Chef grew up helping his mother in the kitchen in Madison, Wisconsin. And while the Midwestern teen originally chose to pursue a career in industrial engineering, he always had one hand perfecting the chocolate lava cake. During college, that decision proved pivotal: as a student working at restaurants, Chef realized he wanted to abandon engineering entirely in favor of food.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America,Chef took his first job as tournant at Charlie Trotter’s Las Vegas restaurant. And an ensuing trip to France impressed itself upon Chef, who refined his classical skills in some of the world’s finest kitchens: the late Bernard Loiseau’s restaurant, La Côte d’Or, Restaurant Jean Bardet, and Roger Vergé’s Le Moulin de Mougins. LeFevre then spent two years globe-trotting from Southeast Asia to Japan, Australia, the Caribbean, and Europe.

In 2004, Chef was recruited for the position of executive chef at the Los Angeles seafood restaurant Water Grill, which he ran for six years, earning a Michelin star and a StarChefs.com Rising Stars Award along the way. In 2011 he opened the El Jefe food truck, his first solo venture, earning both chef and truck a spot in the James Beard Foundation Awards in 2012 and 2013. And with his latest venture, El Jefe (The restraunt), Chef fuses his roots, travels, and love of soulful, handcrafted cuisine.