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Joe P. Clarke
Co-Head Chef, General Manager
A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and a graduate of the University of South Carolina; Joe spent his early career working in foodservice in both front and back of house positions. After graduation, Joe followed his degree to Los Angeles where he worked in Film and Television production for 14 years managing crews and filming some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Tinseltown, however, never fully satisfied his true calling...cooking. While on hiatus between movie and television gigs, he expanded his culinary education at Epicurean Culinary Institute and worked at Chef Govind Armstrong’s famed, 3 star restaurant, Table 8. Joe and Darlene left Hollywood on a mission to pursue their dream of opening their own restaurant. Joe attended the French Culinary Institute in New York graduating with Honors and receiving the Grand Award for Best Menu, as well as completing the Restaurant Business Course.
Joe’s inspiration and passion for fresh food grew from watching his grandmother use the bounty of her garden and farm to provide food for the table. This initial introduction to the quality of fresh farm food, from fresh tomatoes and cantaloupes to fresh eggs and fresh pork have sustained and brought him to the cornerstone of his cooking. To Joe, it’s a Chef’s responsibility to know where their products come from. It’s about discovering and understanding where the food we eat originates, how it was grown, even watching it grow; how the animal was raised, fed and even harvested. He believes it just makes sense to seek ingredients from folks that are putting as much love and passion into their work as he does into preparing it. |
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David Sundeen, Jr.
Co-Head Chef
Every once in a while you come across a person who has discovered their talent in life, and they do it effortlessly and with intense passion. That describes David’s cooking career. He views cooking as an art form, and like all artists, continues to grow with every new experience. At the age of 18 he began working at his uncle’s restaurant, and has never looked back. After working for ten years at fine dining restaurants in and around Austin, Texas he felt he needed to temper himself further and enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. One year later he graduated with honors, top of his class, while also working at the famed La Grenouille. After moving to Los Angeles with his wife Susan, he continued to add to his artists’ palette by becoming the Sous Chef at the notable Table 8 then on to Santa Barbara, California, first as the Sous Chef at Citronelle and most recently as Executive Chef at bouchon.
With his passion, experience and massive cookbook collection, there are few things he hasn’t done or seen when it comes to food. And that is exactly what inspires him to push forward, to create something that is memorable and the chance to share that process with our customers. His dedication is a rare commodity in our “fast food” age, and he hopes that he can instill in others the joy one can get from finding the art in all things. |
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Susan Dumeyer
Pastry Chef
Susan’s journey to pastry chef has not been a straight line, her passion for the sweet side took over twenty years to develop. Raised in Colorado, she was determined to become a ballet dancer. Thirteen years later, that dream was abandoned in California. She began working in television production, but twelve years and two Emmy’s later she decided it was time to find a career that was more creatively and emotionally satisfying. Although cooking had always been a passion, Susan had never considered it as a career. Realizing the chaos of live television and a kitchen were similar she decided to change her path. In 2004 she graduated with honors from the French Culinary Institute in New York City – she also left school with another vital element of her culinary art, her husband David.
Susan was truly inspired by Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill in New York, and was able to work for him before moving back to Los Angeles where she continued honing her skills under Chef Neil Fraiser at Grace restaurant. The next move was to Santa Barbara, California where both she and David began cultivating the love of “from the farm to the table” concept. She has become adamant about the responsibility chef’s have to know where & how their ingredients are procured, as well as giving back to the community that supports them. Her philosophy is, if we all supported our neighbors wouldn’t that be a great neighborhood to live in? |
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