Jeff Westbrook was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and got his start in the restaurant business with renowned chef David Hood, who specialized in fresh seafood preparation and unique specials. In 1984 Jeff became executive chef at Newport Bay Restaurant in Portland.

He moved to Arizona in 1989, working for a year a sous chef at The Boulders resort and as executive sous chef under Todd Hall in Sedona. In the 1990’s he was a district chef for Rusty Pelican Restaurants, led the opening teams for Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurants in Monterey and San Francisco, and opened several high volume restaurants for Rain Forest Café in Southern California and on the East Coast.

In 1997 Jeff became executive chef at the Monterey Hilton and developed their unique Early California Menu featuring wild game and other ingredients important to the history of the area. Jeff joined the Crow's Nest as executive chef in March 1998.

Since coming to the Crow's Nest, Jeff is most proud of the ethnic influences he has introduced to the menu, such as Asian, Southwestern and Mediterranean cuisine. He has also broadened the scope of the seafood offerings for which the Crow's Nest is famous, having introduced new fish species such as Monchong, Ono, Opaka, or Barramundi, al prepared in new and imaginative ways. Jeff has also introduced our now-popular rotisserie smoker line-up, and is now preparing our sumptuous desserts right here in our our kitchen.

The Crow's Nest is a long-running success story, and Jeff's influence has helped to insure that we keep on pleasing people for years to come. His future vision for menu development includes more new ideas in the growing area of vegetarian and vegan cooking.

Jeff and his wife Sharon make their home in the heart of the fertile farmland of the Salinas Valley. An avid outdoorsman and dog-lover, Jeff enjoys camping, fishing and hiking.