Master of Wine
David Lake
- Discipline
- Master of Wine
i. Biography
David Lake owns Cafe Twenty Eight in Coatbridge, and the line of work behind that base was built in kitchens where pace, standards, and repetition were part of the job. The career runs from Chicago in 1988 through a sequence of chef posts in London and elsewhere, each one adding another practical layer to a working life shaped by service, movement, and adjustment to different rooms.
The Path
Chicago in 1988 marked the start of David Lake’s professional kitchen work, when he took up a chef role at Jim Guth’s Chicago Caterers. From there, the record moves through J and L, Food for Thought, Elegant Edge, Jordan’s Food of Distinction, and Lakeshore Events. Taken together, those posts point to a chef working across changing operations and learning how to carry standards from one service to the next. London widened the scale of that work. As chef, David Lake went on to The Ritz in London, The Dorchester, Four Seasons at the Inn on the Park, Hollington House, New Hall Hotel, and Horsted Place Hotel. The sequence shows a career built through recognised houses, with each stop demanding consistency, speed, and the ability to fit the work to the setting without losing control of the pass. Cafe Twenty Eight is now the base David Lake owns. That shift brings a different set of responsibilities: not just service within another operator’s structure, but ownership of the space itself, and the chance to carry a long run of kitchen experience into a place under his name.
The Work Today
Cafe Twenty Eight in Coatbridge is David Lake’s current base, and it anchors a career that has already moved through Chicago, London, and a long list of chef roles. After years in larger kitchens and hotels, the work now has a fixed address, but it still sits on the same habits of discipline and readiness that shaped the earlier stages. "I am always ready for the next challenge." The line is plain, and it matches the record: a cook who has kept moving, taken on different rooms, and treated each new post as another test to meet rather than a chapter to dwell on. That approach has marked the whole path from Chicago in 1988 to Coatbridge today. The career reads as forward motion, but not in the abstract; it is movement through actual kitchens, actual services, and actual expectations, with Cafe Twenty Eight now carrying the weight of that experience.
In Their Words “I am always ready for the next challenge.”
Career - Owner — Cafe Twenty Eight, Coatbridge - Chef — Jim Guth’s Chicago Caterers, Chicago (from 1988) - Chef — J and L - Chef — Food for Thought - Chef — Elegant Edge - Chef — Jordan’s Food of Distinction - Chef — Lakeshore Events - Chef — The Ritz, London - Chef — The Dorchester
FAQ Where did David Lake work before? David Lake's earlier career included Jim Guth’s Chicago Caterers, J and L, and Food for Thought. What recognition has David Lake received? 3AA Rosettes.
