Don't let the aw-shucks attitude and well-worn Stetson cowboy hat fool you: Host Robert McGrath of Check, Please! Arizona is one of America's finest chefs and restaurateurs. Winner of the prestigious James Beard "Best Chef in America: Southwest" Award, and founding chef of both Roaring Fork and Renegade Canteen restaurants in Scottsdale, Arizona, McGrath has been a nationally acclaimed chef for nearly two decades. Born in Texas, McGrath's culinary career began with classical training in France, followed by prestigious postings, including chef de cuisine at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin; executive chef of the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston; and chef/owner of Sierra Grill in Houston, and Brio Vista in Austin.
In 1988, Food & Wine magazine chose McGrath as one of the "Ten Best Chefs in America." The following year, Chef McGrath's DeVille Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston was chosen by Esquire magazine as "One of the Best New Restaurants in America," and in 1991, McGrath was chef for the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations. In 1992, McGrath came to Arizona as chef de cuisine for Windows on the Green in the Mobil Five Star Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, then opened Roaring Fork restaurant, also in Scottsdale, in 1997. Named after the river that flows through Aspen, Colorado, Roaring Fork's distinctive, ruggedly elegant menufeaturing seasonal ingredients and Old West recipes restored with a new west twistchanged the face of American Western cuisine and broadened McGrath's already successful career in the culinary industry. McGrath is the consulting chef for Keeler Hospitality Group.
Nominated five times by The James Beard Foundation as "Best Chef in America: Southwest" (he brought home the honor in 2001), McGrath is also a member of Arizona's Culinary Hall of Fame. He has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Morning Show on CBS, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Good Morning Arizona, CNN, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and the Food Network, and also wrote the popular cookbook, American Western Cooking from the Roaring Fork. Today, this father of three lives with his wife, Amy, in Scottsdale.
