Since taking part in this interview, Daugherty has accepted an opportunity to return to Amilinda to work as Chef León’s sous chef. He’ll start his new role on Oct. 30.

When you ask Chef Gregory León how he views and approaches his role as a culinary mentor, he says he believes true mentorships evolve naturally. 

“I’m a firm believer that you can always learn something from wherever you are working, no matter what the situation is like,” León says. “I know that I've learned something from everyone that I've worked with, and if you’re open to it it goes both ways. But I think that mentorship goes deeper than teaching and learning. It begins with respect. They have to respect you and you have to respect them.

“I also believe that quality mentors are important. There’s a lot of talent in this city, but if we don’t take time to help others grow and advance it has a real impact. If we want people to stay in Milwaukee and the city’s dining scene to move forward, we need to be the ones who set the examples.”

But León admits that he didn’t really see himself as a mentor until more recently. 

“I’ve always just thought of myself as a cook,” he says. “But this year I’ve been in a lot more situations where I’ve realized that I’m the more experienced guy in the room and that people are looking up to me… they’re looking at me like I looked at my mentor.” 

Among those chefs is Ethan Daugherty, who currently works as a sous chef at La Merenda.

An opportunity to grow

Daugherty says his first job in the industry was as a dishwasher at his father’s restaurant. From there, he says took on a variety of restaurant positions to gain experience and hone his craft. But it wasn't until he took a job as a line cook at Balzac in 2021 that he says he felt his work was valued.

“It was the first time I felt like my input was important,” he says. “My experience there gave me a clearer vision for what I wanted and it really ignited my passion for cooking. I wanted to learn even more.”

So, he sent a Facebook message to Chef León and asked if he could work as a prep cook at Amilinda during the day before he reported in at Balzac. 

“I had a sous chef at the time who was trying to get his life together, and I knew that I could use an extra pair of hands,” says León, “So I told him yes. 

“From the first day, he asked a lot of questions. He was meticulous about his prep work, and was clearly passionate about what he was doing.  So, when things with my sous chef fell apart, I offered Ethan the position.”

Daugherty says the opportunity was too good to pass up. “It had only been a month, so it felt like an amazing opportunity that had just fallen into my lap. I literally dropped everything and took the position.”

Coming into his own

As he worked with León, Daugherty says he began to realize some things about himself.

“I realized that I'd come into the industry looking for validation,” he says. “But as I worked with Greg I realized that it was up to me. I had to work hard and grow. And that changed the way I operated."

León says he has a fairly straightforward mode of operation in his kitchen.

“I do not have kids,” he says. “And I don’t want to be a parent to my staff. We’re all adults and we’re all here to do a job. I’m also not here to make you feel badly about yourself. I don’t believe in making people work out of fear, and I don’t want people to feel like they’re working for an asshole. Instead, I communicate with them about what needs to be done and expect that they do it.”

Daugherty says that León's approach gave him both the experience and motivation that he needed to explore his craft.

“Over the course of two years, I found my voice as a person. I also found that cooking is my medium; it’s the way I express myself. Under his wing, I began discovering my style as a chef.

“I also learned the value of independence. We were a small crew, so everyone needed to work hard. We all had clear roles and responsibilities. Some days it would have been nice to have more people or fancier equipment. But in the end, it showed me how much we could accomplish without all of that.”

But Daugherty says that the biggest change he noticed as he worked for León was the increase in his confidence.

“It was always great on nights when people would come up to me and tell me that a dish was really good,” he says. “But that’s not what I worked for. Instead, I was the most proud when service went smoothly and when I knew that I did my best to contribute to the team. The satisfaction for me came when I started to believe in myself.”

León nods. “One of the things that we worked on when he was here was getting him to embrace how good he was. I don’t think he’d ever worked for a chef who had really worked with him to improve or acknowledge when he was doing a really good job.”

“I owe my entire career to Greg,” says Daugherty. “He pushed me to the forefront. I had always worked hard, but at Amilinda, it felt meaningful. He gave me credit for the work that I did, and he helped me to recognize the importance of resilience and kindness in the kitchen. I’ll always see him as a mentor and a friend, no matter where I’m working.”