Rick Moonen

The Climb

Rick Moonen trained at Culinary Institute of America before moving into the kitchens of New York City, where the pace was relentless and the standards were unmistakably high. He worked at La Côte Basque in New York City, worked at Le Cirque in New York City, and worked at The Water Club in New York City, absorbing the cadence of grand dining rooms and the discipline required behind the scenes, where every plate, every minute, and every detail matters. Those early years formed a foundation of technique and composure, the sort of education that is less about spectacle than endurance. From there, he became executive chef and partner at Oceana, a step that signaled both creative authority and a growing sense of ownership over his direction. After that came partner at Molyvos in New York, extending the reach of his experience into another setting where his sensibility could take shape in a new way. Together, those ventures capture the duality that has long animated his career: one side rooted in the broader mission of seafood done responsibly, the other in the more casual, immediate pleasures of a place designed to be lived in rather than merely visited. The result is a professional path that feels both intentional and restless, craft yet always in motion.

Today

He is the chef/owner of RM Seafood in Las Vegas and serves as Master Development Chef for Perry's Restaurants. Sustainable seafood runs through that chapter, not as an abstract slogan but as the working principle beneath the menu, the sourcing, and the way he approaches the kitchen as a place of responsibility as much as expression. In a career that has moved from New York institutions to his current chapter in Las Vegas, Moonen’s voice still carries the same practical intensity. His own words fit the rhythm of a career built on moving parts: "I have this need to have all these moving parts." It is a statement that feels less like a passing remark than a diagnosis of temperament—an admission that his energy comes from complexity, from orchestration, from the constant calibration of people, product, and purpose.

In Their Words “I have this need to have all these moving parts.”

Recognition

Rick's honors include Best Chef : West nominee, James Beard Award Winner for Documentary with "Chef's A Field", Humanitarian of the Year Award, Named Moonen an Earths power Player, one of five leaders helping the future health of our planet, Chef of the Year, and Top Chef Masters Second Place Winner. Taken together, the list sketches a chef whose career has been recognized not only for technical skill and leadership, but also for the larger conversation he has helped shape around the future of food. The accolades arrive in different forms—some deeply culinary, some explicitly civic, some tied to media and performance—but they all point toward a profile built on rigor, public influence, and a sustained commitment to doing the work with purpose.