Chef

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. Chad Dorsey is executive chef and co-owner of Old South Mountain Inn at the top of South Mountain east of Boonsboro. He has worked here almost all his adult life, and maintained the reputation of top-quality American-style dishes passed to him by his predecessor. Dorsey, 40, said tradition is important at the inn. Customers favor the classic dishes of 20th-century American fine dining.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. Chris Carp has been executive chef of Capital Camps & Retreat Center, a conference center and summer camp, for three years. Founded as a rustic retreat center for Jewish communities in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Capital Retreat Center caters to Jewish and non-Jewish groups from 10 to 500 or more. One unique aspect of the facility is that the kitchen is strictly kosher, with a religious-based separation of meat and dairy items.

The Rev. Michael Hydes serves as pastor of the New Light Metropolitan Community Church in Hagerstown. He lives with his partner, Chris Baker, in an apartment above the church on Church Street. But he grew up in a small town not far from Leeds, England. His mother was a cook and caterer, preparing dishes in the family kitchen. His uncle was a chef for hospitals. "I grew up in Keighley, West Yorkshire, and started off life as a chef," he said. "It runs in the family. " Besides food, the other love of young Michael's life was the Lord.

New business Q&A Name of business: TOTO Personal Chef Service Owner: Anthony Ebersole Address: 11520 Selema Drive, Apartment No. 3, Hagerstown Opening date: Feb. 1 Products and services: Affordable personal chef services for busy professionals, busy families, seniors and people who are convalescing after returning from the hospital. Specialized menus are offered. Menus customized for health needs. Ethnic foods, organic food, baked goods are a couple of options for menus.

HAGERSTOWN -- Francis Verdier thinks there's a time and a place for fried chicken, but not necessarily at the special occasions for which he'll be cooking. As chef for Applause Catering at the Academy Theater & Banquet Center in Hagerstown, he's hoping to encourage clients to spread their wings when planning menus for meetings, weddings and special events. "To celebrate something like a wedding, you need to have good food. You have to be proud of what you're serving. If it's a wedding, I want to give the bride a hug and see if she enjoyed what we served," Verdier said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Chef and columnist Roger L. Tappen will discuss and demonstrate new trends in foods at the annual Holiday Daze program from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, at Kauffman Community Center, 7289 Ruritan Drive. The program is sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension and Franklin County Homemakers Group. The program also will include a presentation on using cinnamon for the holidays by Mary Ann Oyler and a local master gardener discussing holiday decorating.

Twilight's Ristorante has new owner, chef, menu By JULIE E. GREENE / Staff Writer Twilight's Ristorante got a new chef and a new menu this week. David Jones, who was co-owner of the Steakout Restaurant, took over Twilight's on Tuesday from owner Mike Pishvaian. Jones, 44, of Smithsburg, has a five-year lease on the restaurant, bar and deli, with two five-year options, Pishvaian said. The restaurant has 15 employees. The restaurant's name will be changed to the New Twilight's By Chef David.

Editor's note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail publishes "A Life Remembered. " This continuing series takes a look back - through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others - at a member of the community who died recently. Today's "A Life Remembered" is about Alfred Leroy "Junnie" Evans Jr., who died Nov. 25 at the age of 66. His obituary appeared in the Nov. 30 edition of The Daily Mail and the Dec. 1 edition of The Morning Herald. Alfred L. Evans Jr. died Nov. 25 at his home.

kevinc@herald-mail.com Daniel V. Harshbarger is slicing vegetables while discussing golf, specifically the wonder of U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods and why he thinks runner up Phil Mickelson is perpetually playing second fiddle. In Harshbarger's mind, Tiger's edge is mental. Same could be said of the 28-year-old Culinary Institute of America trained chef and owner of the Purple Iris in Martinsburg, W.Va. A native of Pittsburgh, Harshbarger already owns a business, Catoctin Catering, in Frederick, Md., and is less than three months into his ownership of The Purple Iris with his fiancee, Tiffany Wireman.

kevinc@herald-mail.com Not only can Joseph Fleischman stand the heat, the kitchen is his safe haven. Armed with an associate's degree in business from Hagerstown Junior College, the 31-year-old turned instead to the restaurant business he had been a part of since he began working as a dishwasher in the 10th grade. Now the Waynesboro, Pa., native has brought his culinary skills to Chambersburg Country Club, where, as executive chef, he caters to a diverse club membership as well as outside weddings, retirement parties and meetings in the ballroom.

Cumberland Valley School of Music will present the fifth annual Neighborhood Chefs' Walk Saturday, June 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. along Alexander Avenue between Carlton and Pennsylvania avenues in Chambersburg. It will be held rain or shine. Local chefs Roger Tappen, Dave Munson and Grayson Bowman; restaurateur Tom Boock of The Cottage; Cecily Barber of The Butcher Shoppe; and staff from Chestnut Landing at Menno Haven will prepare and serve their unique culinary specialties. Tappen will serve an Asian menu featuring beef bulgogi, shrimp-fried rice, cabbage salad with sesame dressing, chicken satay and Asian noodles.

What is the secret to operating a long-lasting, successful restaurant in downtown Hagerstown? Some restaurants keep their doors open for years and years; others last for a few months and then close. The Herald-Mail visited with two restaurant owners, a former owner and a chef. We asked about their secrets for business success in downtown Hagerstown. They are:  Charlie Sekula, host and former owner of Schmankerl Stube, which opened in 1988.  Paul Deputy, co-owner of The Gourmet Goat and GG's Restaurant & Martini Bar, which opened in 2000.

Chefs' Walk will be Saturday, June 1, 4 to 7 p.m. Alexander Avenue, Chambersburg, Pa. Live music, silent auction, food prepared by local chefs. Tickets $50 before Wednesday, May 1; $60 after May 1. Call 717-261-1220 or go to www.cvsmusic.org .

Mark Anthony's cooking career has run through some pretty high-profile terrain. He was named executive chef at the Las Vegas Sands resort complex when he was only 24 years old. He appears on national TV. He has catered or served as personal chef for rock bands, politicians and sports heroes. But Anthony got his start in cooking in another sort of high-profile terrain: Mount Rushmore. "I think I was 12 when I started cooking. That was in a restaurant in Keystone, right next to Mt. Rushmore (in South Dakota)

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. Trying to dine out on a budget? Looking for a restaurant serving healthy dishes with lots of menu choices? Try Robin's Cove at Meritus Medical Center. The restaurant at the hospital? But don't they only serve green Jell-O and applesauce? Joe Fleischman wants to change your mind about hospital food. “Everyone thinks, 'Hospital food means green Jell-O,'” said Fleischman.

Steven Weiss is about to blow the culinary minds of White House military chefs. "This is made out of carrots," he said, cupping in his hand what actually looked like small beads of caviar. He'll be doing such magic tricks in the kitchen when he trains military chefs at the White House. The one-day workshop will have Weiss teaching the chefs molecular gastronomy. "What molecular gastronomy is is the science of cooking, but it's this really great, new, exciting cuisine style that is done with hydrocolloids.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. When customers jam the sushi bar at House of Kobe, fingers fly to assemble rice, fish, ginger and wasabi. But busy as a sushi chef might become, he must maintain calm and be conversational with customers, according to Fuli Sabit. Sabit, 40, is the longest-serving sushi chef at House of Kobe, the Japanese dining institution on the Dual Highway in Hagerstown. Sabit was born in Ponorogo City, a mostly rural jurisdiction in Indonesia, northwest of Australia.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. As executive chef for Nick's Airport Inn - one of Washington County's top dining establishments - Francis Verdier is responsible for maintaining high culinary standards. You might think Verdier's job would be simple: Make the favorite dishes of frequent patrons over and over and over. You would be wrong. "We have people who are looking for new things all the time," Verdier said.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. Catrice Davis-Ford loves to cook. She cooks as chef at Vegetarian's Pursuit Cafe south of Hagerstown. And after work, she happily cooks at home for her husband and youngest son. Davis-Ford, a Seventh-day Adventist, cooks strictly vegetarian and also prepares dishes for vegans. For some people, vegetarian food is strange and foreign. But Davis-Ford pointed out that some meatless dishes are pretty familiar.