A Conversation with Chef Beau MacMillan

What’s for dinner? Or breakfast or lunch, for that matter? These are questions households across the country wrestle with every day. It’s always fun to explore new cuisine, but deciding what to eat shouldn’t be a chore. Renowned chef and Food Network star Beau MacMillan help create the exceptional dining experiences at Revel. Read on to find out what makes our restaurants so deliciously unique.

Delivering an Exceptional Dining Experience

The emotional connection we have with food is what drives Chef Beau to create such innovative dishes.

“What’s special about Revel is it’s not a dining hall or cafeteria-style setting,” says MacMillan. “We want you to come into this community and have an à la carte restaurant experience. Dishes are made from scratch. Orders are taken and cooked à la minute.”

Fresh ingredients and a focus on seasonality mean dishes are constantly changing and reflect the region of the community. At Revel, you’ll find two on-site dining options, Ovation, a full-service dining experience, and The Social Club, a neighborhood-style pub. Each location offers daily specials, including menu favorites like a house-made cheddar biscuit with a fried egg, pepper jam and American cheese, as well as fresh, healthful soups made from rich stocks instead of creams.

“We utilize ingredients regionally—whether they’re popular ingredients, or sentimental ingredients, or ingredients people come to know and love. Comfort food to a great cheeseburger to Michelin star food, it all gives you the same emotional connection,” explains MacMillan.

Whether you’re looking for a quick bite to eat or want to sit and savor, you have options. And on the days when you don’t feel like dining out, you can cook for yourself. Every Revel apartment is equipped with a kitchen for you to cook, host, and entertain to your heart’s desire, an amenity not offered at all independent living communities.

Flexibility and Freedom

Choosing when and where you want to eat is a luxury afforded to the hardest working among us. And it’s no different at Revel. Unlike other senior living communities, at Revel, you can dine on your schedule and choose the food you most enjoy.

“When I retire, I don’t want to be told what to do. I have to eat between 11 and 12? No. I want to eat when I want to eat. When you come in, you’re going to be able to eat when you want to and leave when you want to. Dine early, dine late, it doesn’t matter. And we wanted people to feel like they have a restaurant within their community and the restaurant is open for business,” says MacMillan.

The Revel Recipe

Chef Beau believes delicious food starts with delicious ingredients and passionate individuals, and that same passion is what sets Revel apart.

“You need passionate people. Kitchens are illuminated by the staff, not the electricity,” MacMillan explains.

When Revel approached Chef Beau MacMillan to help design a unique food portfolio, he stressed that it would be the residents’ input that would help the menu grow and evolve. The chefs at Revel are eager to hear from residents about what they like and what dishes they are most interested in.

“Residents really have the ultimate ability to be a part of this whole process. Food is that bridge and that relationship and we need you. We want to evolve together. And we want to be able to provide you an experience here that basically exceeds all of your expectations, but also know that you matter to us and that your voice will be heard and that we want to learn and grow together.

Ready to try the Revel dining experience for yourself? Stop by any of our communities for a tour and enjoy a meal on us.