A large grill with chickens and a leg of lamb turning on a spit, warm sunshine, full wine glasses, and the laughter of old friends: this is the scene in a side yard at Barboursville Vineyards early one evening in late spring. We’re here for what has been affectionately dubbed “The Mentees’ Dinner”: an informal gathering of colleagues with intertwining careers—a chance to catch up, to reminisce, to revel.
Standing around the grill are Melissa Close-Hart, Amalia Scatena, Jaclyn Conlogue, Brooks Tanner and the person linking them all: Chef Craig Hartman. All of them have, at one time or another, worked for Craig, and Jaclyn and Brooks still do, at The Barbeque Exchange—Craig’s restaurant in Gordonsville. Long hours working together in hot kitchens and busy restaurants have forged bonds between and among them all, and their respect for and ease around one another is evident.
“What we do is a lot of hours and a lot of dedication—so much of someone’s life—that as a mentor, as the person who’s trying to bring these people along, there’s a respect that I have for them,” Craig says. “I just feel like I need to give them as much of myself as I can.”
For Melissa—who met Craig as an intern when he was executive chef of Clifton Inn, and went on to work with him at The Cliff House in Colorado—that meant supporting her when she decided to try for the executive chef position at Barboursville Vineyard’s Palladio, a position she would then hold for fifteen years.
“I think he likened it to pushing me out of the nest to fly on my own,” she recalls.
For Amalia, who worked under Craig when he was executive chef at Keswick Hall, it meant putting in a good word for her at Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards when she applied for the head chef position. Craig was acting as a consulting chef as Pippin Hill was setting up.
“He set the groundwork and made it easy for me,” Amalia says.
For Jaclyn, who works with Craig every day as catering and special events manager for Barbeque Exchange Weddings, it meant handing her the reins of the restaurant’s catering and events arm, and letting her run with them.
“You have to assume there’s going to be a Plan B, C and D and be ready to implement them all at once if necessary,” she says. “And that’s something Craig’s let me do.”
And for Brooks, operations manager at The Barbeque Exchange, it meant hassling him for years to relocate to Virginia from New York, and once Craig had finally convinced him, making him manager of the back-of-house operations for BBQX.
“Craig’s never steered me in the wrong direction,” Brooks says. “We haven’t always agreed on everything, but we’ve always been very honest and open with each other. And for me, its hard to find those true people in the world.”
For Craig, actions like these are a natural extension of the pact made between a chef and a devoted member of his or her crew.
“It’s a lot of work. Sometimes they’re working 80 hours or more, sometimes 100,” he says. “We’ve worked so many hours together that you can’t help but to really care about them as people, and do whatever you can to help them perform and be the best in their life. You just feel a kind of responsibility.”
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Read the full story and try out some recipes from The Mentees’ Dinner—all featured in Our Local Commons—Charlottesville, Volume II, which is available for order or at one of several local retailers around town.
Chef Craig, Jaclyn, and Brooks are currently gearing up for Porkapalooza 2015 at The Barbeque Exchange—a celebration of all things pork on Feb. 14 and 15, 12–7 p.m. We of Team OLC are big fans of Porkapalooza. We will be there and hope you are, too!
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