Don’t know Jason Brumm, the executive chef of the recently opened Manhattan transplant, P.J. Clarke’s? If you still have not dined there, you can get a glimpse of this young chef by Googling him. As always, YouTube captures many images, including Brumm shown cooking at his former Nashville restaurant, Radius10. He prepares an elaborate entree of pan-seared halibut with pesto gnocchi and an olive oil vinaigrette, radiating confidence in his every movement as he cooks, talks and garnishes at the same time. Now wrestling with D.C.’s hungry crowds, Brumm tells of his past. He grew up in Colorado and faced some difficult career choices after high school: Enter a vocational program, enlist in the Navy, or go to culinary school. He got the necessary culinary cred by working in a kitchen at a Marriott hotel, where the chef wanted to train him as a breakfast cook. After that, he decided to enroll at the Culinary Institute of America.

Brumm had a unique passage into the food world through travel. “I was fortunate,” he says, explaining that as a youngster he traveled all over Europe with his family during the late ’80s and early ’90s. “I always had a good palate,” he says. “The first lobster I ate was when I was only 5 years old.” Extensive travel did shape Brumm, for to this day he will eat any style or type of cooking. “I am very curious about food,” he says. “All cuisines appeal to me.”