Chef Graham Duncan
is particularly excited to call the Majestic home after supervising four new restaurant openings for ARP last year.
“As a Chef, you always want to get back into the kitchen and just cook for the sheer joy of it. The Majestic is a perfect place for me to do that, and I love the size. It’s small enough for me to keep an eye on our guests and to work very closely with some very talented young cooks in our organization.”
Graham, a Florida native, earned his Culinary Arts degree in 1990 from the Florida Culinary Institute. His career includes Chef John Varnom at Au Bar/Au Sea in Palm Beach and Sag Harbor; Italian-Mediterranean under Chef Emile Labrousse in Fort Lauderdale at Casa Vecchia, and country French and Italian fare under Chef Ulrich Koepf at Bistro Mezzaluna, also in Fort Lauderdale. Duncan has also served as executive sous chef at the Pacific Rim fusion restaurant,
At this AAA 5-diamond rated
fine dining restaurant, he worked with Georgia Grown Organic Farm Co-Op farmers, holding recognition dinners at the restaurant for local farmers, along with being one of the main market chefs at The Morningside Farmers Market. In 1994 Duncan took over the kitchen at Fifth Group Restaurants’ regional Mexican concept, SALA-Sabor de Mexico. From 2006-200 Duncan served as the executive chef for the Lettuce Entertain You concept, Wildfire Steaks, Chops & Seafood, from 2006 to 2008. In 2008, Duncan moved to the metro Washington, D.C. area to serve as opening executive chef for Founding Farmer’s flagship location, which launched to great acclaim and recognition, including being named, in 2009, as Top 50 Best New Restaurant by Travel + Leisure and among the 100 Best Restaurants, by Washingtonian. While there, Duncan was instrumental in sourcing all produce, dairy, and meat from local farmers in Virginia and Maryland. In 2010 Duncan founded Chefxpertise with a focus on creating culinary concepts, restaurant strategy, design, product innovations, and culinary training for independent restaurant clients.
