Chef Info

Chef Michelle Jurisin

Michelle Jurisin was on a day trip with her family to Jerome in 1993 when they stumbled upon a boarded-up old building. With dreams of owning their own restaurant and living in a small town, the chef and her husband bought the building and started Haunted Hamburger. A quarter of a century later, the burger restaurant is still popular, and Jurisin – along with her family – has gone on to become a hospitality entrepreneur in the Verde Valley, running five other restaurants, including Grapes, Nic’s Italian Steak & Crab House and The Tavern Grille. More recently, she visited Italy to study pizza making and came back to debut Cottonwood’s Pizzeria Bocce, then opened Crema Craft Kitchen + Bar, also in Cottonwood, as an all-day brunch spot on the grounds of their boutique inn, The Tavern Hotel.