Brian Walczyk is the Chef of Brave Horse Tavern. Remarkably, Brave Horse is the sixth Tom Douglas Restaurant where Brian has been promoted to the top kitchen position of Chef. Previous to BHT, Brian has successfully taken the helm as Chef of Lola, Dahlia Lounge, Palace Kitchen, Cantina Leña and TanakaSan.

Brian started out as a prep cook at the Dahlia Lounge and, ten years later, worked his way up to the top kitchen position of Chef. During his years of cooking on the line at Dahlia, Brian worked and honed his skills under three talented Dahlia Chefs- John Sundstrom (now chef of Lark), Matt Costello (now chef of Inn at Langley), and Mark Fuller (now chef of Ma’ono). Brian believes this gave him an experience similar to working at three different top restaurants, without ever having to leave the Dahlia Lounge.

When Lola opened in 2004, Brian changed positions from Dahlia line cook to Lola Sous Chef, then worked his way up to become Lola’s Chef. In 2007, Brian changed positions again to become Chef of the Dahlia Lounge. In 2009, Brian moved from Dahlia to Palace to become Chef of Palace Kitchen. In 2011, with the opening of new Tom Douglas Restaurants in South Lake Union, Brian became chef of Brave Horse Tavern. In 2013 Brian helped open TanakaSan which is in the Via 6 apartment complex right before he opened the company's casual PNW & Mexican-inspired spot Cantina Leña.  Currently, he has now made a triumphant return to Brave Horse Tavern.

An ardent Green Bay Packers fan, Brian grew up in Wisconsin and eventually settled in Seattle after an interlude working in Los Angeles. He attended the Art Institute of Seattle for his culinary education, which he graduated from in 1999.

Brian lives in Renton with his beautiful wife, Beatrice, and his baby son, Weston Ray.