Chatting with the once and future chef of Kildare’s…
How’d you get started? As a kid, I would watch cooking shows, and I would play with empty bowls and spoons and pretend I was cooking. I’d watch all the greats on TV, and I always wanted to do it.
That’s going way back. Let’s talk about how you got started in this industry. Well, even when I was in college, I waited tables, because it was the perfect job. I went to college for clinical psychology, but all I wanted to do was cook. With a few years under my belt in a career I pursued with my degree, I sat my dad down, said, “I’m not doing it anymore,” and enrolled in Culinary Institute of America. From there I started working in restaurants even before graduation.
Where was your first job working in the kitchen? At an Italian restaurant in Flourtown, PA. I started out making salads, and I worked my way up to sautée, but then I left for school in New York.
What was next for you? An internship in New Orleans. Part of the curriculum is that you have to do an internship, and I always wanted to work in New Orleans. I got an internship at the Marriott on Canal Street. I worked in all aspects, from banquet, to fine dining, to pastries, just everything, and at the same time. I was in New Orleans and experiencing the food and culture—it was just an unbelievable experience.
What’d you do after graduation? I worked at Brasserie Perrier in Philly and some of the best restaurants in the city. I became an executive chef about a year and a half after I graduated and was running two kitchens.
How did you get involved with Kildare’s? I met Dave Magrogan, and he told me about this idea for Kildare’s Irish Pub that he had. He sold me, and I was with the company for the next 12 years.
I guess you started as chef? I started as the chef, then after my husband Dane and I had our first son, I moved into purchasing, inventory and cost control for a while.
And now Kildare’s is under new ownership. Probably maybe six months ago, not even that, Dane and I looked at each other and decided that maybe we should try to run this show together—it’s what we know. I know the back of the house, and he’d been managing the front of the house here.
Have any plans for changes? I’ve already instituted a couple changes, but we’re going to keep them gradual—we’re not going to just throw everything out. We have our crowd pleasers, but there’s some new stuff on the horizon.
Any hints? There’s some new tacos on the menu, a fried fluffernutter on the dessert menu that’s selling like crazy (it’s so good). And I’m going to do more vegetarian options, so it’s not just like an afterthought. Still, everyone will be able to come in and get the wings they love, we’ll still make our corned beef in house, but we’ll do new and exciting things, too. The town has come so far culinarily in the last decade that I think there’s more we can do food-wise; I’m so excited to be able to do that now. I think the town is ready for new and exciting things.
Sounds like you’re happy to be back in the kitchen. Back where I started, and it’s where I’ve always wanted to be.
To view the complete September food issue of The WC Press, click here.