13 SEPTEMBER 5-11, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Hot Times Ahead STEFY DEVITA IS FIRED UP TO BE BAR DOUGH’S NEW CHEF. BY MOLLY MARTIN “I never want to stop learning,” says Stefy Devita, who took on the fi rst executive-chef role of her career at Bar Dough in June. “There’s so much to know, there’s so much to learn, and that’s always been something that’s fueled my fi re.” It’s that passion for learning that led her to the culinary world in the fi rst place. Born in Puerto Rico, Devita grew up in Tampa and went to college at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she studied music, played trombone in the marching band and worked in restaurants to support herself. “Then, junior year, I was like, I don’t want to play trombone for the rest of my life, but here I am,” she recalls. She’d taken a food and ethics course that sparked an interest in sustainability, so she decided to switch to a broader humanities degree. Devita kept studying music history, but also loved “fi guring out where my food came from and how it was raised sustainably and why it was sustainable.” After graduating, she moved to St. Peters- burg and decided she ought to “get a real job,” she remembers. “So I sold lawn care, and I hated it. I was making a lot of money, but I just found that I couldn’t sit at a desk. I was studying menus as I was selling plants.” So she decided to look into opportunities in the local culinary scene. A culinary education In late 2014, celebrity chef Michael Mina opened Locale Market and its upstairs counterpart, upscale restaurant FarmTable Kitchen (which was later rebranded as Farm- Table Cucina and has since closed) in St. Pete. “It was this massive institution,” Devita says. The lower-level market functioned like a food hall, and each station had a different theme as well as its own sous chef. “It was basically like a small school for me. I was on grill, but I talked to all the other chefs and really wanted to get to the upscale restaurant, so I worked my way up.” FarmTable Kitchen had a focus on farm- to-table fare, “which I was obviously very into with my educational background and everything I knew, and I wanted to immerse myself in it,” Devita notes. Once she landed a position at FarmTable, she thought her next move should be culi- nary school. “I remember one sous chef told me, ‘You do not need to go to culinary school. Do not spend your money on culinary school. Stay here — look around, use your resources. Ask questions.’” Which is exactly what she did. Over the next four years, she “soaked in every bit of information. It was the fi rst time I made pasta; the fi rst time I butchered a fi sh; the fi rst time I butchered a cow; dry-aging. ... It was intense. It was twelve-hour days, balls- to-the-wall, go-go-go-go. I was obsessed with the rush of it, and I was surrounded by so many talented, knowledgeable chefs.” Moving to the Mile High Eight years ago, Devita was ready to get out of Florida and head west when a few signs pointed directly to Denver. For one, she had a childhood friend who offered her a place to stay. She also knew she wanted to move to a city where “the food scene was growing and somehow interject myself into it and help it grow,” she says. The Mile High fi t the bill. She was encouraged by the success of two local female chefs, as well: James Beard Award winner Jennifer Jasinski, founder of the Crafted Concepts group, and Carrie Baird, who was executive chef at Bar Dough at the time. “I knew that if I came to Denver, I wanted to work for a woman chef, because I was just surrounded by all these male chefs all the time,” Devita recalls. She’d learned about Jasinksi and her restaurant Rioja online, and “I studied it, I studied her. I had the whole menu memo- rized, and I emailed her,” Devita says. To her surprise, Jasinski emailed back, offering Devita the opportunity to stage. Devita was told about Baird by Joe Sasto, whom she worked with for a time in St. Peters- burg. He’d just wrapped fi lming Top Chef sea- son fi fteen with Baird — though it hadn’t aired yet, and no one knew both were contestants. After packing her car and making a week- long family road trip out of the move with her dog and dad in tow, Devita arrived in Denver and went CAFE continued on page 14 FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS Stefy Devita became the executive chef at Bar Dough in June. HEATHER M. SMITH/FORTUITOUS PHOTOGRAPHY Q&A WITH STEFY DEVITA Get to know more about chef Stefy Devita, including her go-to kitchen soundtrack (hint: She has a Blink-182 tattoo). Westword: What can diners expect on the menu at Bar Dough as you make changes? Stefy Devita: It’s a slow process. ... I don’t plan on being here a short amount of time, so I’ve got time. So it’s defi nitely like, let’s do this the right way. Bar Dough is a special place, and it always has been; it’s just fi nding my voice and how I want to represent it, and that’s not something you can rush. ... But my ultimate goal is to do Puerto Rican Italian food. What do you remember about your fi rst day at Bar Dough? I was pretty nervous, and I walked on the line and chef Carrie was in the middle. She was playing “Africa,” by Toto, and I was like, okay, I can get down with this. It was so her in that moment, and I was like, I think I can vibe with her. What music do you like to listen to in the kitchen? Shitty punk rock. Favorite ingredient right now? Tahini. Most overrated ingredient? Avocado. One food you detest? Licorice. One food you can’t live without? Pizza. What are your favorite restaurants in Denver? Hop Alley, Cart-Driver and Pochito’s Tortilla Factory. What do you think Denver’s dining scene does well? The amount of diversity. There’s a lot of creativity and openness to concepts. What can be improved? Diners should be more open and willing to explore food. How has being both Latina and part of the LGBTQ community played a role in your culinary career? You have to have a thick skin, for sure. You have to be very self-aware of who you are and what you represent, and not be scared to be yourself. ... I’m very proud of who I am, and I want other people to see that. Being a female lesbian Latina chef, I want other people to see that and know that they can get there, too. It doesn’t matter how differ- ent you are, you can 100 percent chase your dream and get there. Memorable advice you’ve gotten from another chef? Never throw away any of your notebooks or anything you write. I have like 15 to 25 little memo books fi lled. ... Now I’m going through all of them and writing all the recipes and when it was and how it made me feel. The goal is to, hopefully, write a book one day. What advice would you give to a chef just starting their career? Ask questions, listen, be patient, and be ready to work. ■
