Whether you’ re entertaining friends in your backyard oasis or throwing a milestone birthday party in your formal dining room, customizing a menu with a private chef allows your ideas to come to life, in the comfort of your own home. From fine dining to fusion, these private chefs will blow your guests’ minds.

Chef Johnny Church got his start working at his mom’ s restaurant in Flint, Michigan before transitioning to graveyard breakfast cook. He’ s climbed the culinary food chain and settled into the world of fine dining. After working in the kitchens of big names like Gordon Ramsay and Michael Mina, the chef-owner of Johnny C’ s Catering and Knives Out LV Hospitality flexes his creative muscle on crafting menus for some of the poshest parties in town. Chef Johnny notes,“ I’ ve kind of run the gamut of cooking anything from fried chicken wings to foie gras in my career.”

His signature is highlighting seasonality and sourcing from the top local and regional farmers and growers. Chef Johnny explains,“ That’ s the way that I’ ve been trained. You have to know what’ s going on in Mother Nature to be a real steward of food.”

He’ s been scooping up the freshest herbs and produce from Boulder City’ s Diane Greene, the grower behind Herbs by Diane, for over two decades. Shutting down the naysayers who claim you can’ t grow quality produce in the desert, Chef Johnny attests,“ You just have to go out and find it. I’ m at four farmers

markets a week here. Diane works so hard on her farm and just puts a lot of love and care into her ingredients. She gets me what’ s in season and then I work around that.”

Chef Johnny combines succulent seasonal produce with top-tier meats like steaks from Creekstone Farms in Kansas, where they focus on sustainability and quality animal feed.

“ When I create a dish, I try to think if that one dish could be its own restaurant. Probably it couldn’ t, but at least that’ s kind of the mindset I get into.”

CREDIT: JESSICA MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY