NEW ORLEANS, La. — Spicing up a Monday morning, the Link Restaurant Group announced in a press release the promotion of Nicole Mills to the position of chef de cuisine of Pêche Seafood Grill.
“Nicole joined the Link Restaurant Group in 2013 as part of our opening team,” said chef Donald Link. “She has an inherent knowledge of sustainable farming and learned at a young age the importance of food and where it comes from. We are excited to see her take this leadership position at Pêche.”
Mills oversees all culinary aspects of the restaurant and works closely with the local fishermen and farmers who harvest sustainably along the Gulf coast and neighboring regions. Mills and the team at Pêche utilize that inspiration to create simply prepared contemporary dishes with a rustic feel using the traditions of live-fire cooking techniques. The Pêche menu highlights an extensive raw bar list, as well as many varieties of Gulf fish.
“Nicole has embraced not only our local seafood, but the community that brings it to us,” said Ryan Prewitt, chef/partner Pêche Seafood Grill and partner in the newly opened Gianna. “She has developed strong relationships with our fisherman and farmers.”
Mills was born and raised in the Philippines. She grew up in a small town called Cagayan de Oro, in Northern Mindanao. Her family owned a bakery where she grew up watching the production of fresh baked bread in an old fashioned wood burning stone oven. Mills’ family was known for growing and producing some of the sweetest corn in the area along with farm raised pigs, chickens, and lamb.
After graduating from Ateneo de Manila University, she moved to New York in 2001 to attend the French Culinary Institute in Soho. Her culinary career began with Danny Meyer and Union Square Hospitality Group cooking at both Eleven Madison Park and Gabriele Kreuther’s the Modern at MOMA. She worked as a tournant for Chef Alain Allegretti at Atelier in the Ritz Carlton Central Park and later with Chef Dan Kluger at the Core Club. After New York, Mills moved to Los Angeles to work at the Thompson Beverly Hills with Chef Brian Redzikowski. She later moved back to her hometown in the Philippines to open a Creole concept restaurant. After a few years back home, she relocated to New Orleans and joined the Link Restaurant Group.
