David Varley of Bourbon Steak - Biography

When you grow up having a breakfast of blueberries lovingly plucked from your back garden by mom, food has a completely different meaning. As a teen in Sussex, New Jersey, David Varley worked as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. By pure chance, he went from scrubbing floors to baking biscuits one day when a cook called in sick. Something clicked, and he made it his aim to work at the best restaurant in town.



Varley expanded this goal to the county, then the state, and soon was working in the New York kitchen of Lespinasse—all before attending culinary school at The Culinary Institute of America. He honed his skills at Boston restaurant Clio, and Parcel 104 in Santa Clara. In 2005, Varley accepted a position as chef de cuisine for Bradley Ogden in Las Vegas. Still in Las Vegas, Varley helped launch the Company American Bistro brand before moving to the Trump International Hotel and Tower as opening chef de cuisine.



In 2008 Varley accepted the executive chef position at Bourbon Steak in Washington, DC’s Four Seasons Hotel. He proceeded to do the last thing anyone would expect at a restaurant with the word “steak” in the name: plant a garden. Sixty-five varieties of herb and 25 types of vegetables meant that very few dishes are free of produce from the garden in season. He continues to step outside the Washingtonian comfort zone—with fabulous results.