John Somerville, Chef de Cuisine of the Lark Restaurant, brings more than 10 years of four star culinary experience to the restaurant. Throughout his career, John has trained under some of America's most influential chefs, including Gary Danko, Marcus Haight and Marc Collins.
John grew up in rural Ohio. As a young boy, being surrounded by farmland, he was introduced to the freshest products. He subsequently acquired a discriminating taste for farm fresh ingredients which carries into his career today as a chef. As a young child in school, he was teased for bringing in fresh artichokes for lunch. While visiting with his Polish Grandmother, John was able to experience a different culture through cooking with her which taught him an appreciation for other cultures and their customs with food.
John attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and graduated with a degree in engineering. After briefly pursuing a career in engineering he joined the Lark staff in late 1994. Beginning as a garde manger chef, John worked his way up to grille chef and was responsible for cooking 35,000 orders of Rack of Lamb, the Lark's signature dish. John was promoted to sous chef in 2002 and has since been instrumental in sustaining the Lark's reputation as perhaps America's finest restaurant. In May, Jim and Mary promoted John to Chef de Cuisine needing to look no further than their own kitchen. Since May, Chef John has been wowing patrons with his new menus, and for the Lark's 25th Anniversary, created what Jim Lark has called America's finest dinner to date!
In addition to cooking, John's other interests include travel, sports, music and Mustangs.
