Chef Jeremy Bahr has been intrigued by the kitchen since the early age of 12 – and his culinary curiosity has never waned. His philosophy has always been that being a chef is more than cooking – rather, it is an ancient craft that is artisan in nature and based entirely on what ingredients are available to work with – fresh from the garden, the forest, and the field. Chef Bahr spent several years in the Lake Country area honing his skills and training with other great culinary talent in local restaurants, including the Golden Mast and the Irish Pub, and he also was pivotal in opening Burke’s Lakeside. In 2015 he became the Chef de Cuisine at the Wickman House - a hyper-local restaurant in Ellison Bay, Door County, and a recent nominee for the James Beard Award – until joining his family in a new culinary adventure in 2020. 

Chef Bahr’s 18+ years of culinary artistry is the foundation of Brick House Mercantile's vision of creating a food experience like none other. He is often heard saying, "People eat with their eyes first - food needs to be beautiful and gratifyingly delicious”. Respect for local ingredients is a must for Chef Bahr, "if it grows in the wild and it's usable in any form, it should be foraged and incorporated into the food we eat." 

Bahr – a culinary artist - continually challenges himself in the culinary space to go where others fear to go – and is committed to a food art experience rooted in originality, complex yet refined flavors, and impeccable presentation. The result is a savory, enhancing experience that will leave you asking for more.

Today, the Brick House Mercantile Artisan Kitchen maintains a field-to-fork philosophy focused on crafting scratch food that is unique, seasonal, and creative and works closely with local farms, foragers, orchards, and its own garden, to purvey the freshest, local ingredients possible.