Dishing with the Chefs
We have all been cooking at home for what feels like forever due to the COVID-19 situation. Fortunately, many of our favorite restaurants are opening their doors and adapting to the new guidelines for offering takeout and delivery. While we await the news of when we can dine out again, we met up with some of the finest Seven Mile Beach chefs to get to know them a little better.
Chef Edward Daggers of Yacht Club of Stone Harbor
9001 Sunset Drive, Stone Harbor
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?
I don’t have a particular favorite – I love them all. My cooking is always based on regional bounty. The best, freshest local ingredients determine what we make.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
Thomas Keller – he constantly seeks perfection.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?
Too many to pick just one – anything with seafood, Mediterranean or Asian.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
An artist or architect.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
Never stop learning.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?
It’s a toss-up: the restaurant kitchen gives me the space to have lots of things going at the same time, my kitchen at home means my family’s close by.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?
A hand blender is never far away. From soups to sauces, I find it enormously useful.
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
I started working in a restaurant as a young man and discovered an unknown talent and a joy in creating.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?
A complete commitment to pleasing their guests through attention to detail in food and service.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?
Outside if I can be – either working around my home or fishing. If I can’t be outside, you’ll probably find me painting.
Chef Ryan Macey of Café Loren
2288 Dune Drive, Avalon
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?I have a hard time picking just one.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
Chef Bruce Johns, he was a former Chef Educator at the Academy of Culinary Arts who has provided guidance and support throughout my career as well as many others.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?
Our Shrimp and Grits at Café Loren.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?Working in health care.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
Be humble, listen intently and walk with purpose.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?The restaurant is my favorite place to cook, I prefer the restaurant over home because I have more space and superior equipment.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?Rule #1. Always have a spoon. It has many uses, including tasting!
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
After my first week in a professional kitchen, it was pretty clear that this is something I truly enjoy.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?Hospitality. There are so many factors that influence a great dining experience, but it starts with hospitality.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?The office doing paperwork for the restaurant or enjoying New Jersey’s wonderful parks and beaches.
Chef Michael Carlson of the Bellevue Tavern
9 South Main Street, Cape May Court House
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?
Chinese – you really just can’t get it right at home.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
I admire anyone who does this for a living. It is tough with the heat, long hours, etc.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?
Our crab cake appetizer. It’s quick, looks good and tastes great.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
Maybe some construction work; I previously did that for a few years and enjoyed it.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
Be confident! Experiment and learn from your failures.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?
In the restaurant! There is more energy there.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?
For me, tongs because they are very multipurpose!
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
When I was a teenager, I worked at Marabella’s and had many fun summers.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?
Consistency.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?
In my yard. I love coming home to a nice-looking yard.
Chef Lucas Manteca of Quahog’s Seafood Shack by Bread + Butter Restaurant Group
206 97th Street, Stone Harbor
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?
Spontaneous cooking … fresh and seasonal.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
Dan Barber, he was my mentor.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?
If all our dishes are not favorites, then they are not on our menu. Sorry, but I always say the same.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
Food styling probably. Food+Art.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
Turn your profession into your lifestyle.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?
My wood- burning grill at my house.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?
Cast iron … everyone should have one and a legacy for your children.
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
When I decided that I wanted freedom of traveling the world and experience diversity of cultures. Cooking gives you that.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?
Honest food.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?
No, the kitchen is my place of peace.
Chef John Boswell of The Diving Horse
2109 Dune Drive, Avalon
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?Near and dear to my heart is Italian American red sauce food. My maternal grandma would cook us homemade spaghetti and meatballs – that’s true comfort food to me and growing up my palate responded to that food the most.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?The first is my professor at Drexel University, Dr. Michael Traud. His influence hasn’t primarily been directly about cooking, rather about teaching me how to learn about cooking. During my externship at Alla Spina, I worked closely with Chef Damon Menapace. I later worked for him at Kensington Quarters for a year-and-a-half. He taught me a tremendous amount about cooking techniques. Next is Chef Kevin Sbraga. He taught me a tremendous amount about being professional and staying organized. Lastly, I admire Chef Marco Pierre White. He was a trailblazer and a maniac chef.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?At The Diving Horse, we sold a lot of baked oysters last year. This particular dish was inspired by Oysters Rockefeller and can easily be changed with the micro seasons of summer.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?I love working with my hands, which is part of why I love to cook. My dad was a handyman and my uncle built his own house. I think the enjoyment and accomplishment in building things really make it a worthwhile career. I’d love to learn iron working and make kitchen knives or take up woodworking and make furniture.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?I would firstly say to put your head down, work hard, and work smart. Next I would say: Taste, taste, taste! You have to taste the food you make, always! Read books about chefs, read books in general. Learn as much as you can. One last note is to travel! I have been inspired by all the cultures I have encountered by traveling abroad with my wife. Tasting food from other cultures has been such an important part of my life, and I would suggest it to any new chef. It will help broaden your palate and your ideas.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?Both! At work, the intensity and satisfaction of creating and cooking great meals, as a team, for so many people, is really fun. At home, I love the relaxed feel. I love to have a glass of wine, listen to music, and cook dinner for and with my family who have given me so much in my life.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?If I was to choose one, I think I have to say a knife. Everything else is interchangeable. The tool you’ll most often find is a knife and for me it needs to be a sharp one. It makes cooking so much easier and more enjoyable.
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?When I was little, I always had a weird fascination about watching cooking shows and seeing how easily they cut onions. Then I started cooking in eighth grade at home. I think the moment was when I transferred to Drexel, I took my first cook job at McGillin’s Olde Ale House. I got thrown right into the kitchen making cheesesteaks, chicken wings, and grilled cheeses. I finished my shift and thought, “That was fun!”
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?In my early stages of being a chef, I was so focused on food that I always thought, the better the food, the better the restaurant. As I’ve gotten older, I am beginning to really understand the importance of hospitality. There is a beauty to having regulars, and comfort in their recognition of the staff and vice versa. We have guests come back and request certain wait staff or specific tables.
10.Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?I try to spend as much time outside as I can. I grew up playing sports and was always outside. When I’m not in the kitchen, I’m trying to spend time with my wife, Julie, and my dog, Boogie.
Chef Jim Kurtz of Windrift Hotel Resort
105 80th Street, Avalon
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?Mediterranean – Italian, Greek and French.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
Ming Tsai – he is Chinese American, has TV shows, and he’s good. He is great to check out right now for some recipes to cook while you are quarantined at home.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?Our Tuna Won Ton – it’s raw tuna on a fried won ton chip. I just like it because it’s just a nice punch of raw tuna, the crispy won ton chip and the sesame oil.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
Hopefully playing golf, but if not, it would be teaching! Either in a public school or culinary classes.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?Patience and have a sense of humor.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?In the restaurant, no doubt. There is more space and it’s too messy at home cooking for real with oil and whatnot. We’re set up for it here.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?
Knives, because you need it for almost everything.
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?My parents had a restaurant, so I grew up in the restaurant industry.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?Run by people who want to be there. It ensures sanitation and hospitality and makes it a better place to be. You must want to show up. Makes it a better environment for everyone.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?If I am not in the kitchen in the restaurant, then I am usually in the kitchen at home.
Chef Bill Selgrath of Sylvester’s Fish Market and Restaurant
503 21st Street, Avalon
1.What is your favorite type of cuisine?
As of right now, sushi.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?All work hard, famous or not. I drift toward “What would Gordon Ramsay think,” he seems tough and fair.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?Various seafood ones, various ways … Shrimp, seared scallops, seared tuna.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
Good question, something low-pressure in Key West!
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
Stay true to quality with your seafood and items you’re offering in general.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?
It’s a tie. Cooking in the restaurant, there are great customers and all of the variety. Cooking at home is more intimate with family and/or friends.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen?
A knife.
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
When we purchased the restaurant.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?
The quality of its food purchased and its people.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?
With my family and close friends enjoying time.
Chef Sidney Gary of Bobby Dee’s Rock ’n Chair Restaurant
2409 Dune Drive, Avalon
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?
American cuisine, because this type of cuisine can be built upon to create an extraordinary dish with a twist.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
I admire Chef Patrick Clark. He declined a chef position at the White House to pursue his own career and was named the Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic Region by the James Beard Foundation. He constantly thought outside the box.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?
The stuffed scallops with a crabmeat mixture plated with a drizzle of lobster sauce. Yummy!
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
I would be a fashion designer and the artist that I am. Therefore, I create on the plate.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
Come to work with a positive attitude, have an open mind, stay creative and give it your all.
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?
I prefer to cook both at home and in the restaurant. I love to serenade people with my food and bring joy to their taste buds.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?
The most significant utensil would be my knife. It is a kitchen tool that I would use for various kitchen functions; even stirring the pot!
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
Watching my mother prepare meals for her children with goodness. This inspired me to do the same with my helping hands.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?
The most important qualities in a kitchen are cleanliness, harmony with the restaurant staff, and preparing food that will be enjoyed by many people and put a smile on their faces.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?
I would be on the beach. Being born and raised in Cape May, I have always loved the sound of the ocean and the rays of the sun on my face.
Chef Joe Sparta of Fred’s Tavern
314 96th Street, Stone Harbor
1. What is your favorite type of cuisine?
Thai food.
2. Is there a chef you admire most? Who and why?
Chef Kolachai – he gave me confidence in the kitchen.
3. What is your favorite appetizer to prepare?
Clams casino.
4. If you weren’t cooking, what would you be doing for a living?
I’d be a lawyer or a salesman.
5. What advice would you give to a new chef?
“There is a right way, a wrong way, and your own way.”
6. Do you prefer cooking in the restaurant’s kitchen or in your own home, and why?
The restaurant – we have the equipment needed to fully run a kitchen here.
7. What is the most needed cooking utensil for a kitchen, and why?
Tongs – it’s an extension of the hand.
8. When did you first know you wanted to become a chef?
While in college.
9. What do you believe is the most important quality of a restaurant?
The ambience and the quality and presentation of the food you’re putting out.
10. Where do you find yourself most when you are not in the kitchen?
At home.
