Jason Jindra still remembers slipping into the kitchen at the New Glarus Hotel as a teenager, watching the cooks grill, sauté, fry and bake. He had been hired to wash dishes, but what interested him most was what happened on the other side of the kitchen.

Two decades later, Jindra is running the kitchen at Chalet Landhaus Restaurant in New Glarus, following in the footsteps of two influential figures in local Swiss dining: the late Hans Lenzlinger and longtime chef Mike Nevil. He wants to protect the traditions they built while bringing his own ideas to the table.

Jindra, 37, came to New Glarus around 2005 and graduated from New Glarus High School. His first restaurant job was at the New Glarus Hotel, where he progressed from dishwasher to helping with buffets and, by age 18, working full time in the kitchen.

His curiosity became a career. Lenzlinger sent him to Switzerland for about three months of training, including a winter working in a restaurant near the mountains. Jindra later worked with Nevil and spent time as a butcher, an experience he says sharpened his knife skills.