Our story
Chef Nathan Kardos
Chef / Owner
Cody native Nathan Kardos graduated from Cody High School and moved to Colorado to attend the Culinary School of the Rockies (now the Boulder Campus of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts) where he received his diploma in 2008.
Nathan went to work at various restaurants in Denver including Panzano, the city's top Italian restaurant, where he trained under Elise Wiggens as a sous chef. Moving back to Cody in 2013, Nathan worked as a personal chef for a prominent local family.
During the winter of 2017 – 2018, Nathan was hired as a consultant to reconstruct the menu and revamp the overall concept of Carolina Coffee Shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina's oldest continuously running restaurant.
Nathan has opened Trailhead Bar Grill Wood Fired Pizza in Cody, Wyoming after two years of planning. He has succeeded in achieving his goals of opening a restaurant that caters to the local market with an upscale / casual feel and is family-friendly. Keeping it western but contemporary, Trailhead serves high quality and recognizable cuisine that supports local farmers and ranchers with sustainable practices who supply high quality, accessible ingredients.
Chef Corey Weigand
Executive Chef
Growing up in Arizona, Texas, Florida and finally Colorado, Corey began cooking as an attempt to assist his mother in her busy housekeeping duties; flipping through the new cookbook and putting together whatever possible with whatever was available. Childhood was grand and at the age of fourteen Corey found himself bussing in restaurant and working in a bicycle shop, trying to stay fed while feeding his cycling passion.
At fifteen, when the restaurant underwent an overhaul Corey was pulled from bussing and introduced to the world of the kitchen, quickly gaining knowledge of technique and mise en place by a chef with a world of experience. In the process of becoming an adult Corey moved into his truck, worked in kitchens, and lived to ride for a few seasons in Telluride, Colorado.
In 2008 Corey moved to Durango, CO in pursuit of a college education which led to more experience in catering, pizza and eventually led to a few years away from the kitchen to focus on organic farming techniques and animal husbandry. Upon returning to the kitchen in 2014 Corey was quickly promoted to Chef of a small gastro-pub and continued his career a few years later as sous chef under two incredible chefs; Miguel Carrillo and Barbara Helmer.
After moving around and performing in the capacity of kitchen consultant for various establishments through the covid years Corey has found himself in Cody, Wyoming and is happy to bring his 20 years of professional cooking experience and technique to Trailhead and the folks of Northwest Wyoming.
Abigail Solie
Sous Chef
Born and raised in Cody, Abigail is a Wyoming native. Having spent her childhood learning to cook and bake alongside her mother and grandmother, Abigail brings a strong passion for food and a creative drive that is fueled by rustic and heritage approaches to creating food that is good and fulfilling. Growing up in Cody brought lots of opportunity for her as she learned the arts of hunting, fishing, and gardening. Cooking wasn't always forefront for her, and fresh out of high school, Abigail went to college for music composition. After receiving her degree in 2016 she decided to take a break from college and got a job at a local organic vegetable farm where the love for plants and food was reignited in her. Working the markets and deliveries for the farm brought the opportunity to apply for a prep cook position at The Local underneath the mentorship of then chef, Ariel Goodman. Blossoming underneath the strict talent of her head chef, Abigail worked her way up from prep cook to line cook and happily worked there until the restaurant closed in 2019, when she went back to the local farm as Assistant Farm Manager. Abigail bounced around doing different trade jobs during the Covid Pandemic, but cooking was always calling her back, and in March 2021 she came under the mentorship of Corey Weigand. This propelled her to start Culinary School online through the Boulder CO campus of Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts where she completed her studies in October of 2022. She is very honored and excited to continue honing her craft at Trailhead in the years to come.