Chef Dennis Heslin

From a very young age growing up outside Philadelphia, I was always interested in cooking. My Mother made many great meals for me and my two sisters. My Father had every copy of Food & Wine and Gourmet Magazine going back many years. He loved trying new things in the kitchen as well. When I graduated from high school I went straight to Johnson and Wales to get my education. After four years I learned many things from some great chefs and left with an A.O.S. in Culinary Arts and a Bachelors in Food service Management. I spent all my summers during school working many hours at a busy seafood restaurant at the Jersey Shore. My course in life was set.

After graduation I got a job as a line cook at the Harvey Hotel In Dallas. I worked there for a year and a half. A Sous Chef took me under his wing there. He bought his own restaurant, The Grotto, and brought me along to be his Sous Chef. There I helped create the menu and learned managing a kitchen. After a year at Grotto I went back to Philadelphia to become Sous Chef at The London Grill. I was there 3 years then was promoted to head chef. We did many events at The London including a "Book and Cook Festival". This was when authors of cookbooks came to Philadelphia to work with a Restaurant to recreate dishes from their books. I worked with "Hoppin John" Martin Taylor, Madeleine Kamman, Jeffery Alford, Naomi Daguid, Paula Wolfort and Mark Bitman. In 2005 the London Grill was invited to New York to do a dinner at the James Beard House. It was a great experience. I spent a total of 13 years at London Grill.

In 2009 I left The London Grill to become a Yacht Chef. I worked Primarily on The

M/Y Freedom. It is a 1926 classic wooden yacht. It is owned by McMillen Yachts which offers fractional ownership. I worked for 17 different families, which was challenging cooking for many different families tastes but allowed me more creative freedom than a restaurant. The partners of Freedom took an instant liking to me and my food. I traveled many places up and down the east coast and The Bahamas. It was a great 7 years aboard Freedom. After I got married I wanted to be closer to home and took restaurant chef job close to home in Salem, Ma. I did miss the more personal experience of the yacht families. I hope to do some yacht and some private home chef jobs going forward.