Michael Fojtasek opened his inaugural restaurant, Olamaie, in August of 2014. It was the culmination of a lifetime spent appreciating the power food has to bring people together around a table. As a child, he discovered the draw of cooking watching his mother and grandmother, “Big Ola,” prepare meals, eventually working beside them. A stint at FINO (Austin) solidified his desire to commit himself to a career in hospitality. Fojtasek went on...

ROOTS | I grew up in good ol' potato land (Boise, Idaho). Yes, I do love potatoes.

I initially took the hospitality and healthcare route at the same time, but ended up committing to hospitality. The medical field is in my blood, as most of my family works in that field but I wanted to be a little different.

Bartending always looked like fun to me, and before long I got to see the real work...

ROOTS | I was raised in rural Oklahoma, in the kitchen with my grandmother, mother, and aunt, cooking large roasts, casserole dishes, braises and family style dinners.

STREET CRED | I'm classically French trained, and I spent a lot of my early days in new American and Italian kitchens. Later I moved onto Thai & Chinese cuisine and spent 8 years learning this style. I spent many years with the East...