Our Team

Chef Ryan

Executive Chef Ryan Grimm's culinary philosophy was shaped long before he ever stepped into a professional kitchen, rooted in summers spent with his grandmothers. 

At seven years old, he lived at his grandmother's beach house in Mexico, where they picked cherry tomatoes bursting with flavor, gathered fresh basil, and made the first hand-rolled pasta he ever cooked. The following summer in Northern California, his other grandmother and he walked her garden daily, harvesting vegetables that became simple, hearty stews. 

Those meals taught him that great food doesn't begin with technique—it begins in the soil, in tradition, and in the people you share it with.

Chef Ryan carried those lessons into his formal training at Le Cordon Bleu's California Culinary Academy, where he graduated with honors. After completing a six-month internship at Disney's flagship Grand Floridian Resort, he spent five years in Los Angeles running creative culinary concepts before spending a year in Europe working on a dairy farm in Ireland and at a hotel and restaurant in England.

For the past nine years, Chef Ryan has been part of the Lake Gaston community, working at Watersview and Robinson's Ferry. Now, as Executive Chef at Blue Jay Bistro, he brings his passion for fresh, local ingredients and his commitment to creating dishes that make you pause, put your fork down, and feel something. 

Chef Ryan believes food has restorative power and is excited to continue telling stories through exceptional cuisine.