Chefs

Billy Ballou

CULINARY DIRECTOR, THE FISH HOUSE, ATLAS OYSTER HOUSE, FIVE SISTERS BLUES CAFÉ

Chef Ballou attended Johnson & Wales College in Charleston and studied culinary arts. After college, he went backpacking through Scotland and England, experiencing different cultures and cuisines. Upon his return to the United States, he spent two years as a sous chef for Legendary, Inc., and then moved on to an opportunity with us at Great Southern Restaurants, where he worked his way from prep chef to executive chef. He served as executive chef for Great Southern for the over a decade, and now serves as Culinary Director.

John Huggins

EXECUTIVE CHEF, THE FISH HOUSE

Pensacola Native, John Huggins returned to the Panhandle in 2002 after fifteen years in Richmond, Virginia. During that time, John received his culinary degree from J. Sargeant Reynolds College. Huggins started his cooking career at Bistro Express, a French Provincial inspired restaurant under the direction of C.I.A. Alum Chef Robert Ramsey. Huggins joined McGuire’s Restaurant Group upon returning to the Panhandle. Prior to joining Great Southern Restaurants, Huggins owned and operated La Brisa, a restaurant in Gulf Breeze for five years. Huggins currently serves as Executive Chef of The Fish House.

Jason Hughes

EXECUTIVE CHEF, ATLAS OYSTER HOUSE

Chef Jason Hughes was born in Mobile, Alabama and grew up in Gulf Breeze, Florida and Daphne, Alabama. His first job was as a line cook and dishwasher at the age of 16. He attended the University of South Alabama as an English major, but left school to move to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked in a downtown bakery-cafe for 3 years.

Chef Jason returned to the Gulf Coast in 2009, and soon began work as sous-chef at Stinky’s Fish Camp in Santa Rosa Beach. He then served as Chef de Cuisine at Stinky’s Fish Camp in Navarre. He took his first Executive Chef position at The Club at Hidden Creek at the age of 27. In 2015, Chef Jason joined The Fish House as Chef de Cuisine. He left in 2017 to accept the position of Executive Chef at The Grand Marlin on Pensacola Beach, which he held until returning to The Fish House in 2022.

Chef Jason loves the demanding competition, teamwork, and ever-evolving nature of the restaurant industry. After working along the Gulf Coast from Orange Beach to 30A, he ultimately felt drawn to the atmosphere of downtown Pensacola, with its burgeoning culinary scene and many talented chefs. Chef Jason feels it is a privilege to be a part of and to help grow that scene, and to cook and serve every day the bounty of local fresh seafood and produce our area has to offer. He moonlights as a ranch hand on his father’s farm in north Okaloosa County, and lives in Pensacola with his wife and three sons.

Irv Miller

EXECUTIVE CHEF, JACKSON’S STEAKHOUSE

Jackson’s founding executive chef, Irv Miller, has prepared dinner at the James Beard house for five one-of-a-kind events. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in 1982, Miller began his career as chef along the Florida Panhandle at Destin’s first out-of-the-ordinary restaurant, Les Saison’s. Chef Miller’s cuisine made national acclaim while he presided as the first chef at Seaside’s highly successful Bud & Alley’s restaurant from 1987 to 1993 during the Florida Cuisine movement. In 1990 Chef Miller was recognized by Carolyn O’Neil, host of CNN’s “On the Menu,” as one of the originators of the “radical” experiment dubbed “New Florida Cooking,” and “a pioneer of Florida Coastal Cooking.”

Chef Miller has a distinct style, a powerful vision, and most of all, the ability to translate bold ideas into food that’s irresistibly delicious and beautiful. Chef Miller is committed to endorsing the Florida Panhandle’s seaward and inland bounties. Chef Miller’s Southern-influenced cuisine features the emblematic foods of “Real” Florida, such as Apalachicola oysters and Alligator Point wild-harvested clams, Pensacola and Destin red snapper, North Florida shrimp, grouper, and numerous fish species caught responsibly off the Florida Gulf Coast. In addition, Chef Miller embraces the latest Gulf Coast agriculture from new small growers, small gristmills, tupelo honey from local beekeepers, microgreens and hydroponics from urban farmers, and grass-fed beef from local ranchers along with the finest corn-fed beef from the Midwestern Corn Belt.

For over three decades, many of Chef Miller’s recipes and articles have been included in the Pensacola News Journal’s “Chef’s Corner” column, “Bon Appétit,” “Food Arts,” “Food & Wine,” “Florida Trend,” “Florida Living,” Birmingham’s “Portico” magazine, “Southern Living,” “Atlanta Magazine,” and “The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook 2014.” While performing as television chef/host for WSRE’s PBS cooking show “Flavors of the Coast,” Chef Miller filmed 51 episodes. More recently, Chef Miller appeared on “Emeril’s Florida” TV cooking show promoting Pensacola. He took to the cooking stage for “Coastal Living” magazine’s Demonstration Theater at the 26th Annual Sandestin Wine Festival. In addition, Chef Miller represented the Sunshine State at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off 2012. Miller is also the author of two published cookbooks, “Panhandle to Pan” and his most recent book “Gulf Coast Oysters: Classic & Modern Recipes of a Southern Renaissance”

Ian Gillette

EXECUTIVE CHEF, ANGELENA’S RISTORANTE ITALIANO

Ian was born in Atlanta, Georgia and relocated with his family to Pensacola at a young age. Moving to Pensacola at such a young age, Ian has had the opportunity to grow up and watch the city grow with him. Ian attended Pensacola State College and graduated with a degree in Culinary Arts. With a love for all things culinary, Ian owned and operated a catering company called Spot On Catering. After running the business for several years, Ian and his wife, Mallory, settled down and had their daughter, Fiona. From here Ian decided to step back into the restaurant world and join the Angelena’s team where he can share his love for the hospitality industry through his food creations and connections with staff and guests.