Paxton’s passion for food evident as new kitchen opens at the Alger Center
Teamwork and staff at The War Memorial, (TWM) are Joe Paxton’s favorite part of coming to work. Paxton, of Dearborn, is the executive chef at TWM, a position he has held since April 2021.
“The attitude of the staff and the desire for everybody to come together and put together an experience for one event is amazing,” he said.
Paxton, 38, attended culinary school at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills.
“When you walk into the culinary world, you have about 10 years before you can be a manager of any kind,” he said. “You need to have the experience.”
While at Mid Michigan Community College in Mount Pleasant, he started his first kitchen job at Big Boy as a dishwasher.
“If I got all my dishes done, they’d let me help on the line. That started me thinking maybe I don’t want to be a teacher, maybe I want to be a chef,” Paxton said.
Over the years, he’s worked as a butcher, spent time cooking at a hotel, cooked at 24 Grille in downtown Detroit, Slows Bar BQ, executive chef at Grosse Ile Golf and Country Club, and executive chef at the Detroit Yacht Club. He even lived in North Carolina, learning the art of cooking southern food.
It was at the Detroit Yacht Club when he connected with two ladies who now are employed at The War Memorial- Chief Administrative Officer Nikki Charbonneau and Senior Hospitality Manager Emily Orttenburger.
“We really hit it off and then I went to work at The Garage,” Paxton explained. “Everyone was struggling through COVID still and Emily Facebook messaged me and they called me in and I came over.”
When he moved back to Michigan in 2020, he took part in reopening Garage Grill & Fuel Bar in Northville.
In response to what it is about The War Memorial that piqued his interest, the executive chef said “there is no ticket machine. At a restaurant, there is a ticket machine and it kills you. Here, you get to be a big part of people’s special day. No one really thinks about the foods at a wedding, but here, people do. They come with an expectation of quality and service and that appealed to me.”
When it comes to his philosophy on good food, Paxton remarked that folks often want convenience over quality.
“What we do, is focus on how to make the best food where we are at with our circumstances,” he noted. “The best food is local food. If you’re getting it in Michigan from a farm, it has to be in-season, so it’s a higher quality.”
With the Fred M. Alger Center now open, Paxton said he’s geeked about it.
“We liked it in the old kitchen, but there’s no way we can do that kind of volume,” he said. “Coming from a kitchen that is nice, but tiny, to a kitchen with space is nice.”
Outside of work, Paxton is a huge Detroit Tigers fan.
“I was born five hours after the Tigers won the pennant in 1984. I’m a huge Kirk Gibson fan and a huge Tigers fan,” he said. “I love to explore Michigan and got married in 2022.”
Alex Szwarc
Communications Manager
313.881.7514
aszwarc@warmemorial.org