Eric May

A Utah native, Eric May worked in Salt Lake City kitchens for five years before heading east to ICE for formal training and externship at Water’s Edge in Long Island. Upon graduation, he felt ready to cook anything, he says, thanks to his well-rounded education. He helped open celebrity-studded Man Ray, in Manhattan, as executive sous chef, and the 390-seat destination restaurant L'Escale, in Greenwich, CT, before returning to Utah in 2004. He worked at Wahso Asian Grill in Park City. As chef de cuisine at the Homestead Resort's Simon's Restaurant, in the Wasatch Mountains, May earned the AAA Four-Diamond Award three years in a row.

At the Blue Boar Inn, where he signed on in 2008, his hearty, luxurious menus has earned him the same prize, as well as the coveted Best Executive Chef award from Utah’s Best of State. Looking back at how ICE helped him find his culinary voice, he says, “The opportunities I have had to work with diverse types of cuisine, I credit to the well-rounded culinary education and schooling at ICE. My schooling and training opened doors for me to accept a wide-range of opportunities.” His advice to ICE students is to “Work harder than everyone. Take advice and criticism (both good and bad) because it will only make you better and stronger.”