Chef Ryan Hickman
Like many aspiring chefs Ryan started his career as a young dishwasher before soon being summoned to the line. Ryan worked as a line cook at restaurants throughout New England before moving to Portland to train under Chef Larry Matthews Jr. of Back Bay Grill, eventually becoming the Sous Chef. Ryan learned the importance of scratch cooking and quality local ingredients, two pillars that became the backbone of his cooking style. In the years following Chef Ryan ventured to California to explore the growing farm to table movement, eventually settling in Lake Tahoe. Two years later Ryan found his way back east to Arrow’s restaurant in Ogunquit with Chef ’s Mark Gair and Clark Fraiser. In 2014 Chef Ryan helped open and helm the kitchen at Pine Point Grill in Scarborough, bringing seasonal menus and culinary expertise to an area not known for its dining. When the restaurant sold in 2019, Chef Ryan ventured out on his own.
In 2020 Chef Ryan opened the doors to The Knotted Apron with his loving fiancé and co-owner Kate Harvey. His passion for simple, well executed and seasonal food is fully expressed in his first role as Chef-Owner where he continues to make his dreams come true one plate at a time.
Manager Kate Hickman
Kate Hickman is the Co-Owner & Manager of The Knotted Apron, and very begrudgingly allowed herself an ‘about me’. Kate attributes her love of restaurants to her Grammy Edna, a waitress at Boston’s famed Copley Plaza Hotel. Edna was one of the first women to work as part of the wait staff in the illustrious oval room, a position normally reserved for men, during WWII. Grammy Edna diligently taught Kate how to polish silverware, take orders and set the table. From a young age dinners at home was treated like an occasion, with Kate taking orders and even making drinks!
Kate officially entered the industry at 16, serving as a bus girl at The Rosa in Portsmouth, NH. By 18 Kate had started serving and bartending, the beginning of an extensive career that covered every role in the restaurant world that doesn’t involve cooking food. Kate moved to Portland in 2017 where she started a career with Prentice Hospitality working at Evo Old Port and the Chebeague Island Inn. With decades of industry experience under her belt, Kate made a lifelong dream of having her own restaurant come true when she opened The Knotted Apron with her husband Ryan in 2020.