May/June 2007

Hottest Chefs of Hampton Roads

We turned up the heat and got a little saucy with the 10 of the area's most sizzling culinary connoisserus.

By Patrick Evans-Hylton

The old adage goes that if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

But what if it's the chefs themselves generating the hot temperature, and not the oven?

There are some chefs in Hampton Roads that heat things up no matter where they are. Under their tall toques and starched white jackets, a mix of experience, talent, charisma and allure sizzles red hot.

Last November, we nominated 22 area chefs with that winning combination and asked our readers to go online and vote for 10 to be named one of the Hottest Chefs of Hampton Roads.

"Hot" means different things to different people -- some voted for a chef based on creativity and talent, others choose pure eye candy, and several looked for a combination of the two.

Folks visited HRM's website in droves during the voting period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15, with more then 600 people casting ballots. In the end a group of 22 chefs that we felt had definite sizzle-appeal was whittled down to 10 hot commodities.

The end result provides a great cross-section of who's who in some of the top kitchens in Hampton Roads -- there is great diversity in the list. The selected chefs can be found in restaurants from Virginia Beach to Suffolk. Their ages range fro 20s to 50s. And cuisines vary from seafood to Southern Regional to American Classic.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things we discovered during the process is the fact that there are few female executive chefs. Out of 22 nominations, only two were women. Out of the 10 selected, just one stands among nine men. Although there are women in the kitchens -- from sous chefs to line cooks -- few make a living as executive chefs, a point illustrated here.

So, what do you do with 10 of the hottest chefs in the region? Well, you turn up the heat.

In our first offering of Hottest Chefs of Hampton Roads, we present them in some fun, playful and, and, yes sizzling portraits. You may never look at chefs the same way again after this.

And that's a good thing. Too often, a chef is portrayed as someone stuffy, barking orders in the kitchen. Or, as some wine-swilling playboy tossing a few fresh herbs absent-mindedly into a pot. Fact is, they can be a combination of both, and a lot more.

Turn the page to see our winning chefs plated, garnished, and served up hot.

SCOTT BERNHEISEL
THE LUCKY STAR

BURN BABY BURN is the mantra for Scott Bernheisel, chef/owner of The Lucky Star in Virginia Beach. This Pennsylvania native stepped into a kitchen at age 14 and never left. Bernheisel joined the Navy to pay for college and honed his culinary skills at Johnson & Johnson Wales. Before The Lucky Star, he cheffed at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott and Sheraton Waterside in Norfolk. Bernheisel makes heat seem so sweet.

What's the hottest thing about being a chef?

You are like a magician. Everyone is mystified by what you do. You take something that they know and change it before their very eyes into something else. But the best part is being paid for what you love to do.

What is your signature dish?

Blackened Scallops with Wilted Spinach, Goat Cheese Ravioli and Roasted Red Pepper Cream.

What food is an aphrodisiac for you?

Chocolate truffles and champagne is what turns me on -- wow!

If you could be an food, what would it be?

A grape -- people would pinch me, squeeze me, and make me into wine.

For the rest of our interviews with the hottest chefs, plus 10 sizzling pictures, see the May/June issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.