Joshua McFadden is the Executive Chef/Owner of Ava Gene’s and Founding Partner of Submarine Hospitality (est. 2016).  Having grown up in the Midwest, Joshua came to the Pacific Northwest to attend Cordon Bleu in Portland, Oregon. Since then, he’s cooked in some of the top kitchens in San Francisco (Lark Creek Inn, Roxanne’s), Chicago (North Pond), and New York (Franny’s, Momofuku, Blue Hill and Lupa.) He also spent time in Rome working at the American Academy, an Alice Waters project. He was awarded two stars by The New York Times while serving as Chef de Cuisine at Franny’s in Brooklyn. Wanting to get closer to his artistic medium, Joshua spent two years farming and cooking in coastal Maine, running Four Season Farm, owned by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman. It allowed him to think about food in a whole new way, sparking a deeper passion for—and knowledge of—vegetables. Joshua’s belief that food should be simple, honest, and driven by local ingredients has found its natural home in the Pacific Northwest at Ava Gene’s, where he is Executive Chef/Owner. In the summer of 2016, he and Luke Dirks formed Submarine Hospitality, which acquired ownership of Ava Gene’s just before opening Tusk. Joshua is also the consulting chef at The Suttle Lodge & Boathouse.  His debut cookbook, Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, was released in May, 2017 by Artisan Books.

Photo credit - Peden + Munk