The greatest art is consumed by as many of the senses as possible. The sight, the sound, the smell, the touch – The taste. Omaha Center for Performing Arts meets this challenge with its executive chef, Michael Anderson.

Behind the innovative menu and flawless execution of the dishes you’ll enjoy at Holland Center’s exclusive dining club, Zinc, you’ll find the creativity and mildly obsessive imagination of Anderson. Always the inventive type, Anderson could not have guessed that his creative spirit would have him eventually trading rockets for restaurants.

“I was the kid who checked out cookbooks from the elementary school library and actually made stuff from them,” he said. “But I ended up going to Iowa State for computer engineering, and then aerospace engineering.”

Anderson was familiar with restaurant life, as his grandparents on both sides owned cafes throughout his childhood. He knew about the insane hours, getting up at midnight to help his grandfather make dough for their donut stop, and summers spent working at the shop. When Anderson’s uncle, a chef, suggested he read Kitchen Confidential in 2000, something clicked into place.

“Becoming a chef sounded a lot cooler than rocket science,” he said.

Anderson accepted a position at Stokes.

“John Ursick was a good teacher,” he said. “When I left there I went to Creighton and worked at a bistro on campus there for the 2001-2002 school year. Then I went to the Lied Center in Nebraska City. That was a cool gig, I think everyone should work at a hotel once in their career. They’re just beasts. I started as a line cook, then food production supervisor, then sous chef.”

After three years at the Lied Center, Anderson moved to the Lake of the Ozarks to helm the kitchen at Ruthie D’s Dining and Spirits.

“That was my first head chef experience,” he added. “It was an interesting place, I called it ‘Haute Hillbilly.’ You could get fried green tomatoes and chicken strips or a Chateaubriand for two carved tableside.”

In keeping with the historically accurate depiction of early 2000s toxic kitchen culture, the relationship ended when the restaurant owner began throwing food at Anderson’s head one night.

“The owner was a nutjob,” Anderson said. “I’d had enough and I came back to Omaha after that.”

Anderson served as a chef at Sunset Valley Country Club for two years before finding himself back at a hotel.

“I did a brief stint at Holiday Inn Central,” he said. “That was an awful place to be. The day they laid me off they also laid off ten other managers. The place was a sinking ship.”

He went on to work as chef manager with Treat American Food Services, serving the team at OPPD at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant before moving down to Energy Plaza. He spent another two years in Minneapolis working with SuperValu Foods and then a variety of corporate cooking gigs, at one point overseeing 12 cafes.

In 2020, Anderson was father to a 2 year old with another on the way when COVID ended his 11-year career in corporate dining. He did what he could to earn enough money to keep his pregnant wife insured and a roof over his family’s heads. That included running an underground private dinner club and working at Peru State College for a few months.

“[The dinner club] was really my lifeline during those times. I needed a creative outlet,” he said.

That dinner club was where I first encountered Anderson for myself, and creative is a mild description of the experience he created for me and my fellow diners. Ingredients you know served in ways you’d never imagined, it was a personal loss when Anderson stopped hosting the events.

But before long, an opportunity would find him that didn’t only combine his two passions, but would provide the work/life balance that allows him to be present for his children.

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Omaha Performing Arts is a 501c(3) nonprofit on a mission to support the arts and the artists making it happen for Omaha residents. When Anderson found out it was hiring an executive chef, a pandemic and a newborn weren’t obstacles, but inspiration for landing the position.

“I did a Zoom interview, then they scheduled a cooking practical where I came in and made several dishes from their existing menu, then a dish of my own creation, and a dessert. This was four days after (his son) was born, the day after we brought him home from the hospital,” Anderson recalled. “I’d had like eight hours of sleep in as many days and was completely delirious, I hardly remember any of it.”

Proving that even on auto-pilot, Anderson’s inventive nature and thoughtful presentation remain top-tier.

“I was always an artsy kid growing up. I played piano and violin, did a little acting and sang in an amazing choir, which is where I first met my wife a million years ago. The arts are something I’m passionate about and really value.” Anderson said. “Being able to use my skills to support their mission means a lot to me.”

Anderson doesn’t simply support the arts, but ensures that each plate is an opus of its own. Thoughtful details, deepening the flavors in ways the diner may never be able to put his or her finger on, and including a dose of whimsy in each dish underscores the arts in his tireless efforts.

Zinc offers an inventive and ever-changing menu that Anderson has a good amount of influence over, but the catering menu that’s being rolled out this fall is a baby of his very own.

“The venues really drive our catering menu, I think,” Anderson said. “Whether it’s the Holland, Steelhouse, or the Orpheum – People are drawn to the buildings and our spaces. We do a lot of corporate functions, nonprofit events, fundraisers, and weddings.”

Decades of training and a lifetime of passion for creating something beautiful have made Anderson an undersung hero of Omaha’s culinary skyline, but one stop at Zinc will put him firmly on your rotation.

Zinc itself is only open prior to performances at Holland Performing Arts, and catering is available upon request. Visit 1200 Douglas St. and make performance night even more memorable!