The King of His Kitchen

Chef Tim Creehan’s Storied Culinary Journey

By Jordan Staggs

“Marybeth, don’t worry; people will always have to eat!”

This was the placating response from a young Tim Creehan’s father when his mother expressed concern over their son’s decision to go into the culinary industry. Little did they or anyone in Tim’s orbit know at the time that he would become a master of his craft, open multiple successful restaurant concepts, and cook for dozens of celebrities around the globe.

“In one way, yes, I believe I knew I would go on to do some of these things,” says Chef Creehan today as he reflects on his career. “But in a lot of ways, no, I didn’t imagine it at the time. If you enter this industry already fixated on those thoughts—the lifestyle, the recognition, the end goal—you’ll be too distracted to put in the hard work required to actually achieve them. Part of truly getting there is the humbleness needed to even be seen in that light.”

He continues, “The ‘yes’ part for me is that I can recall bussing tables at Jim Altamura’s restaurant in Destin when I was fifteen years old. I looked at him and said to myself, ‘I want that guy’s lifestyle.’ So yes, the goal can (and maybe should) be set early—but the path is never certain, never fully understood, and rarely turns out the way you first imagined.”

Now, building on his great success at his flagship Cuvee 30A bar and grill at 30Avenue lifestyle center in Inlet Beach, Florida, Creehan is still crafting his legacy with three new concepts while continuing to cook for affluent clients along the Gulf Coast and abroad. Nonna’s Ristorante, his latest endeavor, opened in Destin, Florida, in late 2025 to rave reviews. The harbor-adjacent trattoria marked Creehan’s homecoming to Destin, where he took over Marina Cafe in the early 2000s along with Beach Walk Cafe, Copper Grill, and the first iteration of his much-loved Cuvee Beach in 2000. The wine bar and restaurant would undergo several evolutions through the years, eventually culminating in the current 30Avenue location, Cuvee 30A, which opened in 2015.

“Cuvee 30A was one of the first businesses to commit to the vision at 30Avenue,” say developers Tina and Bryan Corr. “The fact that Chef Creehan had an established loyal customer base meant that Cuvee 30A was able to ramp up to success very quickly. Once his fine-dining restaurant was operational, other businesses understood the market we wanted to attract and had a heightened interest in locating at 30Avenue.” Since then, the shopping, dining, and entertainment destination has grown its roster of storefronts along with its client base, hosting events and live music throughout the year and continually raising the bar for what it offers locals and visitors alike. Cuvee 30A remains an anchor tenant and cornerstone of 30Avenue’s western side.

“The restaurant and bar have distinctly different atmospheres,” the Corrs share. “We choose where we’ll sit based on our mood. If we need to discuss business or have a special family celebration, a quieter experience in the main dining room is perfect, but more often we want a lively, interactive experience, so the bar or outdoor dining area is the place to be—with the same great food.” They both claim the gumbo is a favorite appetizer, while Bryan leans toward the seared yellowfin tuna, and Tina often goes for a trio of smaller dishes, starting with the escargot, then moving to either the seared Day Boat scallops, spinach salad, or fried green tomatoes with sautéed crawfish tails. They add, “The wine selection is phenomenal and has many noteworthy, hard-to-find vintages.”

Bryan says he believes Chef Creehan, like all great chefs, is meticulous with details, both obvious and obscure. He explains, “For the obvious, it is how a dish is plated and presented. For the obscure, it is things like marking the dimmer switches to where they should be set for the perfect ambient lighting or making sure the restrooms stay clean. Creehan pays a lot of attention to workflow in the kitchen and occasionally rearranges appliances to assist in fine-tuning the task of dish prep, creation, and execution.”

“Tim’s passion is his key to success,” Tina adds. “He is enthusiastic about delivering a consistently great experience alongside his unparalleled food and wine.”

This enthusiasm is rooted in a strong desire to preserve the industry he “so fortunately fell into” over forty years ago, Creehan says. “It’s about the education and mentoring of young people in an artisanal craft that’s at risk of disappearing. As we face a world rapidly changed by technology, AI, and robots poised to take over much of this work, I’ve held a long-standing core belief, fueled by something my father would say to my mother when I decided to become a chef: ‘Marybeth, don’t worry; people will always have to eat!’ I think the one social practice that remains timeless is gathering with family and friends around the dinner table. We can’t let this simple, much-needed experience slip away.”

That family atmosphere and the timeless value of providing memorable experiences around the table are precisely what inspired Nonna’s Ristorante. Creehan describes it as, “a comfortable ‘Grandmother’s’ feel, with cozy yet elegant preparations of classic dishes.” (Nonna, of course, is the common term of endearment for Italian grandmothers, often revered as the keepers of family recipes and traditions made with love.) Visitors of Destin’s HarborWalk Village can stop in, make a reservation, or even order online to pick up their favorites at the charming dining destination serving handmade pizzas and pastas, seafood, fresh salads, and other Italian favorites such as meatballs with Sunday sauce, chicken piccata, and veal marsala. And don’t forget the dolce—tiramisu, flourless chocolate tart, gelato, and coffee are the perfect endings to a memorable meal.

It’s all served up fresh in a comfortable trattoria-style dining room with views of the harbor. Large booths, bar seating, and bistro-style tables are complemented by a vibrant red-and-gold palette, vintage photos, and chandeliers. Jennifer Creehan, Tim’s wife and partner in all things, took on the task of bringing it to life. “I didn’t know my wife was a restaurant designer—and she didn’t either!” Creehan expounds. “She did such an amazing job that anyone who truly understands design will see the love she poured into every detail. The best part, though, is how much fun we’re having working so closely together. And now she’s already onto Pandora’s design!”

Pandora’s was a beloved steakhouse and dive bar in Grayton Beach, Florida, that operated from the late 1990s until 2017, when AJ’s took over and expanded the space. Reviving the concept now in Destin with Salvatore “Sal” Montalto, the grandson and son of Pandora’s owners Sam and Monte Montalto, is one of the best feelings he’s ever experienced, Creehan says.

“When I first moved to Florida, Sam and Monte were among the very first restaurateurs I met,” he recalls. “They welcomed us so warmly that we quickly became good friends. Our families started dining at each other’s restaurants regularly, and Monte and I grew especially close—we even lived together in 1995 and opened Creehan’s Market together at the outlet mall. During that time, I spent quite a bit of time with Monte’s son, Sal, getting to know him when he was just ten years old. As the years passed, I watched Sal take on more and more responsibilities at his family’s restaurant.”

Tragically, the community lost Sam in 2018 and then Monte in 2025. At Monte’s funeral, Creehan says he saw Sal and felt a calling to help him find new opportunities in the local culinary scene, to carry on his family’s legacy.

When opening Nonna’s with his partner Peter Bos (who helped him establish Marina Cafe back in 1988), one goal was to demonstrate the strength of the Chef Tim Creehan restaurant group to the Legendary development team at HarborWalk Village. Creehan and his partners had already aimed to secure a second location on the property. “When the opportunity arose for someone to take over the East Pass Seafood space, I had a beautiful vision, and Peter loved it. Then Nonna’s opened, and a few months in, the reality of committing to another large operation (over 9,000 square feet) really set in,” he admits. “Restaurants that size have to be absolute home runs to survive. Then it hit me: Pandora’s!”

The idea took hold immediately, and Sal loved it, as well. “Everyone on the coast has a Pandora’s memory or story,” Creehan shares. “In the early days of Destin, we all dined there a lot. It was just always great, over and over again. Monte and Sal were the epitome of hospitality—if you know, you know—they remembered you the moment the Frangelico Freeze hit the table.”

With plans and buildouts now well underway, Creehan says the best part of reopening Pandora’s is the chance to fulfill the promise he made to himself of giving Sal the opportunity to realize a dream he and his father had shared.

As if operating Cuvee 30A and Nonna’s while continuing his private celebrity chef services and opening Pandora’s weren’t enough, Creehan also took on the challenge of becoming the exclusive catering partner for Happy Life, a paddlewheel riverboat operating from Destin Harbor. Its murder mystery dinner cruise experience includes a three-course meal while actors perform an “interactive whodunnit” throughout the dining room, and guests try to solve the mystery.

Always cooking, both literally and figuratively, Chef Creehan’s dreams are far from finished.

Through it all, Creehan says, “There is no question that my energy comes from the excitement of an industry where the work is never the same day to day, and challenges keep coming at you by the minute. This constant challenge creates the energy for me, and evolution has been such a big part of my career that it comes naturally now.”

He continues, “My daily routine is to get up as early as possible, prioritize the projects that need attention at each company, and address those as quickly as I can. When we open for service at Cuvee, to me it’s like a curtain going up for a show—everything else in the world that you’re worried about has to stop, and you focus entirely on the guests, and for me, the cuisine.”

Working with his wife, Jennifer, has been an unexpected joy when opening Nonna’s and the new Pandora’s. Becoming a husband and father also changed his outlook on life and his career in surprising yet positive ways, Creehan says. He’s excited to see that their son, Fisher, has shown interest in the culinary arts. “We are a family that works together, and I feel so blessed to have Jennifer and Fisher come into my life. It’s especially wonderful that Fisher has a natural affinity for food and the restaurant business. With no pressure at all, he has chosen to embrace it, and we’ll see which direction he decides to go. It’s very exciting.”

In addition to his family and restaurant career, Creehan has held many other roles. He’s been a private chef for celebrities including Bruce Willis, Jessica Simpson, Debra Winger, Cybill Shepherd, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Timothy Hutton, and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. He also served as chef de cuisine at the Entertainment Tonight/Getty Images/Gibson Guitar Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival, where Matthew Broderick, Danny Glover, and Alan Rickman were among those who sampled his cooking. In 2016, Creehan’s longtime friend Emeril Lagasse featured Cuvee 30A in an episode of Emeril’s Florida, which aired on the Cooking Channel and Food Network. He’s also a kitchen inventor, with several products under his belt that are used by chefs around the globe, such as Grill Plus instant marinade and his line of Kinder’s Organic BBQ Sauce.

Creehan is passionate about giving back, both through culinary education programs and participating in many fundraisers and events each year. He says he hopes to start a cooking, sommelier, and server school in the future, and a few of his favorite annual events are coming up on the Emerald Coast and beyond: “The Chi Chi Miguel Throwdown with the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, a Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation patron dinner with Jack and Candis Wilson, Mike and Valerie Thompson, and Jarvis Winery, and wine dinners coming up at both Cuvee and Nonna’s with Dean Gray from Riverain and David Hejl from Domaine Della,” he shares. “My favorite family from Dallas is also here frequently in the spring and summer, and I always look forward to their visits, along with one of my favorite events—the Cayman Cookout in Grand Cayman every year.”

Always cooking, both literally and figuratively, Chef Creehan’s dreams are far from finished. He says that expanding his restaurant group, helping young chefs and hospitality students, and keeping his business thriving and improving could never be possible without his staff, family, friends, customers, and partners. “I want to thank this fabulous Gulf Coast community that has supported me and my businesses for over forty years. Now it’s time for me to give back in a big way—with products and services that our locals can enjoy and be proud of.”

— V —

---

To learn more or make a reservation, visit Cuvee30a.com and NonnasRistorante.com.