Rathbun’s achievements demonstrate how his creativity, dedication and range of delectable dishes have made him a renowned and impressive Chef. Rathbun worked long hours as a dishwasher before becoming a cook. Having stumbled on to work he loved, he found that cooking uninspiring meals in average restaurants simply wasn’t enough for him. Rathbun’s passion landed him an apprentice job at La Bonne Auberge, a five-star French restaurant in Kansas City. The opportunity accelerated his career enabling him to move from kitchen to kitchen working with some of the best Chefs in the country.

By the mid 80s, Rathbun’s talents were earning him a reputation in the culinary world. At this time, he was working as Sous Chef at Mr. B’s, a four-star restaurant in New Orleans (a Brennan Family Restaurant). Following this, Rathbun moved back to Kansas City to be the Sous Chef at the Mobil Five Star, American Restaurant. He was quickly promoted to Executive Chef of its sister restaurant, Milano, a Kansas City based Northern Italian restaurant.

In 1990, Dean Fearing, Executive Chef of the elegant five-diamond, five-star Mansion on Turtle Creek, lured Rathbun to Dallas to serve as his Senior Sous Chef. Two years later, Rathbun was offered his own kitchen and the Executive Chef title at the redesigned Landmark Restaurant in the Dallas Melrose Hotel. It was while at the Landmark he was able to make annual trips to visit the restaurant’s owners in Bangkok, Thailand. In turn, Rathbun was asked to cook for the flagship of Dusit Hotel Company in Bangkok where he created a blend of Texas cuisine with local flavors. His experimentation and research allowed him to develop a spectacular style of Contemporary Global cuisine, drawing on Southwestern, Mediterranean and Cajun/Creole influences with a Pacific Rim influence.

In the fall of 1995, Rathbun accepted a new challenge-- that of catering. As Executive Chef and General Manager of dani Special Events, he built a strong team, which was his key to proving to the world that catered food could be every bit as good as that which is freshly prepared in high end restaurants.

In 1997, Chef Rathbun decided to follow his dream-- establishing his own world-class restaurant, Abacus-- the likes of which the city of Dallas has never experienced. Rathbun spent the two years managing the details of starting the business, finally opening the anticipated venue in October of 1999. Of primary concern to him was carefully selecting a restaurant design group to transform a nondescript building on McKinney Avenue (the home of Abacus) into a dramatic restaurant space that contributes to and reflects its urban neighborhood. Once that was underway, Rathbun along with the Engstrom design team, began extensively researching a variety of kitchen and restaurant design from California and New York to Paris and Italy. Visiting the top restaurants in each city, Rathbun and the design team were able to come up with the contemporary, but warm décor of Abacus. Chef Rathbun chose to build his kitchen in a European style, without limitations—Dallas’ first ever. From woks, smoker and wood burning grill to pizza oven and in-house pastry shop, Rathbun’s kitchen has it all, enabling him to prepare any type of global cuisine in his own, renowned, eclectic style.

Four years after the opening of Abacus, Rathbun opens Jasper's. Again, Kent spent two years planning and researching to open his new concept. Using the same designers, Engstrom Design Group, Jasper's features an upscale design with a “modern outdoors” theme. Jasper’s interior will incorporate stained concrete floors, teak outdoor-style furniture, bamboo planters, dramatic lighting and artistic-interpretations of natural elements into the overall design scheme. Jasper’s menu is focused on the best of America’s regional cuisine, including steaks, chops, fish, rotisserie chicken, salads, pasta and pizza.

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