Glen Urso was born and raised in Smithtown, New York. His passion for food and cooking brewed from a hands-on affair in a Long Island church’s kitchen, where he spent his free time baking pies in his early teenage years. Glen soon realized that he wanted to cook professionally for his career, and committed himself to attending the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. By working for free in the kitchen of a Long Island brewing company, Glen bolstered his CIA application by progressing through all the line cook stations in a mere six months. He attended CIA and graduated in the 90’s, and completed his externship at the famous Garden City Hotel in Long Island.
Since graduation Glen has established himself by working in large hotel kitchens including the Adam’s Mark. He moved to Indianapolis in 2000 and worked his way up to Executive Chef and opened the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Suites in Downtown Indianapolis. He then opened and designed Kendall Inn & Conference Retreat in 2002 as their Executive Chef. While working there he selected and oversaw all equipment, banquet facilities, food ordering and supplies and managed all aspects of operations for their kitchen. He has since received numerous awards, including “Best new restaurant” by Indianapolis Monthly during his Adobo Grill tenure.
Chef Glen joined Alcatraz Brewing Company in October of 2007 and has begun to transform the restaurant into one of downtown’s favorite restaurants.
“Cooking is a dynamic profession which provides some of the greatest challenges as well as some of the greatest rewards. There is always another level of perfection to achieve and another skill to master” Chef Glen says.
Although he misses his Big Apple favorites like pizza and baseball (Mets), Glen finds that Indianapolis’ food community is growing fast and provides plenty of local options for him to showcase seasonal twists using classical French techniques. Glen is also excited to find new ways to feature ABCs award winning brews in cooking simple foods from chili to bread pudding. Standing 6’5” with a huge smile, both Chef Glen and his food are becoming easily recognizable in Downtown Indianapolis.
