Kitchen magician Brian Laird grew up in Northern California, close to wine country, numerous farmers’ markets, some of the country’s best restaurants and culinary schools. But the unorthodox Laird snubbed the textbook and polished kitchen route to fine-tune his craft in real-world galleys up and down the California coast. After relocating to Denver in 1994, he worked with renowned chef Kevin Taylor for two years before Blair Taylor, owner of Barolo Grill, snatched him up. “I love this job and can’t imagine doing anything else — except maybe another project with Blair,” says Laird, who has an eclectic affinity for duck fat, Italian food, barbacoa tacos and Bob Marley. Throughout his career, Laird has garnered praise from numerous publications, including Zagat, 5280 Magazine and Westword.