Chef Will Karlen

I am a professional chef with 12 years of fine dining experience and currently studying culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America to continue to improve my knowledge and expertise.

My early years in restaurants I spent learning Italian cuisine in a local fine dining restaurant in the South Eastern corner of South Dakota. Here I learned a multitude of seafood, steak, and poultry dishes, scratch sauces and soups, pastas and risottos.

In order to continue improving myself I went on to open a small kitchen in a craft cocktail bar as the Sous Chef in the same city, where our focus was using ingredients local to the Northern Midwest and creating different fusion dish concepts with them. Using these ingredients, I helped create small plates and sharable appetizers inspired by international cuisines.

In my personal cooking, I enjoy using flavors from all over, drawing inspiration from Mediterranean, Asian, and Central American cooking.