Born in San Diego but raised in New York and Texas, Executive Chef Donald Woods Jr.’s path to the culinary arts was an orchestrated whirlwind—often tactical, sometimes chaotic, but a goal always predestined. The son of a military man and grandson of one of SDSU’s first female executive chefs, Donald graduated from August Escoffier in Boulder, Colorado, studying classic French cuisine and going on to work under some of the world’s most successful restaurateurs, including Bobby Flay at Mesa Grill, Michael Thomas at the French Laundry, Steve Brown at Swagyu, and Richard Blaze at Indian Wells.
From Berlin, to Korea, to New Orleans, to California, Donald’s career has spanned across multiple cities, states, and countries. But he never thought of cooking as a career—rather, a way of seeing the world. “Food,” he says, “is one of mankind’s greatest teachers.” Under the guidance of his mother and grandmother, Donald set out to discover his own culinary identity, fusing his African American, Japanese, and Colombian roots to bring to light the complexities that color the culinary world—and life as a whole.
While that raw transformative process fuels his unquenched development, “you haven’t grown in the kitchen,” Donald jokes, “until you’ve had one of the most expensive cuts of meat in the world hurled at your face.” Despite the chaos, Donald relishes the pressure and thrives on resuscitating dishes thought to be dead—both on the line, and in his “recon,” a diligent form of foraging and research catalyzed by military beginnings. Whether breathing modern life into 500-year-old recipes from ancient Egypt or putting something completely unorthodox on the plate, Chef Woods knows that cooking with both mind and heart can facilitate narrative expression in ways that extend far beyond taste buds.
Specializing in Japanese Creole Fusion, Donald Woods Jr. is currently the Executive Chef at Myst Lounge in the Gaslamp District. He is based in San Diego, and enjoys hiking and cooking with his two sons, always reminding them that devotion and persistence will outweigh privilege and talent.