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Their Plate, Your Palate: Whitefire Grille's Daughenbaugh and Winck
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Meet Damier Cescon at D’Vino in Niles; Nick Mileto at the Springfield Grille in Boardman, Patrick and Stephanie Lavanty at Nicolinni’s, also in Boardman, Justin Winck and Ken Daughenbaugh at the Whitefire Grille & Spirits in Canfield, and Chris Jenkins and Ron Quaranta at Caffe Capri in Boardman.
What distinguishes five of the finest restaurants in the Mahoning Valley is their executive chefs and these chefs’ attention to detail.
All this week BusinessJournalDaily.com is introducing readers to the chefs at five of the finest restaurants in the Mahoning Valley.
Our series, originally published in The Business Journal, began Monday with a profile of the Springfield Grille’s Mileto (READ STORY) and continued Tuesday with a profile of Patrick Lavanty, owner and chef at Nicolinni’s (READ STORY).
Today we profile Ken Daughenbaugh and Justin Winck of the Whitefire Grille in Canfield.
‘Quality of the food on the plate is paramount.’
Ken Daughenbaugh,
Justin Winck | Whitefire Grille
At 14, Ken Daughenbaugh, general manager of Whitefire Grille & Spirits where he is also a chef, was washing dishes in a restaurant in West Virginia. He became a line cook at 15 and a sous chef at 22.
The executive chef, Justin Winck, learned the elements of cooking when he was in high school and worked in his uncle’s restaurant. He went on to study and graduate from the Pittsburgh campus of Le Cordon Bleu. There he learned classical French cooking.
Winck and Daughenbaugh met in a restaurant in Pittsburgh where both worked as line cooks. The latter went on to study political science at the University of Pittsburgh but discovered his heart was in the restaurant business.
Together they divide the duties of running the refurbished and enlarged restaurant in Canfield that features “authentic American dining.” On the “all-encompassing menu [are] steaks, seafood, burgers and a couple of pasta dishes,” Daughenbaugh begins.
“We’re not a steakhouse,” he clarifies. “Our mantra since Day One is that the quality of the food on the plate is paramount.”
Also offered are comfort foods such a meatloaf “we prepare three ways,” Winck notes.
Every dish has Winck’s flair, Daughenbaugh says, and the restaurant uses only fresh vegetables and fruits.
“We buy locally grown produce as much as we can,” he emphasizes. “Fresh vegetables mean you’re serving a higher-quality plate.”
Soups always offered are white-chicken chili, lobster bisque and wedding soup plus “a soup of the day that’s new every day,” Daughenbaugh says. A different fish is featured daily as well.
“We do a lot with fresh seafood,” Winck adds. “We bring in fresh salmon from Vancouver, Canada, and fresh fish from Hawaii.”
Whitefire serves its food on white china so the soups, salads, entrees and desserts stand out. “Substantial silverware” – the general manager’s description – enhances guests’ meals, Daughenbaugh says, and beer is served in steins made with a heavier glass. The wine glasses are “highly polished. It’s going that extra step,” he says, that encourages customers to return.
Winck oversees a kitchen staff of 15 that includes nine cooks.
Whitefire opened last winter on Ironwood Drive in Canfield. Owner Doug Zappi added a fireplace to the former Harry & Jean’s plus 45 seats and a patio.
The Food Channel on cable television leads “people [to] think it’s glamorous to be a chef,” Winck says, “but it’s a lot of hard work.”
He arrives at 9 a.m. and is often in the kitchen until 9 or 10 at night. “If I leave at 7, it’s early,” he says. Both he and Daughenbaugh are at the restaurant six days a week.
One of the best aspects of being a server or on the kitchen staff is sampling the dishes Daughenbaugh and Winck consider adding to the menu.
“Those who wait tables undergo two weeks of training,” Daughenbaugh says, that consists of everything from learning the menu to shadowing the servers before they solo.
One of the best things about being a chef, Winck says, “is getting to try new ideas, creating dishes.”
Even better, Daughenbaugh says, “is seeing people leave with a smile on their face.”
One drawback to the hours they keep, Daughenbaugh says as Winck nods agreement, “is not being able to go to other restaurants.”
Because Winck doubles as the pastry chef, not all desserts are made in the Whitefire kitchen. “I’d like to make more,” he says but relates that his cinnamon rolls and chocolate mousse cake are the most popular in that category.
Maybe it’s because customers tend to take two hours to consume four courses, including dessert, that Whitefire sells so many desserts.
“We’re selling two desserts at every table,” Daughenbaugh reports, “25% of them to go. The rest eat half and take the rest home.”
Asked how they stay so trim in the midst of so much good food, they answer almost in unison. “We’re always in motion,” Winck says.
“Our jobs involve a lot of movement,” Daughenbaugh adds.
THURSDAY: Ron Quaranta, Chris Jenkins, Caffe Capri
Editor's Note: First published in the November edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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