Meet the Chef

Chef Trish

Head Chef/owner

Cooking has always come naturally to Chef Trish, who has been independently whipping up creations in the kitchen since second grade. And while her 20 years in the hospitality and food service industry include becoming a licensed wholesale food manufacturer and selling sauce at supermarket chains and Amazon, she pursued a reliable career as a financial analyst. But when the pandemic hit, she took a leap of faith to do what she loved.

In the first year, she grocery shopped for those quarantined, worked as a personal chef, and helped with meal prepping, quickly building her business. She developed a name for herself, taking a fresh approach to curating unique, customizable dishes. Today, Chef Trish is creating at-home, seasonal farm-to-table, fine-dining experiences for those living in Newport, Rhode Island, Greater Hartford, the Connecticut shoreline as well as everywhere in between.

From the beginning of the event planning process, she involves the host, asking about their guests' likes and dislikes, favorite flavors, and dietary restrictions. She takes pride in using proteins and ingredients other chefs might not serve, talking tableside about what makes them unique and why they taste different. Surrounded by "awesome, loyal staff," she says, it's hard to fail. 

Chef Lissa

event Chef

Chef Lissa Loucks fell in love with the theater of fine dining and entertaining as a teenager in Pennsylvania, where her first three jobs included bussing tables at a 4 star French restaurant, baking croissants, making omelettes and sauces for a French caterer and helping with her mother’s B and B and catering business while home on breaks from school.

After earning her BA from Connecticut College she turned her focus to restaurant kitchens, eventually graduating from the Culinary Institute of America at the top of her class and receiving the Richard T Keating Award for the Most Likely to Succeed in 1991.

One year later she became owner/operator of Vanderbrooke Bakers and Caterers in Old Saybrook, CT, where for the next decade she would lead a team of 12-25 employees specializing in high-end baked goods, cakes and breads, gourmet food to go, and off-site catering for weddings, corporate and special events as well as a lively lunch business.

After selling her business and taking time to raise a family, Lissa began working as a private chef creating customized meals for high net-worth individuals at a local wellness retreat company.

She’s been with the Chef Trish company since 2021, working side by side Chef Trish as well as leading her own events and supervising the events stewards.