Neko Benson
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For Neko Benson, the lesson that defines his career didn’t come from a single recipe or technique—it came from a mindset.
“Bidwell taught me to pay it forward,” he says. The BTC chefs who trained him, mentored him, and pushed him, Chef Keith Butler, Chef Anthony Taglieri, and Chef Becky Brookshire, did more than teach him how to cook. “They sculpted me into the man I am today,” Benson explains. “They reached back and pulled me forward. Now my goal is to do the same with the people coming up behind me.”
Before Bidwell Training Center, Benson was searching for direction and purpose. He’d done well in school, but he knew it was not an environment he felt he’d ever truly come into his own. “I did the magnet programs, the AP programs, I played football all the way up until my senior year of high school. I got a full ride to La Roche, but I can't just sit at a desk all day, that doesn't work for me.”
Despite his sense of unmooredness, he had an essential compass to guide him. “My childhood was full of family, honestly. That's where I learned my love for cooking, because that was what brought everybody together.” Benson’s great grandmother was one of his first teachers. “Just staying over at her house, she would have me wake up and have me help her make the eggs and bacon. I loved it.”
His first step on his career path in the working world was a time-honored one, flipping burgers. He bounced around from Wendy’s to other fast food joints, but it didn’t feel like the destination he was looking for. “I was like, okay, what's next? This really can't be it for me.” His first attempt to find out the answer to that question put him on the wrong side of the law. “Frankly, I was like, I'll just sell drugs like everybody else. That sounds easy.”
That fork in his road came to an abrupt end when he was arrested. “I ended up going to jail when I was twenty-one and I tell everybody the same story. I cried ... I called my mom and said, ‘I'm never coming home’.” It was a life changing setback, and his time in prison cast a long shadow, but he wasn’t going to let it define him. Benson’s first step back into a world of bi-weekly paychecks and too-early mornings was going through an ARD program, which helped him find a position at Piada’s. “I learned that it doesn't define who you are or your character. When I went to jail, obviously I was a completely different person, and it just was basically a turning point. So every day, I just focus on being a better me.” On the wall in his home, he has an important artifact and reminder–his mug shot. “My wife was like, ‘you have pictures with all these famous chefs, and then this one? You want this one up?’ But this is the one that started it all.
After becoming a sous chef at Piada’s, he moved up to working at Walnut Grill, and began to formulate a new vision for his career path, helped out in part by his mother. “She was like, ‘if you were already spending your days in kitchens, why not take it seriously? Why not earn a culinary degree and have something tangible to show for it?’ “ Benson’s mother had been a constant companion and consigliere on his journey, and her approval was hard-fought for.”
Along with these high expectations, his motivation had become more personal and more vital than anything had before. He had a daughter on the way, and Benson knew he wanted to build a life that allowed him to be present, stable, and proud of the work he did. “I just wanted to be a better person for her,” he says. Culinary school became not just a career decision, but a commitment to her future. He applied and was accepted into the Bidwell Culinary Arts Program. “My experience at Bidwell was amazing, but it was also the hardest time of my life. I was going to school from eight to three-thirty, then working from four to midnight every single day, Monday through Friday, and the only day I had off was Saturday.”
Benson graduated in 2020, and despite the grueling schedule, he looks back at his time with affection. “It kept me busy. It kept me focused and most of all it kept me humble. It taught me basically the ins and outs of everything I need to know, from working in back of house to catering to being a business owner myself.” Benson detailed how grateful he was that Bidwell exposed him to every angle of the culinary world. “Understanding food cost, labor, overhead, percentages—that stuff matters,” Benson says. “Learning how to think strategically and mathematically, that’s something I use every day.” He also credits Chef Becky Brookshire with shaping his technical foundation. “She taught me everything I know about baking.”
After graduating, Benson’s career gained more traction. He spent two years as a sous chef at Walnut Grill, where he began to see his desires and ambitions realized. “The fact that I get to use my brain is great. It’s nonstop, everything is on the fly, it’s critical thinking at all times. You're factoring in ordering and a million and one things to think about all the time.” During that time, he also launched his own catering company, hosting his first event for 150 people with help from his younger brother and a friend. “People liked the food,” he says. “That feeling—it just propelled me forward.”
From Walnut Grill, Benson helped open Blue Sky in East Liberty, an experience that strengthened his leadership skills, and helped him meet Chef Bill Fuller and Chef Dustin Gardner, who helped him with his transition to Big Burrito. “I started on farm mode, which is salads and pantry. I worked my way up, I did hot apps, I did grill, and they had opened a restaurant downtown, and he had asked me if I wanted a promotion. I became a sous there, and I worked there for another year, and then they were like, well, this new restaurant downtown is like struggling, and your talents will seem better suited there.” Today, Neko Benson is a sous chef at Alta Via Market Square, recently transferred to help guide the energy and intensity of a newly opened restaurant in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. It’s a role that reflects years of persistence, growth, and mentorship, and his appreciation for precision. “That’s where ingredients mattered more. Cuts mattered. Details mattered.
And his choices, his commitment to a future for his family, are coming to fruition. “My wife is pregnant again. My daughter and I cook together. We just had pizza night at the house the other night and made fresh dough. We do pancakes. Last summer, I was teaching her how to make ribs.”
That sense of continuity—of being shaped, then shaping others—matters deeply to him. It’s the same principle he learned at Bidwell, now woven through his work, his leadership, and his family life.
“I just want to leave my mark here,” Benson says. “Somehow, some way.”