Rodney Staton

The Path

At Seattle Central College, Rodney Staton began building the discipline and sensibility that would carry through the rest of his work. The route that followed was cumulative rather than theatrical, with each stop adding another layer of confidence, another way to think about structure, flavor, and the rigor behind a plate that reads cleanly.

The Work Today

At Lardon in Chicago, Staton works inside a kitchen built around charcuterie and whole-animal, nose-to-tail cooking. That setup rewards patience and precision, and his approach keeps returning to the same premise: the ingredient is not there to support an idea; it is the thing the idea has to earn its shape from. The Seattle foundation sits underneath that logic, giving the Chicago kitchen its center. The restaurant’s dishes make that position visible without overexplaining it. Truffled lardo puts fat, fragrance, and restraint in the same frame. The Italiano sandwich carries the kitchen’s priorities into a more immediate form, translating depth and structure into something direct. The chef’s board gathers cured, butchered, and composed elements into one clear expression of abundance. The throughline is not a single cuisine label, even if Modern American cooking with Mediterranean influence gives some coordinates. More useful is the sequence: a Seattle beginning, a French-bistro foundation, Chicago leadership, a collaborative menu process, and a current kitchen where meat, preservation, and whole-animal use do most of the work. The result is a style that stays coherent without narrowing itself.

Signature

Rodney's signature dishes include Truffled lardo, Italiano sandwich, and Chef’s board.

In Their Words “We're embracing a steak bar concept, which melds our favorite elements of the gastropub like bar snacks and meat and cheese plates with steakhouse cuts and sides.” “Without the boundaries of limiting ourselves to a single concept, we can create a really special experience for ALK guests.”

Acclaim

The clearest recognition for Staton’s work sits in the dishes attached to Lardon’s identity. Truffled lardo, the Italiano sandwich, and the chef’s board are direct markers of range, and they give diners a quick read on the textures and priorities in his cooking. The earlier chapters matter because they read as craft formation, not just chronology. Campagne in Seattle established the ingredient-first principle; The Drawing Room and The Haywood Tavern marked leadership; Foxtrot Ventures widened the frame; About Last Knife signaled an appetite for play, stronger flavors, and staff participation.