Yes, Chef!
Redding Native and Commis, Bradley Waddle…
hile Bradley Waddle can laugh that most of us don’t watch the Olympics and think we can accomplish what we see, it didn’t stop him from watching the Bocuse d’Or, one of the world’s most prestigious cooking competitions, and think that he belonged in the next one.
For the Redding native, it was just another audacious assumption that he put his mind toward and made happen. He is currently preparing for the world finals of the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon, France, as the Commis to Head Chef Stefani De Palma, representing the United States. The competition occurs every two years, and it was two years ago that he sat in the audience in Lyon and determined he should be on the stage.
The position of Commis is reserved for people aged 22 and under, and Waddle will turn 23 only a couple of months after the January 2025 competition.
For such a young person, the move is one of a rising number of chances Waddle has taken to get him where he wants to be. While it all started in the kitchen of his childhood home, his professionalization started front of house at Mary’s Pizza Shack as a teenager with a newly minted work permit. He quickly moved to CR Gibbs, where he says he begged his way into the kitchen. Then it was onto Mosaic, where he was able to debut a few specials on the menu. This is all before he could register to vote.
He found himself scrolling Instagram one day and discovered renowned Napa Valley Chef Thomas Keller was opening a new restaurant and had a call out for staff. Waddle negotiated a shift change at Mosaic and made his way to Yountville for an interview. He came back a dishwasher and started 11 days later at Regiis Ova, Keller’s caviar and champagne lounge.
With a new restaurant, Keller came in daily for several months. Within a week, Waddle moved from dishwasher to the kitchen team and was on the chef’s radar. “It’s every young chef’s dream to meet Thomas Keller,” says Waddle. “But to learn from him is something else.” Waddle absorbed everything he could, including a suggestion to move to England to continue learning.
“While in England I took some time off and went to France to watch the competition as a spectator,” he says. His ticket had been procured by Chef Devin Knell, who would introduce Waddle to De Palma, and serve as Team USA’s President.
The timeline went swiftly from spectator to competitor, with Waddle watching the Bocuse d’Or in January 2023, meeting De Palma in March, and Team USA having their application announced as a finalist in May. The team then won the national competition in September, and the continental competition of the Americas in June 2024, where nine countries competed in New Orleans for the United States’ debut as host.
While the moxie of Bradley Waddle seems endless, it’s guided by a dedicated team of people backing him up through Ment’or, a nonprofit developed to inspire culinary excellence. Founded by Chefs Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Jéròme Bocuse, the organization provides financial support, culinary advisement and opportunity to young chefs.
As Team USA prepares for their world competition, Waddle says they receive support from renowned chefs. “Our culinary advisors are the best chefs in the country,” he says. “They tell us what we’re doing right, but more importantly, what we’re doing wrong.”
All of this is critical, since the world event will have all of those elements of an Olympic event. “It’s 10 times bigger; there are way more people in the audience. The lights, the cameras. There’s so much going on,” says Waddle. The National Anthem will play if they win, and Waddle says he still gets chills when he hears it after winning the continental competition.
While Waddle says he’s staying focused on the task at hand, his current position on Team USA for the Bocuse d’Or is creating doors of opportunity to walk through in the future. And while it may land him anywhere in the world, his grounding is in Redding, the child of Matthew and Hillary Waddle, who got his start in local restaurants that launched a career that is still young but quite on fire. •
