Aqua Terra Bistro is proud to offer diners the creative cuisine of our prodigiously talented Executive Chef, Brian Legault.

By 15 Legault was sure he had found what he wanted to do with his life: cook. His first restaurant job was in his home state of Vermont, a little independent restaurant specializing in Southern cuisine. He was hired as a busboy, and within a year he was in charge of the kitchen!

To further his culinary education, he sought a job working for a notoriously difficult German-trained chef. In this highly disciplined, traditional European kitchen, Legault worked his way up from prep cook to sous chef, learning how to run a kitchen. They made everything from scratch—including butchering their own meat! Simultaneously, he was a student at a local high school specializing in the culinary arts. He placed 3rd statewide in the New England Culinary Institute Competition.

His senior year of high school, Legault moved to Duluth, Georgia. During this time, he worked at Kurt’s, a high-end restaurant specializing, again, in German cuisine. He developed a close relationship with the chef and continued to hone his skills.

Continuing to seek further education in his chosen craft, he applied for a job at the renowned Hemingway’s Restaurant, Vermont’s only 4-star restaurant, ranked by Food and Wine magazine as one of top 25 restaurants in North America. Brian began working as a prep cook and quickly worked his way up to sous chef—Hemingway’s youngest sous chef ever—working closely with Executive Chef, Ted Fondulas. This experience more than any other helped define Legault’s culinary esthetic. Fondulas specializes in New American cuisine: a base of European tradition enlivened by American innovation, with a truly American multi-cultural emphasis.

During this time, his former boss at Kurt’s had become the Executive Chef at Aqua Terra Bistro, and he diligently worked to lure Legault back to the South to work with him. After 1 year at Hemingway’s, Legault agreed and returned to Georgia. To our great fortune, he quickly succeeded his former mentor as Aqua Terra’s Executive Chef.