auspicious homecoming as he set about creating 3030 Ocean. From the interior’s rolling wave motif and abstract starfish adornments to the sweeping seaside vistas that serve as the bistro’s panoramic backdrop, the 3030 Ocean experience treats the taste through all the senses.

Chef Celina Tio

Executive Chef , The American Restaurant
Kansas City, Mo.

Tio was awarded “2007 Best Chef, Midwest” by The James Beard Foundation and named “2005 Chef of the Year” by Chef magazine. Tio has acted as the host of the James Beard Dinner since 1995 and has twice been a featured chef at The James Beard House in New York. John Mariani of Virtual Gourmet says, “One of seven Best Meals in the U.S.A.” Tio also was named one of thirteen “Chefs To Keep Your Eye On,” by Esquire magazine.