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Meet the Executive Chef - Josh Watkins | Dining Green

Meet the Executive Chef
Josh Watkins

In June 2008, Josh Watkins’ desire for creative culinary expression and for new challenges led him to The University of Texas at Austin’s AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. As executive chef, Watkins initiated and directs all of the hotel and conference center’s culinary programs including The Carillon signature restaurant, the Tejas (conference dining), Gabriel’s Café, the OneTwenty5 Café, all banquet and catering functions, and the university’s Blanton Café at the Blanton Museum of Art.

With four kitchens and 50 staff, Watkins delivers the kind of exquisite menus that have made him one of Austin’s most celebrated chefs. The fresh and inventive cuisine offered throughout the hotel is inspired by his love of fresh produce, visits to local and sustainable farmers, and uncompromising selection of quality ingredients. Watkins makes every meal at the center a destination dining experience.

Watkins’ culinary journey began at a young age when he enrolled for classical training at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. With the skills he acquired at the academy, Watkins fostered a library of culinary possibilities built on his diverse cultural experiences, expertise in fine food, and knowledge of exemplary wines.

His tutelage alongside such great and famed chefs as Reed Heron and Scott Warner (Chef Reed Heron’s Black Cat restaurant in San Francisco), and William Koval (French Room in Dallas, Texas) garnered him the chef de cuisine position on the Driskill Grill culinary team at the age of 23 and an appearance on The Food Network’s, “Iron Chef America.” When the Driskill Grill’s nationally acclaimed executive chef David Bull departed in 2007, Watkins was named executive chef and again earned the restaurant a five-star rating.

Within three months of the university’s hotel and conference center opening, Watkins was achieving recognition from local critics for his culinary vision. Texas Monthly’s February 2009 issue recognized The Carillon as an honorable mention in its “Where to Eat Now: 2009” coverage of best restaurants in Texas.