Ashley Meyer – Chef & Owner

Ashley’s passion for cooking started in her youth, where she could be found tottering behind her Mom, whom you may know as beloved former Illinois Times food columnist, Julianne Glatz, and her Grandmother helping to prepare meals for holidays and huge parties on the family vegetable farm. This love for food and feeding others informed her young adulthood where she found herself traveling to the other side of the world to learn the science and art of winemaking at Lincoln University in Christchurch New Zealand. After completing her studies Ashley returned to the States, working as a professional caterer in downtown Chicago, cooking for some of the cities biggest names, businesses, and events. After several years life called her back home to Springfield, where she opened the highly regarded Real Cuisine restaurant on Ash Street. She also rekindled her studies in wine, ultimately receiving the Wine & Spirits Education Trust’s level III award and is currently working her way through the program’s 4th and final level.