For Chef Michael Lishchynsky, a love for cooking is in his blood. Both his mother and step-father were professional chefs, and his household kitchen was considered the family living room, where he watched his mother and grandmother prepare family meals with care each night. As a teenager growing up in North Carolina, Lishchynsky went straight from football practice to his mother’s restaurant to help prep food in the kitchen and soon realized he was destined for life as a chef. He began working at a local Italian restaurant and studied as a junior apprentice at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club before convincing his parents to let him enroll in culinary school.
After graduating from Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island, Lishchynsky found his way to NYC where he started his career at David Burke’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Townhouse. He then moved to Boston where he served in several executive chef roles across the city’s fine dining scene, including French bistro 49 Social, which earned a five-star review from Time Out Boston under his leadership. Heading west, Lishchynsky followed his love for the outdoors and planted roots in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At the Four Seasons Resort and Residences, he spent four years as Executive Chef of Michael Mina’s The Handle Bar restaurant, crafting a menu of modern and elevated pub fare.
Continuing his tenure with the Mina Group, Lishchynsky moved to Music City in summer of 2018 to join Nashville’s Bourbon Steak as Executive Chef. Opened in the JW Marriott Hotel in downtown Nashville, Bourbon Steak features a sophisticated take on American steakhouse classics made with the finest cuts of organic and hormone-free beef, pork, and lamb. Lishynsky works with local and regional purveyors to highlight the best product of Middle Tennessee on the seasonal, regionally focused menu.
In his leisure time you can find Lishchynsky fishing, perusing the local farmer’s market or studying cuisine through travel. He shares his love of food with his wife, Claudia, who he met while she was working as his prep cook in Boston. He courted his future wife by making her ceviche and arepas, her favorite dishes from her home country, Colombia. Together they have an English Bulldog, Pablo.