Lil' Bit Bout Me

I have been a professional cook for around 25 years. I started cooking while in undergrad school in Virginia and have worked in Colorado, Washington, Vermont, Maryland,  and Washington D.C. 

 

Awhile ago I started working on a cook book focusing on soups. As I was making the book, or at least organizing the table of contents and creating the recipes I realized there was another approach.  I decided to make a blog that would allow me to share my ideas while working on it, and to possibly get feedback.

 

Here’s a quick little bio for me that traces where I’ve been working the trenches for the last couple decades:

 

When I was in undergraduate school I got my first restaurant job at a brewery that had just opened up in Harrisonburg, VA, named Calhoun’s.  I started as a prep cook and ended up as a line cook, though my very first shift was covering a no show dishwasher that evening.  

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After a couple of years I moved to Maryland where I started my first fine dining job at Tersiguel’s in Ellicott City. I spent a couple of years working saute and doing pastry work there when I decided I might be missing some basics.

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I decided to go to culinary school and moved to Colorado where I attended Johnson & Wales.  I worked at a handful of restaurants there but most notably Jax Fish house in Lo Do.

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After my time in Colorado I moved back to the Washington D.C. area for my internship where I helped open Buck’s Fishing and Camping. A year and a half later I decided to see more of the country and moved out west to Washington state.

 

My father’s family was from there, and I remembered enjoying the area when I was younger.  I ended up getting a job in Pike Place Market, at a restaurant called Chez Shea. I helped start up an unsuccessful lunch program there, but after they nixed that, they kept me on as a sous for a number of years. I left Chez Shea and worked at a couple of places helping some friends until I had to deal with some family issues.

 

The next stage of my journey was Burlington, Vt, where I was hired to help open up Blue Bird Tavern. Vermont didn’t really work out well for me, as I was there for reasons other than my own, so I decided to leave there.

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I moved back the the Washington D.C. area and got a job at Front Page, DuPont Circle.  The chef left there, so I took over and ran the kitchen for a year.  I decided that I wanted to experience a different style of food so got a job at a new restaurant, Sixth Engine, where  I stayed for about three years.  I started as sous chef and eventually became Chef De Cuisine. At this point in my life I felt I needed a break from the industry, and took some time off. 

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During this period I traveled, spent some time with family in Montreal, visited a friend in Nepal for a month, and made scratch by helping out friends catering as well as a small stint for a hotel as a consultant. Once my sabbatical ended I decided to work for one of the owners from Sixth Engine.  I joined the Capital Crab team to help while we opened up the Avenue.  As chef I brought in a couple of differing cuisines and styles that I had been playing around with during my career.  A little classic French, some Creole, and even a little Quebecoise.  After a couple of years I  left there and took another year off to travel and relax.  I returned to Avenue as a consultant then Covid hit.

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While I was unemployed during the pandemic I started this website.  I figured this would be a great way to publish my "living cookbook" as well as share food I've eating during my travels.  To be fair, that second part is more for me to enjoy, but I hope others like to see some of the food I've eaten during my life and travels.

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In the pandemic I started working for a catering company in Washington, D.C., EcoCaters and SuperFD (one branch focuses on sustainable food, the other on sports nutrition) that I had spent a little time during one of my breaks at.  Currently I am the Culinary Technology Manager with the company.  I still cook professionally, but I spend more time organizing our company's work and matching meal service to make it flow easier within our groups.  In addition to normal catering we also run catering and concessions at Anthem on the Wharf in D.C., as well as cook for the Washington Capitals at MedStar arena.

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I am trying to keep this site current, but find I get backed up on soups that I need to finish on here.  My process  is to post the soups on instagram, then onto the website, facebook, and pinterest.  I try to keep up and best as possible, but please be patient if you've seen a recipe or picture somewhere that hasn't made it here yet.

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Thanks,

Scott