Working at his $100,000 custom-made Bonnet stove in the open kitchen at The Chanler at Cliff Walk, Executive Chef Kyle Ketchum is a long way from the San Antonio neighborhood restaurants where he started washing dishes to break into the business.   

His resourcefulness and drive led him from the dishwashing sinks to the public library.  “I checked out a ton of books and made a million mistakes to get to the level where I am today,” he laughs.  Ketchum went on to get formal training in the field, earning one Associate Degree in Culinary Arts and another in Restaurant Management from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute at Le Cordon Bleu. 

Performing with intense calm in The Chanler’s open kitchen, this unassuming, down-home, and rather humble master is the antithesis of the stereotypical star chef.  He is remarkably inventive and creative, and there is a tremendous sense of quiet pride and joy in a talent that comes naturally from his heart.  When asked by diners to make a recommendation from the menu, he smiles and nods his head in a shy manner.  He is indirectly telling his guests to choose the dishes for themselves, and they will ultimately be happy with their decision.  After all, for Ketchum, everything on the menu is his best and no one dish is better than the others. 

Ketchum’s kitchen at Spiced Pear runs like a well-oiled machine — smooth and unbelievably productive.  Diners who choose to avail themselves of his incredible tasting menu cannot help but be amazed as each dish presented is more beautiful and tasty than the one before. 

Ketchum classifies his style at Spiced Pear as “Contemporary New England Cuisine” taking a Continental, global American theme and adapting it to the local surroundings.  Now that he is based in New England, it means using a lot of fresh Atlantic seafood, especially lobster and salmon.  He notes with some amazement, though, that even on this gorgeous coastline, people still crave beef.  He serves a lot of Kobe beef, the most delicate of its kind; the restaurant’s Kobe beef burger has been listed on GQ Magazine’s “Top 20 Burgers to Eat Before You Die” list.

Ketchum brings 16 years of highly rated experience to The Chanler.  Prior to his arrival, he spent three years at The Lark in West Bloomfield, Michigan, Detroit’s only Mobil Four-Star restaurant.  There, in 2005, he was voted Best Chef in Michigan by Hour Magazine and improved the restaurant’s Zagat food ratings by two points to a stellar 28.