IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT

By David Hicks, Chief Communications Officer

WORKING IN A MICHELIN-STARRED RESTAURANT isn’t for the faint of heart. The prestigious ranking system that identifies the best restaurants in the world can create a pressure cooker for the chefs and waitstaff to provide the best possible dining experience for their guests. Restaurants without a star are desperately seeking the distinction, while those with one or two stars are on a quest for the third and final star that would set them atop the culinary world. All the while, each establishment fights to maintain its established excellence and avoid losing a coveted star.

Lucas Trahan, a 2011 graduate of Allen High School, knows exactly what it takes to work for one of the world’s best ranked restaurants. Trahan is the Executive Pastry Chef at Ever Restaurant, a Two-Michelin-Star establishment in Chicago whose dishes could easily double as works of art. It’s an understatement to say that holding two Michelin Stars is a huge accomplishment – only 33 restaurants can claim that honor in the United States – and Trahan knows full-well the exhilaration and stress that goes hand-in-hand with trying to earn a third star.

“There’s no doubt that this can be a demanding job that takes a lot out of you. I arrive at work at 8 a.m. and don’t leave until 8 at night,” Trahan explains. “At the same time, there is a rewarding experience in creating something bigger than you. All of us in the restaurant are pushing for the same goal of earning three Michelin Stars. I won’t lie, this job and this industry can be incredibly hard. At the same time, things that are too easy usually aren’t that rewarding.”

Despite the challenges, Trahan is exactly where he planned to land. He says he knew from the age of seven that he would either become a chef or an astronaut, and he eventually chose a cooking flame over rocket fuel. While he didn’t make it to space, perhaps it was a bit of serendipitous irony when he earned the Rising Stars Award in 2021 as one of the best up-and-coming chefs in Chicago.

Trahan honed his skills in the culinary program at Allen High School, even before Blú Bistro and the professional-grade kitchen were built inside the campus. Trahan studied cooking as a sophomore in Home Economics, and then utilized a temporary kitchen space during his time in the culinary program in his junior and senior years. It was in this space, under the tutelage of then-culinary teacher Jordan Swim, that Trahan could explore his creativity and learn to “fail safely.” the time a Three-Michelin-Star restaurant, and one of only two in the Windy City to hold the coveted distinction at the time.

Trahan got his foot in the door at the exclusive restaurant by running food from the kitchen for six months until a spot finally opened in the kitchen. He moved into a food-prepping role that he describes as extremely competitive. “If you didn’t catch on quickly, you were gone. There were plenty of people lined up to take your spot.”

Trahan learned from Grace’s Executive Chef Curtis Duffy for several years until the restaurant closed its doors in 2017. When Chef Duffy opened his new restaurant, Ever, in 2020, Trahan was ready to join the kitchen staff as the Executive Pastry Chef. He currently curates the pastry menu and produces all of the specialty bread items, ranging from a pretzel twist to a tomato focaccia. Trahan oversees a team of five people, and says his current role can prove to be more administrative than actual cooking or baking. Learning to delegate and trust a team to meet a high standard has been a difficult, but important, skillset he’s recently learned.

Despite the pressures of working for one of the highest-rated restaurants in the United States, Trahan chooses not to settle on being good enough. As with his days at Allen High School, he continues to look for new ways to push the envelope, even if success doesn’t come quickly.

“I may try a new dish and fail at it 15 times before I find one that works. Even then, it takes time to refine it and try to perfect it,” Trahan said. “I think about my teachers at Allen during those formative years – Jordan Swim, Lee Ferguson, and Heidi Hughes. All of them had safe classrooms and encouraged self-learning. If you didn’t succeed at something, they would always encourage you to learn and grow from it. That’s a mentality that I carry with me to this day, and I try to share it with my employees, too.”

“I learned many foundational skills in my classes at Allen High School, and it provided me a leg up when I enrolled in culinary school. I still use those skills today in my current role,” Trahan said. “In Allen, we could explore creativity, try new things, and find our palate. This was cooking for the love of it, and learning how to cook without any pressure. Working with my classmates and our teacher, Jordan Swim, was a time that fortified my love for cooking.”

High school culinary classes also provide, in Trahan’s opinion, the opportunity for students to determine if a particular career path is the right option.

“It’s a great opportunity to get in the kitchen and figure out if this is the right option, career-wise,” Trahan said. “Even if it doesn’t lead to a job as a chef, it’s still teaching kids a valuable lesson in how to cook for themselves. You may not need to cook for your job, but you need to know how to cook for your life in general.”

Following graduation from Allen High School, he enrolled in the Art Institute of Dallas and studied Culinary Arts. He eventually made his way to Chicago and worked at Grace, at