Mark Laubner likes to joke that he's "just a squirrel trying to get a nut."

Truth is he is an executive chef and has worked his way through many prestigious culinary gigs.

His current job, as Food and Beverage Director of Silk's Restaurant at Bulle Rock, was a "good application of my skill set," where he says he wanted to do more than just food. He wanted to "grow a business."

Trained out of Essex Community College in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Laubner says the American Culinary Federation—which judges a chef's level of proficiency—stamped him as a Certified Executive Chef, "right near the top of the food chain."

Growing up in Baltimore County, Laubner's childhood is laced with culinary classics near and dear to his heart. He has an ultra-conservative father and a mom who went through some funky creative food phases in which he refers to his mother as a "wild-child."

"My mom's a great cook. My mom did all that old-fashioned stuff that women don't do anymore. She sewed her clothes, she knitted, crocheted. She did home-canning, home-freezing, she did her little foods at the state fairs to win her blue ribbons and all that stuff," he reminisces.

He recalls sitting on a porch shelling lima beans and pitting peaches while all the other kids were playing wiffle ball. So is it any wonder then how Laubner chose his craft?

He says he always knew, "since I was a little boy," that he'd be a chef. "It's the only thing—I've done a lot of things—it's the only thing I do well."

And, oh the stories of growing up that he speaks of:

Remember the time we made kickapoo juice in the washing machine?

"I swear as I'm living and breathing, we ran gallons and gallons of it. It was delicious, we drank the crap out of it. It was really good."

Remember the Thanksgiving Dinner/wedding where as a family we went and at that particular time, Mom was working the macriobiotic diet with her progressive, liberal-arts type friends and the event ended with dad making a pit-stop at McDonalds with burgers, fries and milkshakes?  

Laubner talks of his Mom with great pride and says, "I'm not trying to make a laughing stock out [her]. She was very creative, brilliant and a great home economist. It was pretty interesting. It was bizarre but interesting, relative to what my friends were out there doing. They're eating cereal from a box and Oreo's…," he says deadpanned.

Laubner, his brother and sister were an integral part of the creative culinary world his mom navigated. They were often asked to go out and find different things in the woods for their dinner table.

"That's what I call that period in [Mom's] life—stalking the wild asparagus life," he said. (A book entitled, "Stalking The Wild Asparagus" was written by Euell Gibbons, who was a proponent on living off the wild.)

Clearly this 48-year-old Bulle Rock resident had some preoccupations with food and preparation when he was younger. And it certainly seemed to pan out.

Fresh out of college he went to Ocean City, MD and worked for the same owner for nine years at two locations, the Garden Gourmet and Garden Restaurant.

From there, Laubner traveled to Hawaii and worked at the Sheraton Waikiki. It was in Hawaii that his culinary creativity was stoked.

Trained in continental cuisine, Hawaii introduced Laubner to a world of "bright—the flavors, the colors, everything. They used a lot of ginger, scallions, everything was just real bright and fresh. So what I did was marry what I knew with what I discovered and created this Asian or French-Asian continental cuisine. I still enjoy that style in food," he said.

After Hawaii, he worked as a personal executive chef to Doris Duke, the daughter of James Duke, who grew wealthy in the tobacco business.

"The cool thing working for her was I got to see a lot of stuff. But the drawback was I had to sign all these things. I couldn't talk about it, I couldn't take any pictures. I wasn't allowed to write anything. I was sworn to secrecy. It was like I had a gag order," he said.

The stint with Duke didn't last long and he found himself as the Corporate Executive Chef for Phillips Seafood.

It was during this time that Laubner realized a hidden talent and passion in hosting the cooking show, "Entertaining Seafood." The show ran on Sunday's on WMAR network.

"If I could do anything, honestly, I would be on television. I would cook on TV. I loved that … I absolutely love the camera and a microphone, absolutely loved it. If people want to sit and listen to me talk, that just cracks me up. That tickles me to no end," he said, laughing.

Laubner then turned his sights onto his own venue, Aquatica in Havre de Grace. Incidentally Aquatica was the first restaurant in Havre de Grace to receive the Zagat Award—A prestigious honor that happened within eight months of it being opened.   

After an unsuccessful relocation in Havre de Grace with Aquatica, Laubner began consulting with DuClaw Brewery before taking on the position at Bulle Rock as Food and Beverage Director.

With 33 years in the business and many accolades to his credit, Laubner has a laundry list of things he could be most proud of.

The fact is Laubner is most proud of his kids. He and wife Kelly have five boys ranging in ages of 8-20 years old.

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This is the first of a two-part series on Mark Laubner.

Read Part II here.