hef Kent Rathbun has been on a mission since childhood. He discovered his passion for cooking at the early age of nine and has been on that track ever since. Kent started cooking in his first restaurant at age 14. Like most of us, food and beverage got into his blood. It wasn't until around the age of 21 though that Kent started to realize that people were really responding to his food.

As a young chef Kent obtained a position as an apprentice at La Bonne Auberge, a five star French restaurant located in Kansas City, Missouri. It was here that Kent's passion was really came to light as he was able to work with the finest ingredients and learned how to perfect their preparation and presentation. It was here that the skills and techniques that brought him to this level were given their edge.

Chef Kent Rathbun continued his culinary experience working in the kitchens of Mr. B's in New Orleans, American Restaurant and Milano in Kansas City, The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and the Landmark Restaurant in the Dallas Melrose Hotel.

While at the Landmark, Rathbun had the opportunity to make annual trips to Bangkok, Thailand, which provided him the resources and research to create his own spectacular style of Contemporary Global cuisine.

It was the combination of Chef Rathbun's Southwestern roots, American, Cajun/Creole his Mediterranean, and Pacific Rim travel that all blended perfectly to serve up Chef Kent Rathbun's signature blend of flavors and cooking style. He calls his style of cooking contemporary global cuisine with Pacific Rim influences, but we found it to be even more complex and unique.

Chef Kent Rathbun finally decided to follow his dream, bring all of his experience and talent to the table so to speak and open his own world-class restaurant in Dallas. In 1997 Kent brought his unique style of cooking to Abacus, his flagship restaurant.

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