Brandon Oker came up through the ranks the old-fashioned way, starting as a dishwasher at a Mexican restaurant in his home region of Lake of the Ozarks. He lasted one shift.
“My feet hurt so bad,” Oker said, laughing. “I was like ‘I can’t do this.’” Eventually, he got another dishwashing gig, and stuck with it. He ended up as executive sous chef at Margaritaville in Lake of the Ozarks. After slinging umpteen Cheeseburgers in Paradise and listening to untold hours of Jimmy Buffet tunes, Oker decided it was time to step things up.
“I knew I had to do more with my career,” he said. In 2022, he took the leap and applied to an online job posting for Niche Food Group. When he interviewed, “I told [them] I don’t want to manage anybody – I just want to cook and learn.”
So Oker began working the line at Bowood by Niche. Growing up poor in rural Missouri gave him work ethic to spare, and in just six months he was bumped to sous chef. Oker then went to Brasserie by Niche, where he got to indulge his love of French cooking. He assumed the role of executive chef at Pastaria in October 2025.
“The word I would use most for Brandon is ‘care.’ He actually cares, and I think that’s somehow tougher these days, finding people who’re interested in food and learning about food,” said Gerard Craft, founder of Niche Food Group. “He wants to dive deeper and search for knowledge.”
“I know I’m not going to be Thomas Keller, and that’s fine with me,” Oker said. Instead, he said he’d like to explore a humanitarian trajectory, in the mold of Jose Andres.
“I’m very much in the mode of ‘feeding your neighbors,’” Oker said. “I just want to feed everyone.”
7734 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 1, Clayton, pastariastl.com
This article appears in February 2026.