The Chef

The Chef

From the start of his career, Danny Mellman was a culinary force, even before the term’ celebrity chef’ was coined. However, he never quite embraced the title, preferring to see himself as a humble cook. He attributes his success to his mother, Janet Mellman, whose love for food and the arts ignited Danny’s passion for the kitchen.

He began cooking professionally at the age of twenty in England for a small Bed and breakfast outside of London. In his early 20s, he spent his time on a quest to learn all he could about varying cuisines and proper culinary techniques, training with chefs across Europe, including Michelin-starred Chef Roger Vergé at Moulin de Mougins in the inland French Riviera town of Mougins. He trained with various other European chefs in Italy and England.

When he returned to the States, he put Cape May, New Jersey, on the map with his work at the Mad Batter before heading south to Florida, where his award-winning Greenhouse Restaurant on Captiva earned him a James Beard Rising Chef nomination. He went on to cook at the James Beard House as an invited chef five times and a frequently invited chef to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival. He is also a Cakebread Cellars Chef, a member of the American Culinary Federations, Chefs Collaborative, and Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, among other distinguished organizations and titles.

These days, Danny curates wine dinners and special events from his home port, The Cook’s Farm in Blue Ridge, picks olives or cooks for guests at their Sicilian Farm in Chiaramonte, Italy, or sports fishing and diving for lobster in Belize.

He is available for private chef events, culinary demonstrations, product testing, and recipe development projects. When he is not in the kitchen, Danny forages, hunts, fishes, or travels the world with his partner, Michelle Moran, and writes about it.