Michael Rogozinski

Rogo's Restaurant and Bar in Magnolia

Michael was born and raised in Guatemala by a Seattle-born American mother and German father. He is trilingual (French, Spanish, English).

From an early age, he had an interest in cooking. When his parents hosted parties, he could always be found in the kitchen talking to the chefs and staff. In high school, family friends suggested he take a job before graduating to see if he should enter a trade school. As a senior, he staged for nearly a year at the Camino Real Westin, working in all areas of the hotel's main kitchen. He even cooked his high school class graduation dinner. He was hooked.

At 18, he took a paid apprenticeship at the Four Seasons Inn on the Park in Houston. A year later, he was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and during this time completed an internship at The Lodge at Vail.

After obtaining his Associate's Degree (1986-1987), he returned to the Four Seasons in Houston where he worked for another year. He progressed from line cook to banquet cook to assistant garde-manger. To continue learning, he felt the need to go to Europe. In 1989, he sold everything, got a student visa, and bought an open-ended one-year ticket to Paris. Despite his hotel, CIA training, and continued education at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, his first job was as a dishwasher at Le Grenadin. He also did prep work and began covering vacations. When other restaurants called for vacation coverage, he gladly accepted and continued to learn.

Early in 1992, he had a job lined up at the Four Seasons in Atlanta, but the hotel changed hands and the job disappeared. Wanting a change from Houston, he decided to move to Seattle where he knew Kaspar Donier and Ludger Szmania from the Four Seasons. Ludger immediately put him to work on the line and connected him to Charles Ramseyer, executive chef at Ray's Boathouse.

He took part-time evening work at Ray's Boathouse in the catering department. For 18 months, he bicycled between Magnolia and Shilshole. Eventually Ray's needed more time from him; he left Szmania's and went full-time at Ray's where he stayed five years. When things slowed down, a friend told him that The Pink Door was looking for a chef. He applied and was turned down, but three weeks later, their chef walked out and the owner called Michael. He started the next Monday and stayed for 2-1/2 years, 1996-1998.

The downtown Seattle Sheraton approached him about taking the helm at their Pike Street Café. He stayed two years, 1998-2000, and their business doubled with an increase from 400 meals a day to 2000.

Just before Valentine's Day 2001, The Pink Door came calling again and he worked his vacation there. He returned full-time, staying for another 2-plus years, helping increase their business by one third. He left in 2003 and took a few months off before working in several small restaurants around Seattle.

A head hunter connected him to Summit at First Hill, a retirement residence, where he was the Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Services for nine years.

By 2012, he knew that if he was ever going to have his own restaurant, he needed to do it soon. He and Ludger and Julie Szmania worked on the details for two years. Michael and his wife Carolyn purchased Szmania's on April 1, 2014, with the option to keep using the name for up to one year.

On April 1, 2015, Szmania's became Rogo's Restaurant and Bar, with some changes inside and out, and a new concept: New American Cuisine (refined comfort food with global and Pacific Northwest influences).

Rogo's Restaurant and Bar
3321 W McGraw
Seattle, WA 98199
206-284-7305
www.rogosrestaurant.com

March 2015