Class Notes


alumni


Ryan Leinonen


Chef Savors Success by Jeff Samoray


his childhood interest into a successful career. Today, he’s chef and owner of Trillium, a Denver restaurant earning rave reviews for its Scandinavian and Nordic cuisine.


W


hile other youngsters his age tuned in to “Sesame Street,” Ryan Leinonen (BA01) played with his Fisher-Price plastic cooking set and watched Julia Child. So it’s no surprise that Leinonen, 38, turned


“All my passion goes out on a plate to our guests every day,” says


Leinonen, who grew up in Brighton. “I love to see people having a great time at my restaurant while I’m working my dream job.”


Cooking Up a Career At age 16, Leinonen got a job as a dishwasher at a local


restaurant, but he always ended up helping the cooks. He earned his culinary arts degree at Schoolcraft College while working as a chef at several restaurants in the Northville-Ann Arbor area. Then he enrolled in Eastern’s hospitality management program. “I wanted a formal education in restaurant management,” he


says. “I continued pushing my culinary envelope as sous chef at The Common Grill in Chelsea while taking 16 to 21 credits a semester. I learned a lot at Eastern, and not just in the classroom. I matured and became more self-motivated. I also met my wife [Taffy] there.”


34 Eastern | SPRING 2015


All photos in this story courtesy ofRyan Leinonen


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40