Executive chef Rebecca Barron at work in the kitchen at St. John’s Restaurant.Rebecca Barron, executive chef at St. John’s and its companion restaurant, The Meeting Place, developed an early love for cooking, preparing meals for her family as a child in her home in Milwaukee, Wis.
“I learned how to make bechamel and roux from the Betty Crocker cookbook when I was 10,” she recalls, adding that Julia Child made a huge impression on her about the same time. “She was probably my first major influence. And Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Kitchen Confidential’ made me want to be a part of a kitchen family. Also I think I just loved eating so much that I had to figure out how to feed myself.”
Barron was home-schooled; didn’t graduate from college; nor did she attend culinary school. Some chefs are born with a culinary gene. Barron is one – a woman whose restaurant career began making pizza at Domino’s Pizza in Collegedale and ended up in one of Chattanooga’s top award-winning restaurants.
Q: Was it tough getting a foothold in a male-dominated field?
A: Yes and no. I think women bring a unique approach to the kitchen, and I was fortunate enough to work for men that appreciated that approach and helped bring me up in the business. But it can be hard, so you just have to work harder.