Sometimes It’s All About The Food
Even though this is a wine blog, I’m going to shift the focus for one week and write about our new Chef and his new menu. Back in January, I made “the decision” to hire a new Chef for Varano’s. Our existing Chef had been with us as Sous Chef and ultimately the Chef for about eight years. I felt Varano’s was coasting on our laurels; the need for more was tugging at me. As a Culinary Institute of America grad, I knew we could offer so much more and the time was right to act on it. Ultimately, I added a Chef to our staff at the executive level and moved our existing Chef back to the Sous Chef position. The reason for this was two fold, I felt our Chef needed more training to expand his repertoire and I knew he needed some support to grow.
After a lengthy search, we received a resume from a Chef by the name of Steve Ogden; Steve was from Pennsylvania and was a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. My curiosity was piqued, I wrote him and arranged a visit to our restaurant. At the time we were really searching for a new Sous Chef, when I interviewed Steve, (over dinner with some great wine) we talked food for three hours and I immediately knew I was about to make a very difficult decision that would start Varano’s down a new path. I’m going to be honest and tell you I made this decision with some trepidation, and certainly with quite a bit of excitement. My quandary was, I didn’t want to hurt Ray, our current Chef. We met with Ray and explained our new course we were about to undertake and he was very understanding. I think it was a little hard to swallow, but deep down he knew we were making the right decision for the restaurant.
The Monday after Easter, Steve Ogden became the Executive Chef of Varano’s Italian Restaurant, after nine years, Varano’s was about to make some major changes to the menu and I was excited. Steve hit the ground running, we spent numerous hours charting our new course. It sounds easy to just change the menu, the reality is it took us about three months to finalize everything and launch the new menu. On July 2, 2009 we unveiled our new menu, we had a staff tasting, took photos and waited patiently as the new menu unfolded before us. All the servers were excited about the changes and all the new items. The hard part was to meld the traditional Italian Fare that Varano’s was noted for with the new lighter style Italian Cuisine. In the end, the combination of the two styles worked well together.
Our new menu now offers faro, white beans, fragola and whole wheat pasta. We utilize more local produce; we will be adjusting the menu seasonally to take advantage of what’s available at the time. Our goal is to offer a menu with more variety, utilizing our new Chef Steve’s knowledge, along with Ray’s experience at Varano’s and meld it into a seamless dining experience with something for everyone. One of both Steve and my passions is to ultimately make as much of our menu items in house as possible. This includes our own hand crafted Italian sausage, mozzarella and Duck Prosciutto to name just a few of the new items we will be making ourselves. Our next focus will be on our desserts; we are currently working on a new dessert menu, which will include our own gelato utilizing fresh berries and ingredients for the summer.
The passion is renewed and our customers are the winners, we want to import our own private label olive oil for next year, our own wine and host a multitude of Italian cultural events that will give our customers the opportunity to experience their own little slice of Italy. Come on in and try our new menu, say hello to Steve and I guarantee you’ll be as excited as I am with the new changes.
Dick Varano
11 Comments to “Sometimes It’s All About The Food”
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I can tell you that we miss Chef Steve here in PA! I was a frequent visitor of his & always an amazing experience! I am happy that you scooped him up, but he is missed! I hope to take a trip to the coast and visit the restaurant!
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