About Chef Chip Richard
The list of delicious entrees on Cap’s menu requires the expertise of a skilled chef who takes pride in pleasing the many diners who frequent the popular restaurant. Chef Chip Richard is the young chef who prepares the menu. Originally from Northern New Jersey, Richard moved to the area in 1997, and began his culinary journey at an early age. “I started working in the industry when I was about fourteen at a place called Eddie’s down in Palm Valley, washing dishes and doing some prep cook stuff,” says Richard.
The ambitious chef eagerly learned and became one of the restaurant’s line cooks. Richard then pressed forward with his burgeoning career by attending culinary art school. His ambitions later took him far away from the beach and palms of St. Augustine. Richard says, “I traveled abroad a little bit. I stayed in Italy for a month and a half. I got to do a little cooking while I was there, too.” While traveling abroad, Chef Chip Richard studied and cooked in Germany, southern France, Holland, Switzerland, Nassau Bahamas and more.
In 2003, Richard was hired at Cap’s on the Water as a line cook, and he eventually became the head chef. Over the years, Richard has developed a close relationship with the restaurant’s owner, Bernard de Radd. Chef Richard comments, “He’s kind of like a benevolent uncle to me. He’s always taken care of me.” This relationship and mutual respect has allowed Richard opportunities to pursue other culinary ventures in restaurants such as The Blind Rabbit and others in the St. Augustine and Jacksonville area. For the last two years, Richard’s chef’s hat has hung solely at Cap’s, where his role as the head chef is an integral part of the restaurant’s atmosphere and overall dining experience.