Brooke grew up on a small farm in Snohomish, WA. With her mother away at work during the day, the task of cooking for the family was often left to her. So, she took the time to learn alongside her older brother. As she honed her skills in the kitchen, even her friends and classmates would come over to her house before school for breakfast. What started as a necessity for Brooke, soon became a passion. Her father inspired her to take a culinary class in high school which turned out to be the first step towards her career as a chef.
When Brooke turned 16, she started making pizza at Papa Murphy’s before moving on to work at the front desk in the Marriott Courtyard in Everett, WA. Tired of being stuck behind a desk, she took on the role of a server and eventually began shadowing the head chef after her shifts. Noticing her passion and love for cooking, the head chef quickly offered Brooke a place in the kitchen, and she started as a Line Chef soon after.
After just a few months, Brooke was promoted to lead cook, thanks to her hard work and determination. Since then, she’s worked across a number of cuisines, including Mexican, French and Jamaican, as a Sous Chef. However, Brooke still wanted to learn more about the art of cooking, so she followed her heart to culinary school. While studying at Auguste Escoffier in Boulder, Colorado, she worked at Benihana, a Japanese-style restaurant where she was promoted to Hibachi Chef.
Then, after moving back to Wenatchee, Brooke completed her externship for school at Visconti’s Italian Restaurant and graduated with an associate’s degree in culinary arts. A short while passed, and our Pizza Chef reached out to Brooke to ask her to join him as part of the chef team at Tendrils Restaurant. Brooke spent a year at Tendrils, enjoying plenty of creative freedom in the kitchen and on the menu, before being promoted to Executive Chef.
“Everyone here is truly family to me at this point. I really love how genuine and hard-working the people at Sagecliffe are. There’s no title of Executive Chef without a team who backs them up. My team means the world to me, and we will continue to cook with passion and culinary excellence together.”