Who Am I?

Hi, my name is Will Karlen. I’m a chef from the Midwest living in New York while attending school and the Culinary Institute of America, one of the world’s most prestigious culinary schools. I grew up in Nebraska and South Dakota, the son of a cowboy turned artist and a banker who opened their own business dealing custom artwork and framing.

What Makes Me Interesting?

I began taking classical violin lessons at an early age of six, studying under an esteemed musician and instrument craftsman until I entered high school. With the help of my first instructor I was able to make connections with the conductor at the University of Nebraska Omaha where I joined as the youngest member of the Omaha Philharmonic when I was just 14. At this time, I also began taking lessons with the second chair violinist for the Omaha Symphony until I graduated high school. Studying under her, I was able to attend the University of Sioux Falls with their highest music scholarship. However, at the time of my admission, they did not have a strings program so the school had to create a program. By the time classes began a few other students had been admitted looking for similar studies and we had just enough to form a quartet for the years we were there.

After graduation, I moved from the world of music into the world of food. Trading one art form for another. This started in an unlikely place, while working at a franchised Dairy Queen I recognized my passion for hospitality and food service. From fast food, I moved into a local burger and beer chain in an effort to get more experience with food at what I considered to be a “more real” restaurant. While working there I became friends with a chef who had attended culinary school and was happy to answer any questions I had about cooking, becoming my first mentor of the kitchen. After a couple years, I took my next step and finally got into a full scale restaurant, a local fine dining Italian location. I became more familiar with cooking and learned so much while working with the chef there, who took me under his wing and taught me all that he could in the three years we worked together before he moved on. He had trained me and taught me so much during those three short years that I was able to take his place and had my first opportunity at running a kitchen all on my own. A year later, I was given an even greater opportunity to move on to the next step and help open a brand new bar concept in our downtown doing craft cocktails and small plates. Here I was allowed full creativity and exposed to many more ingredients and flavors that I had not encountered before.

All of the skills and knowledge that I had gained in the time from working fast food until working at the cocktail bar went into creating a dish that ultimately changed my life. Drawing inspiration from my years working at the Italian restaurant, I created an agrodolce using plums, star anise, and red wine that had an uncanny resemblance to a sour cherry Jolly Rancher. This went with our pork belly, braised in a French style with white wine and mirepoix which would be skewered seasoned with Chinese sichuan peppercorns and given a hard sear. Topped with my own candied pecans and garnished with locally grown beet microgreens. This dish was a nostalgic nod to a favorite meal of mine growing up, pork chops with cherry pie filling. Eventually my creation would come to inspire a patron of the bar to reach out and find me. Leading to my first date with my girlfriend.

Only three months after we began dating, I made a crazy decision to follow her from South Dakota to Florida while she attended school for her master’s degree in Film and Production. Through her encouragement I applied to the Culinary Institute of America in New York and quickly was accepted. Two years later, after watching her walk across the stage at her own graduation, we have finally arrived in New York for my own return to school pursuing a degree in Food Business and Management, with a focus on Farm to Table.

What Is My Mission?

Using ingredients local to the region to highlight and bring attention to the local flavors. Supporting the community and local agriculture by sourcing from small operations using sustainable practices with a mind for ensuring future generations are able to use the land and sea for years to come.

Why Am I Raising Money/Crowdfunding?

I will be going to California while in school, working at the second best restaurant in the world by La Liste 2023 and a 3 Michelin Star restaurant, SingleThread Farm, during the Fall 2024 semester. I am asking for financial support to help with my summer tuition as well as my living expenses for the time I will be in California.

What Am I Doing?

While in school, I have been making connections and forming relationships with local businesses and farms by buying local ingredients and learning their sustainable practices. I am also gaining valuable knowledge of running a successful hospitality business. During my time working at SingleThread Farm, I will be experiencing and practicing sustainable farming and crafting beautiful seasonal dishes to table.

Why Should You Support

By supporting me, you are helping to give me the chance to invest back into future generations by fostering a culture of sustainable food and farming practices committed to keeping the earth viable for producing quality, clean food for years to come.

How You Can Be Involved?

As little as a cup of coffee, you can receive a shout out and a personalized thank you. By purchasing one of my reward levels, you are able to receive culinary advice (as simple as what is the knife to purchase for your home) all the way to live one on one cooking class. Learn how to improve your own cooking and culinary skills by donating and helping me to reach my mission to support local sustainable agriculture.

What donation tiers are available?

One-time Donations:

Tier 1: For only $10, you will receive a personal shout out from me, thanking you for your generous contribution!

Tier 2: Do you have a culinary curiosity? Something you want to know more about with food? Need some advice with kitchen equipment? For just $50, you can ask and I will answer whatever question you have related to the culinary world!

Tier 3: Would you like to have one of my own personal recipes? Donating as little as $100 will get you access to a PDF of one of my professional recipes!*

Tier 4: Want me to make something for you? Have a style you’ve always wanted to try but you’re not sure where to begin? By donating $250 you can get a personalized recipe written by me with you in mind! Choose your style, cuisine, and course!

Tier 5: Have you ever wanted to take a cooking class but don’t know where to go? Here I will create a 1-on-1 video cooking class just for you for only $500. You will learn step by step how to create a dish of your choice along with a recorded video for your reference again and again!

Monthly-recurring Donations:

Tier 1: For less than a cup of coffee from your favorite cafe, $5/month gets access to my monthly newsletter, full of updates on what I’m doing and insight into what it is like to go to the world’s most prestigious culinary institution!

Tier 2:

Tier 3:

Tier 4:

Tier 5:

Notes:

* In order to maintain recipes which are my own intellectual property, One-time donations at Tier 3 will include recipes of mine which are able more suitable for being shared for this amount. If you are interested in getting access to recipes of mine which are considered on a higher scale to these Tier 3 recipes, it is possible to earn access with higher donation amounts beginning at $200<. Please understand that this is due to the nature of my profession and to protect intellectual property from accidentally becoming available to a larger audience.

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By William Karlen

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