Just three years ago, Chef Michael Holmes was featured on NBC's short-lived competitive cooking show, The Chopping Block. At that time, he owned a personal chef business, called A Taste of Thyme. Fast-forward a few years, and where is the TV star now? Leading Parkside Cafe, the cafeteria in the AT&T building in Lenox Park!
"The owner [of Parkside Cafe] had a vision of having a more upscale cafeteria driven by a talented and creative chef," Holmes explained. "Even though I work in a cafeteria, we still hold a very high regard for cuisine. Our menu spans many different cuisines from classical French, to Chinese, and modern American, with dishes like beef wellington, crab cakes, General Tso's chicken and barbecue spare ribs, all fresh and made from scratch."
Holmes says he doesn't consider himself a celebrity chef and prefers his admittedly non-glamourous job. "I'm proud of the product that we serve and I also get a lot of self-fullfilment seeing and hearing how much our customers enjoy our food."
However, he does claim we'll be seeing a new restaurant concept from him in the future.
Chef Michael Holmes with his wife Panya. Photo courtesy of NBC.