Executive Chef Dale Levitski
Dale Levitski didn't go looking for a spot in the culinary world. It found him, much like the way fame chased him as the runner-up on season three of Bravo's "Top Chef." Now he returns to a Chicago kitchen as the Executive Chef of Sprout.
A native of the Chicago suburbs, Levitski attended the University of Iowa, pursuing a degree in sociology and participating on the swim team as a springboard diver. When he needed a job, he landed one as a fry cook at the Ground Round, a casual dining restaurant chain in Iowa City.
"I fell in love with the rush of the kitchen - the rhythm of the process, getting the food out and, of course, the fun," says Levitski, 36. Just shy of earning his undergraduate degree, he opted to acquire some formal culinary training, planning to move to San Francisco to attend the California Culinary Academy (Cordon Bleu). However, he never made it.
Returning to Chicago instead, he cooked brunch at Deleece and spent eight months at Blackbird before leaving to open the first Orange, a contemporary breakfast restaurant. Levitski enjoyed a brief stint at the now defunct Fortunato before heading to La Tache, a French bistro in Andersonville.
Then at Trio, the Evanston fine-dining launch pad of some of Chicago's best-known chefs (including Grant Achatz and Shawn McLain), Levitski began "cooking the best food of my career," he recalls. Excited to pick up where Achatz had left off, he worked at the famed restaurant for 18 months before owner Henry Adaniya decided to close the then more casual Trio Atelier and leave Chicago.
Levitski spent the next year consulting, helping to open Cru Cafe and Wine Bar on Chicago's Gold Coast (now Feast) before deciding on a whim to answer the casting call for season three of "Top Chef" in Miami.
The two years that followed proved to be a test of character, a time of growth and oftentimes, surreal. As the first Chicagoan on the popular reality television show and the runner-up, fame indeed followed. But during the same time, Levitski's mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Then, his dream of opening his own restaurant, Town & Country, fell victim to the economic downturn.
Levitski is now ready for a new challenge. At Sprout, he showcases his style of cooking with "flavor math": calculating spices and components to bring perfect balance to a dish. He will also unearth forgotten dishes like gnocci Parisienne and duck l'orange and give them a contemporary spin. He's excited about creating dishes that focus on using one ingredient in multiple ways. "I'm a big meat-and-potatoes guy so you'll see game," he says. "I'm obsessed with sauces, too, and the depth of them. And I love to braise."
Chicago once again has the opportunity to embrace this hometown hero as he infuses Lincoln Park's intimate French-American bistro with his A-game of experience and passion for his craft.
Sous Chef Sara Nguyen
Tenacity and hard work put Sous Chef Sara Nguyen on a career path that she cannot imagine ever leaving. At 28, she is exactly where she wants to be - Sous Chef at
Sprout, working with Executive Chef and fellow "Top Chef" contender Dale Levitski."Being on the line is a great time - it's this wonderful atmosphere, fun and jokes and seriousness at the same time," says the Santa Monica, California native.
Though her initial career exploration in fashion design turned out to be a mismatch, Nguyen knew her career would be art oriented. She grew up in a Vietnamese household where cooking was an important tradition, but it wasn't until friends convinced her that she had a knack for it that she switched gears.
At 20, Nguyen moved to New York to attend the Institute of Culinary Education, where she graduated at the top of her class with a culinary arts/management degree. She landed an internship at the famed Per Se, undeterred by the seven-day-a-week, 12-hour shifts - extended by a four-hour daily commute between the restaurant and her Sheeps Head Bay Brooklyn apartment.
Working for a hospitality management company, Chef & Company, Nguyen served as Sous Chef and then Executive Chef at Stone Rose in New York. While she was the Executive Sous Chef at Boucarou, friends convinced her to try out for "Top Chef."
She went on to work the line at Cafe des Artistes, and then spent 18 months as the head line cook at the Metropolitan.
Nguyen and Levitski struck up a friendship on the show, so when he called her to work with him on his dream restaurant, Town & Country, she moved to Chicago. In the interim between the demise of the Town & Country dream and the new opportunity of Sprout, Nguyen worked as a private chef.
"I am much more a technical and formal chef and Dale is an incredible creative force," she says. "It is so nice to be in that realm, collaborating on dishes with him and seeing how his creative process works."
Sprout Restaurant
1417 West Fullerton, Chicago, IL - 773.348.0706
