the chef
Brad Parsons, Executive Chef at The Fairmont Chicago, had never cooked in a professional kitchen until college. But since then, this Novato, Calif., native has risen through the ranks of some of the country ’s top restaurants, including famed Chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Napa Valley, Calif., and the nationally acclaimed Tru in Chicago. Parsons made his first foray into hotel dining at The Fairmont Chicago four years ago, joining the team as Chef de Cuisine.

Parsons earned a degree in hotel/restaurant management from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. After taking a college culinary class, he fixed his sights on becoming a chef. He got his first kitchen job preparing breakfasts in Flagstaff, but his next stop was the famed Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. But cooking stops at Alan Wong’s Restaurant in Honolulu and the Michelin-star Martini House in St. Helena, Calif.—and a 1½-year stint waiting tables and learning about wine at Domaine Chandon’s étoile restaurant in Napa Valley—prepared him for his current duties at The Fairmont Chicago.

Parsons, who’s now responsible for a staff of nearly 60, is all about empowering those who work for him. During his years at the hotel, he’s hired all but one of his key staff members—and they have been promoted during his tenure. “If you don’t hire the right people as the employees and train them,” he says, “you haven’t done the right job as a manager. I love to let them make decisions.”

But what does Parsons enjoy most about his work? “At certain times, it’s the guests and them enjoying the food. Sometimes it’s the team and teamwork that comes together. I love to come out and talk with (guests). I think it adds a personal touch.” Parsons puts this philosophy into action during one of his favorite tasks: hosting food tastings for guests planning weddings and special events. He creates individual menus for each tasting and accompanies guests from the planning stage through their events’ completion. “I want to create a restaurant environment in a banquet setting. We’re actually doing that,” says Parsons, who wants guests to realize that special-event cuisine can be sophisticated—and surprising.

An advocate of regionally grown seasonal ingredients, Parsons and his purchasing managers visit local farmers markets—especially the chef favorite Green City Market—for food served at The Fairmont Chicago. “We drive the van over and load it up,” he says. And you can often find him in one of the hotel’s four kitchens, cooking with his team. “One thing the staff loves is that I do cook, and maybe even scrub out a pot,” says Parsons. “They know whatever it takes, I’m going to do it.”

When guests dine at aria Restaurant or aria bar—or when they order room service or host a private event—Parsons wants them to feel that “the menu was creative but they could relate, and they paid a fair price for what they got. I want them to enjoy the simple pleasures of a restaurant, because so many are trying to be trendy and over think. They forget the basics of good food and hospitality.”

Parsons’ goal is to raise guests’ expectations—and to establish aria Restaurant and aria bar as first-class dining destinations on their own. That’s why they have their own door, separate from the hotel entrance. “When we target the cook who wants to work at aria,” says Parsons, “we look for cooks who have that independent restaurant experience, because that’s what aria is. Food is constantly changing and evolving, and as a chef you have to change with the times and learn about new products and ingredients. You have to constantly reinvent.”

A passionate researcher who devours national food magazines and newspaper Food sections, Parsons is always in search of what’s new. When adding twists to ethnic dishes, he solicits input from his cooks, some of whom come from Thai, Korean, Barbadian, South American, Chinese, and American Southern backgrounds. “It’s not just about the food,” he says, “but understanding each other.”

Parsons lives near the lakefront on Chicago’s North Side.