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Will Gilson '05William Gilson is “living the dream” of most chefs, owning and operating his own bistro, Garden at the Cellar; and he’s only 24. It seems Gilson has been preparing for this feat since he started whipping up sold-out, gourmet dinners as a teenager at his family’s herb farm and restaurant in Groton, the Herb Lyceum at Gilson’s.
After catching the cooking bug at a young age, Gilson decided to enroll in the culinary program at J&W’s University's Providence Campus. After graduating in 2005, he went to work as a line chef at Oleana, chef Ana Sortun’s acclaimed Cambridge restaurant. “She was great, the staff was great. But I realized there was a glass ceiling,” Gilson says. “I took an internship paying $12 an hour, when my classmates were making large salaries to run restaurants.” Little did he know, leaving Oleana would give him the opportunity of a lifetime. “Like most chefs, you work late, and then find a watering hole to go to afterwards to relax and unwind,” says Gilson. His particular “watering hole” was The Cellar, a landmark bar in Boston. The building’s restaurant had been closed for some time, and the owners wanted to reopen. After many conversations with the owners, Marilyn Carter and Stephen Kapsalis, and a summer of asking patrons what kind of food they would like, Gilson decided to take on the challenge of reopening the kitchen at The Cellar; naming it Garden at the Cellar. “I took a gamble, and it paid off quickly. I have happy clientele, and I’m doing the cooking and seasonal foods I love,” says Gilson. All in all, Gilson says he’s a “little flabbergasted” with the publicity wave the Garden is riding. Daily Candy Boston, an Internet trend site, has deemed the Garden as “all comfort food, all affordable, all fantastic.” Gilson has also been mentioned in Boston magazine, the Boston Globe and on Boston’s Chronicle. |
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