This week on Joiners, we're joined by chef Trevor Teich, whose winding road through the culinary world began with a career selling shoes at Nordstrom and an unpaid internship at Chicago's legendary L2O. From there came stints at NoMI, Acadia, and some of Las Vegas's most demanding kitchens, followed by years of scrappy pop-ups that eventually became Claudia, his wildly imaginative, Michelin-starred Bucktown restaurant named after his mother. Now at the helm of the historic Astor Club, housed in the former Maxim's de Paris, Trevor is bringing his particular brand of creativity and hospitality to one of Chicago's most storied dining rooms. We get into the hard lessons of opening (and closing) a restaurant, the delicate balance between artistic ambition and keeping the lights on, why even the best dishes are never really finished, and so much more!
