Chef is a German word that simply means boss. And this boss, Executive Chef Mark Wilson, has had a lifelong passion for food that has taken him to numerous culinary service jobs that humbly started in fast food. But now, Wilson works as the executive chef of the Ariel Broadway Hotel in downtown Lorain, and is the culinary genius behind Broadway Grill and Games located in the lower level.
Wilson said he wanted to be a chef since he was a child. He said he wanted to be either a chef, a firefighter or an astronaut. Wilson even had a name for this future restaurant — Two Bones — and mostly would play cook out of necessity as a youngster with a working mom.
“A lot of chefs have stories about how they got started, like they learn from their grandma, or they learn from their mom,” he said. “I learned how to cook out of self-defense because my mom was always at work and she didn’t really cook so great. “So, I kind of had to learn to cook in order to feed myself.
” Wilson received his formal culinary training from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He also earned a degree from Cuyahoga Community College and is an ordained minister.
Wilson practiced his ministry for several years and is keen to share his recipe for holy water. “You start out with regular water, then boil the hell out of it,” he laughed. Wilson began his cooking journey with Taco Bell and later Captain Tony’s Pizza.
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