2023 Chefs

Born in Florida in 1981, Sous Chef Sam Henderson grew up in Marietta, Georgia before moving north to attend New York University.  While completing a degree in English Literature, Sam started long-distance running, which resulted in an increased appetite for food and for culinary knowledge. Thus began Sam’s quest to hone her culinary skills, initially through reading and experimentation rather than culinary school, and then followed by a stagiaire in her first professional kitchen, wd~50. Chef Mike Sheerin was instrumental in helping Sam become a hired cook at wd~50 where she worked from 2006-2009.

In the summer of 2009, Sam worked as a stagiaire at the world-renowned Mugaritz in Spain, followed by positions in the kitchens of The Publican and Sepia in Chicago. Sam missed her wd~50 family and in the fall of 2011 she came back to fill the role of Sous Chef. In 2013 she was named Chef de Cuisine.