Chef Michael Patria

Chef Michael Patria discovered his passion for the restaurant industry at the ripe age of 15, while he was washing dishes at a small Japanese steakhouse in Atlanta, GA. Chef Michael recalls everyone enjoyed their work so much, you could tell it made a difference in their personal lives.

After graduation from high school, Patria moved to Douglas, Wyoming to pursue his childhood dream of riding in the open range, but the succulent aroma of the kitchen kept calling him back to his passion. After giving traditional schooling a chance, Chef Michael enrolled in culinary school back in Atlanta, GA. He quickly worked his way to the top of his class while maintain a fulltime job cooking at The Buckhead Diner. Upon receiving his degree in the culinary arts, Patria was promoted to Souse Chef at the diner making him the youngest person to hold a position in the famous Buckhead Life Restaurant Group.  It was here that Chef Michael came under the expert tutelage of top Chefs such as Kevin Rathbun, Thomas Lee and Timothy McGee.

Patria's next adventure took him southward to Savannah, GA as the corporate Souse Chef for the Garibaldi Group. This position provided me with the opportunity to work closely with the operations of the three uniquely different restaurants at the same time.

After spending two years in Savannah, Patria was contacted by Chef Jean-Pierre Dubray regarding a position at the five star, five diamond Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. Over the next five years he worked vigorously to broaden his experience in both fine dining and banquet work. Patria was selected for the Ritz-Carlton fast track Executive Chef Program in an attempt to faster groom him to run his own hotel. The Ritz was a great company to work for and I am walking away a much better professional, but something was still missing. When Chef Michael was contacted by Mei Ling Chau of the Soho restaurant to become Executive Chef, he knew it was a great opportunity and he and Mei Ling had a common passion for the vision of this restaurant. I am honored by her confidence in my abilities at such an early age, as well as excited about making my mark in the always discriminating Wilmington market."