Linda Hampsten Fox is the chef/owner of The Bindery, an all-day bakery, market and restaurant, in Denver’s historic Lower Highlands (LoHi) neighborhood. In 2025, she will open The Bindery on Concourse A of Denver International Airport.
Named Chef of the Year in 2018 by the Colorado Restaurant Association, Linda is a native of New Jersey and daughter of Polish and Czech immigrants. Her menu at The Bindery is a direct reflection of her heritage and culinary inspirations from regions where she has lived and spent extended periods of time, including Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, France and the island of Elba.
Linda perfected her craft while apprenticing with chefs in hotel kitchens from the Cote d’Azur to precious vineyards in Tuscany and mountain chalets in Switzerland. While her culinary passion is Mediterranean cuisine, her extensive travels have given her an intimate knowledge of food trends and cultures from all over the world. Through all this, the simple beauty and importance of gathering around the table has become undeniable to her.
Linda has an impressive portfolio of references, including celebrities spanning the likes of Dr. Jane Goodall, Michael York, Nancy Pelosi, Dave Matthews, Melissa Etheridge, Amos Lee and Nick & Helen Forster (from the live radio show E-Town in Boulder). Her charisma and talents in the kitchen made her a sought-after asset by a cooking school in San Jose Del Cabo, Baja Mexico, and also as a menu developer for a host of restaurants in Denver.
Linda dedicates a lot of her cooking skills to national and local nonprofits, including The National Kidney Foundation, Great Chefs of the West, No Child Hungry, Blue Sky Bridge, The Excelsior Foundation, Girls Up, The National Leukemia and Lymphoma Association, ALS, The Parkinson’s Association of The Rockies, Denver Safe House, Fill A Plate For Hunger – We Don’t Waste, Colorado Restaurant Association’s annual Denver Food + Wine Festival and more.
During the pandemic-related restaurant closures, Linda kept her staff employed by turning her restaurant into a large greenhouse. Linda and the staff seeded and raised hundreds of herbs, tomatoes, strawberries and greens. In the meantime, Linda worked with Frontline Foods and World Central Kitchen to help feed thousands of hospital workers and first responders.
In her free time, you can find Linda mountain biking, surfing or enjoying meals with her family (husband Steve, daughter Emma and stepsons Jake, Matthew, and Ben).
“I was born during a time of eating innocence. TV dinners and fast foods were just emerging. My mother took us to farms to dig in the dirt and we spent hours on our knees picking strawberries. The air smelled like jam. My father brought home melons bigger than our heads from roadside stands. I am a blue collar tomboy who loved every morsel of Jersey pork roll, clams casino and buttery corn I could eat between running cross country and playing kickball. But I was also a math whiz and an English literature lover. How did I end up on the Cote d’Azur in my late 20’s in a regal hotel with a bunch of French pastry chefs with puffy hats? It started with a giant leap of faith and a love of cooking, “ says Chef Linda.
