About

Scott Mechura is a well-traveled chef, though he did not choose the road traveled by so many — the one that starts with an expensive culinary degree. Mechura learned his art and craft in a traditional, well-respected way — finding his guru’s in the kitchens of elegant restaurants, exclusive resorts and clubs and working at the side of high-profile chefs, including Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit Minneapolis and Tim McKee at La Belle Vie.

His experience as a chef also owes to a rich trove of more informal encounters. For instance, as a young cook Mechura worked at the white-tablecloth restaurant, Forepaughs, in St. Paul, Minn. At this restaurant, housed in one of the city’s elegant Victorian mansions, he was expected to learn the ins and outs of classic French cuisine. This he did, over the nine years he spent there. But he also paid heed to the outstanding ethnic meals made by and for the staff, whose origins were from Laos, Thailand, Korea and Vietnam. Their cooking made a lasting impression on him, and the exotic flavors and textures would soon weave their way into his developing culinary style.

Mechura took something of an artist’s sabbatical in the late 1990s by detouring into a different but related world: that of brewing beer. In 1997, he became the youngest certified beer judge in the nation at that time through the Certification Program offered nationwide from UC Davis, and went to work at St. Paul’s Great Waters Brewpub, a cask conditioned English ale house.

It was Samuelsson’s famous Aquavit Minneapolis that pulled Mechura back into the kitchen not long after. Following a six-month stint at Aquavit, which was a fascinating immersion course in contemporary Swedish cuisine with Asian and African influences, he returned to Forepaughs as sous chef, bringing with him a multi- faceted portfolio.

Shortly after, it was the lure of the mountains that next brought Mechura to Big Sky, MT where he spent eight years as Executive Chef at The Timbers, located in the majestic Moonlight Lodge. He was then drawn to one of the most unique properties in the world right here in our own back yard; The Yellowstone Club. Scott spent 3 years there as executive sous chef and interim executive chef where his vast culinary encounters were seemingly small compared to the expansive styles and themed events that would delight members no matter the occasion.

After a life in the cold, Mechura decided the warmth of Austin TX was next on the horizon. He spent three years as executive chef, experiencing the many facets the Hill Country has to offer: Another private club in Horseshoe Bay, opening Austin’s then only prime steak house, and the re-branding of a boutique hotel- the only one in Texas in the Small Luxury Hotels of the World portfolio.

As many would attest, the Northern Rockies are too majestic to stay away from for long. Mechura returned to Big Sky as Executive Chef of Buck’s T-4 for seven years, where he was reunited with the managing partners.

Mechura enjoyed much of 2021 as culinary director of a Bozeman based restaurant group. But, as relationships and conversations came together as they often do in hospitality, he went out on his own in the fall of 2022 as a chef consultant and independent contractor.

And as he adheres to culinary sensibility as well as sustainable practices, his attention is balanced between the flavors and ingredients that are rich in flavor with practices and clean ingredients that are best for our bodies. But Mechura remembers his own road to success: learning from others and taking what he judged as best for forging his own creative style.