Name: Michael Miller

Residing Club: Silicon Valley Capital Club in San Jose, Calif.

Background and Career Highlights: Won the Michelin Star Chef award in 2009 and 2010 and the Emerging Maverick Award via Cinequest.

Other than your chef knife, what is your favorite kitchen tool?: 
"A wooden spatula"

What had the greatest influence on your culinary career?: 
"My father's pizza place."

What is your single favorite ingredient to cook with?: 
"Yuzu juice is my latest favorite."

What is something about you few people know?: 
"I've been a musician longer than I've been a chef."

What is one thing that can always be found in your home refrigerator?: "Butter, eggs, stock, beer... the basic essentials."

If you could cook dinner for anyone, past, present or future, who would it be?: 
"My grandfather. He put me through culinary school but I never had the chance to cook for him."

What is your Walter Mitty fantasy?: "Being a studio musician in New York."

What character traits/qualifications/skills makes a good chef?: "Discernment, amplitude, organization, thoughtfulness and fairness."

What do you like most about working at the Club?: "The ability to use multi-global ingredients."

What do you see as the next big trend in food?: "The evolution of classics with modern applications."