Look who's back in the kitchen: chef Seth Bixby Daugherty

A high-profile name has popped up in an under-the-radar restaurant.

He's Seth Bixby Daugherty, the chef who put Cosmos on the map when the dazzling restaurant opened in the Graves 601 Hotel (now the Loews) in downtown Minneapolis in 2003. His work at Cosmos grabbed the attention of Food & Wine magazine, which named him one of its annual Best New Chefs in 2005.

He left Cosmos after nearly four years, choosing to focus on childhood hunger and nutrition initiatives, and paying the bills by teaching at Art Institutes International Minnesota in downtown Minneapolis. He held that job for nine years until he was laid off in the summer of 2015, part of the school's restructuring as it prepares to close.

It makes sense the hotel guy would return to hotels, and he did: the 350-room Minneapolis Marriott Southwest in Minnetonka. You're forgiven if you're unfamiliar with the property's Blue Birch restaurant (5801 Opus Pkwy., Minnetonka 952-352-0239, bluebirchrestaurant.com). But now there's a reason to become acquainted.

"It's not Cosmos," said Bixby Daugherty. "I can't do super-eccentric stuff. That wouldn't work here. But I'm not trying to do Cosmos food. We're concentrating on good, simple food, and it's working."

For example: Bixby Daugherty has brought a make-from-scratch ideology to a kitchen that hadn't prepared its own stocks for more than a decade. His bestselling dishes are a pair of ramen bowls; one is vegan, the other features a smoked pork broth. Both sound very Seth Bixby Daugherty.

How does it feel to be back in a hotel kitchen?

Turns out, Marriott had a key selling point that no one else offered. During his job search, he heard the same thing at job interviews: He was overqualified.

"That meant that I was too old, and that I wanted too much money," the 51-year-old chef said with a laugh. But there was a greater issue at play.

"I heard a lot of concern about my extracurricular activities with fighting hunger," he said. That was a nonstarter. "I certainly don't want to give up on who I am."

His interview at Marriott was a complete 180, however.

"They embraced it," he said. "They encouraged it."

The self-professed workaholic sees a happy future as a corporate chef within Colorado-based Sage Hospitality, which operates the Marriott Southwest.

"It's an awesome company, so we'll see what happens," said the Denver native. "I'm very proud to be a chef, and I'll always be a chef. But I'm more proud of my work in fighting hunger and raising awareness around issues of healthy eating."

Rick Nelson • 612-673-4757