Chef Brandon Basista

Brandon Basista is The Bearded Chef.

He’s a foodie, husband, father of four, young adult leader and a kid at heart.

He has a passion for food and a heart for teaching and raising up culinary leaders. Brandon has been a chef in the area for 16 years and has worked all over central Florida. He’s seen the good, the bad and the ugly of the restaurant industry.

Brandon graduated from Le Cordon Blue Orlando in 2007. From there he worked in fine dining kitchens throughout central Florida in Italian, Thai and New American Cuisine. From 2014 to 2016 he ran a kitchen in rural New Hampshire where the majority of the food was grown, harvested and butchered on site. There he learned more about whole animal butchery, charcuterie and canning.

Upon returning to Central Florida, he continued working as an executive chef until 2018, when he launched The Bearded Chef Food Truck doing comfort foods with an elevated edge. In 2018, he won the James Beard Foundation's Blended Burger Project and was invited to cook at the James Beard House. He also collaborated with JBF for the 2018 celebrity chef tour and was paired with Masterchef Tiffany Derry. In 2019, he was a finalist for the Blended Burger Project and launched his brick and mortar, The Bearded Chef BreakRoom the same year.

Currently, he leads his team between the Food Truck and BreakRoom doing regular service, Food Truck events, Weddings, corporate catering, private dinners, community events, classes and whatever else comes his way. He believes food is fun and should be an experience, and he tries to share his food wherever he is able.