Chef of the Week: Don Reinhardt

Chef of the Week: Don Reinhardt Jr.

Today begins our weekly edition of chef of the week! My goal is to share the stories and experiences of a different food-related personality with you each week. This week the Chef of the Week is Don Reinhardt Jr. (although he’s never been a chef).

Don has been the proprietor of the Sewickley Cafe in Sewickley, PA for the past 15 years. The Cafe features casual gourmet dining in the heart of the town of Sewickley.

As a child, Don’s father owned a restaurant in Kentucky, where they lived. In college Don worked as a server in a restaurant, and after college he worked as a wine buyer. Despite his degrees in biology, chemistry, and education, Don’s true passions lay in restaurants.

In Kentucky, Don owned a restaurant for five years, then moved to New York City where he worked for Romano’s Macaroni Grill. He then moved to Pittsburgh where he opened the Sewickley Cafe.

As far as the differences in the regions go, Don told me that the coasts, both east and west, are the trendiest. Pittsburgh is about 8 years behind (it used to be 10 - we’re getting trendier!) and Kentucky is about 12. By this he means that when he left New York the newest techniques he was using there, were not well received in Pittsburgh until about eight years later.

For example, Don had a great duck salad with roasted potatoes when he was in France, but he tried to serve it in the Sewickley Cafe the way the French prepare it, which is chopped and tossed together, and it was not well received. He said part of this preference is based on taste, but a large part is also based on presentation. When the same duck salad was served with the duck presented on top of the salad, the reviews were generally more positive.

Speaking of Don’s travels abroad, I asked him what his favorite vegetable and preparation of that vegetable is, and he said asparagus prepared the way he had it outside of Florence, Italy. He prefers crunchy asparagus so his favorite preparation involved drizzling the asparagus with oil and salt and put it in the oven until it’s crispy - sounds delicious!

If you decide to dine at the Sewickley Cafe, I highly recommend the soups. My personal favorite is the tomato dill soup, which they have year round. However, be sure to ask about their featured soup because it changes all the time. It is always a creative combination, but always delicious. I asked Don who came up with the soups and he said they all do. Don said they actually call many of their soups, “refrigerator soups” where they simply open the refrigerator and see what they have. The soups are normally tailored to the season. In the summer they create light and cool soups, but in the winter most customers prefer a thick, hearty, hot soup which they create by focusing on vegetables and meat and using a heavier stock such as beef stock or red stock.

If soup is not calling to you, here are some recommendations from the proprietor himself:

First and foremost Don says, “We make the best chicken parm.” Besides that he recommends the crabcakes, truffle fries, steak sandwich, raspberry walnut chicken salad, and finally the chicken caesar salad. Don tells me, “I have the best chicken caesar salad out there.” And based on the menu item, “Sid’s Chicken Caesar Wrap,” I think #87 Sidney Crosby would agree.

I asked Don to share a recipe with the readers of the TrendyVeggie, and he graciously gave us the recipe for his Vegetarian Mediterranean Wrap.

Ingredients:

Sundried tomato wrap

A bit of hummus

Spring Mix

Kalamata olives

Feta Cheese of cheese of choice, feta works best for a Mediterranean wrap (can also use tofu as an alternative)

Red onion

Balsamic vinegar dressing - mix of balsamic, olive oil, and Dijon

Mix all the ingredients together, wrap it up in the sundried tomato wrap, and you’re all set!

Thank you Don!