Chris Damian’s introduction to a career in food services had a very prosaic beginning with Chris working as a dishwasher in a local breakfast shop while still a student at Medford High School.  He continued to explore all aspects of the culinary opportunities afforded him throughout his high school years.  By graduation Chris had run the gamut from fry cook in a to-go seafood restaurant to a pasta/sauté man cooking “under glass” in a popular Italian restaurant in Cambridge.  These varied experiences helped cement his choice of vocation.  The rest they say is history.

Following graduation, Chris began his formal culinary training at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.  Upon receiving his Associates Degree and anxious to become a full- fledged professional, Chris refused an offer from the University to be a Teaching Assistant.  After carefully examining multiple job opportunities, Chris settled in at The Parker House Hotel in Boston, where he could immerse himself in the culture and history of America’s oldest operating hotel.  Famous for their rolls, baked scrod and Boston Cream Pie, the Parker House kitchen enjoyed a reputation as innovators in the industry.  Preparing haute cuisine offered in Parker’s Restaurant, supervising the daily specials and its implementation at the Last Hurrah, crafting ice sculptures for buffet functions and constructing the famed gingerbread Christmas display were just a few of Chris’s duties.

In 1987, Chris was approached to join a team establishing a culinary concept novel to the Boston area.  He was in on the ground floor of the opening of the first Border Café in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA.  Although beginning as an assistant to the chef, Chris’ responsibilities soon included running the entire operation since within the first month the entire management team had turned over.  For the next 11 years, Chris engineered store openings, menu development, management strategies, hiring and training of all personnel, restaurant and kitchen design and relationships with local purveyors.  In late 1997, when Chris terminated his association with the Border Café, he was responsible for back of the house operations in five inter-state restaurant locations.  During these hectic and challenging years, Chris and his long time associate, Brad Dalbeck, had vowed they would one day collaborate on a restaurant concept of their own.

Chris help build the brand known as the Border Café; moreover, he had an essential role in the development of the Luisian Grill in Danvers, Ma, established through the efforts of Chris, his now partner in Scollay Square, Brad Dalbeck and the former owner of the Border Café.  Chris was solely responsible for menu concept and development.  After being purchased by The Naked Fish Restaurants in 1999, The Luisian Grill was renamed the Jumbalaya Restaurant.  At the height of their expansion, they had two distinct restaurant concepts operating 10 restaurants.

During 2001, Chris opted to join the Best Practice Company known as P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in Boston, MA.  An extremely strong national company with more than 100 units, Chang’s has a relatively small presence in the Northeast.  Chris was hired as Executive Chef of the Boston unit.  Under his tutelage, the store enjoyed comparative sales growth by more than 21% within his first year and upwards of 27% during the second year.

Although his career has required untold hours of dedicated labor, Chris has found the wherewithal to help the less fortunate.  Utilizing his position as a chef/restaurateur, he has applied his knowledge, skills and personal and professional resources in feeding the homeless and teaching indigent members of the community how to prepare nutritious meals economically.   He has established a reputation as a committed and supremely competent member of the foodservice community.