North American Chef Willie Box grew up learning in his family’s kitchen in Chicago, Illinois. The family style cuisine he admired from his Aunts and Grandmothers were a direct influence from the South (Central Mississippi exactly, where he took mental notes of meals he describes as “perfection”). Not only limited to southern home cooking, he was surrounded by the eclectic and multicultural neighborhoods and diverse culinary offerings (from restaurants and festivals) of a metropolis like Chicago.
In college he studied at Alabama State University as a double major in Biology and Art Design, with no intentions of entering the culinary profession. After working with a few major corporations he later attended Le Cordon Bleu and graduated with honors (National Honor Society Recognition) in the field of Occupational Science.
Immediately out of culinary school, Box took his talents to Miami South Beach, training at the renowned Prime 112 at the Historic Brown’s Hotel on 1st and..