Janos Wilder began cooking as a teenager in a local pizza parlor and continued cooking throughout high school and college in numerous restaurants in Northern California, Nashville, Tennessee and Boulder, Colorado.
After graduating from college, Janos’ spent three years as a chef at the historic Gold Hill Inn, which ignited his passion for local ingredients. His changing menus were informed by the ingredients of the regions including herbs and vegetables from neighborhood gardens, foraged mushrooms and suckling pig from small farms on the plains.
A short stop cooking French food at a small restaurant in Santa Fe led to more in depth study of French cuisine in Bordeaux, working along side chefs at La Reserve, a Michelin two star, Relais et Chateaux and Le Duberne, a one star fine dining restaurant and bistro. These experiences only deepened his respect for the French chef and his relationship to his gardeners.
After relocating to Tucson, Wilder discovered the Southwest to be a treasure of ingredients including the fruit from the Prickly Pear cactus, mesquite flour, blue corn meal, tropical fruits and produce from Mexico, seafood from the Sea of Cortez and local gardens that yielded chilies, beans, squash, cilantro and more.
Janos, the restaurant that would bear his namesake, opened on Halloween in 1983. Within months the restaurant was written up in the New York Times and in 1984 was named one of the nation’s top regional restaurants by Playboy magazine.
Since then, Chef Wilder has opened, operated, and consulted for countless concepts and menus around the state.
