Casey & Dave Dexter: Enjoying the summer weather on their patio. Photo by Andrew Madigan
Dave and Casey Dexter, like all fathers and teenage daughters, have had their disagreements, but now they run a business together: GuestChef.
Here’s how it works. Chef Dave comes to your house and cooks for three to four hours. The menu is up to you. You watch, learn and help out. For just one night, you’re a professional sous chef in one of the hottest restaurants around, which also happens to be in your kitchen.
GuestChef is more than a cooking lesson, though. It’s a party. You invite over a few friends, eat, drink, hang out and have a great time. Instead of watching The Food Network on TV, you live out an episode at home.
Dave Dexter is an executive chef with more than 20 years experience in fine dining. He has a degree in culinary arts from Johnson and Wales University, where Emeril Lagasse learned his craft. Casey Dexter, his 18-year-old daughter, recently finished her freshman year at Penn State, where she majors in film & video.
THE DEXTERS live on a quiet street in Fairfax where, about four years ago, Dave was approached by one of his nieces. She had a serious boyfriend and was considering marriage but didn’t know the first thing about cooking. Dave invited her over for the weekend, taught her a few simple dishes, and fueled her confidence. Problem solved.
Pretty soon other relatives came knocking, but Dave’s classes remained strictly pro bono. He considered the possibility of turning the idea into a business, but nothing came of it.
Cut to 2011. Casey applied for a number of internships, but no one was hiring freshmen. This sentenced her to a summer of living at home and working at an Italian restaurant. There was an unforeseen by-product, however. In her spare time, Casey began to work out the details of the idea her dad had been talking about for years. And so, like one of Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story” segments, GuestChef was born.
The Dexters have really enjoyed working together. According to Casey the GuestChef experience has “made our relationship stronger.” When she was younger, Casey didn’t think her dad was “the coolest guy in the world,” and she probably wasn’t the first teenager to harbor such reservations. Her perspective has changed considerably though, after a year in college and a tour of duty in the culinary trenches. She likes watching Dave cook at home or with clients, where he multitasks as comedian, sportscaster and musician. “He’s a hoot,” Casey says, “as he does impressions while waiting for the pasta to boil.”
DAVE ALSO HAS great things to say about his daughter. The business wouldn’t have succeeded without her entrepreneurial, marketing and IT skills. “I don’t want to sound like an octogenarian,” Dave says, “but I wouldn’t know how to announce a snowstorm if I was stuck in the middle of it.” Fortunately, Casey manages the Facebook and Wix pages for GuestChef. She also trained as a television producer with Fairfax County Public Access and plans to launch a cooking spot so that Chef Dave can showcase his talent.
The Dexters’ service isn’t just for people who don’t know the difference between a coulis and a cassoulet. GuestChef also caters to skilled home cooks who want to learn some new tricks. Chef Dave teaches his customers whatever they need to know. Some just want to learn how to sharpen a knife and cook a piece of chicken without turning it into charcoal; others are interested in creating lavish entrées or the perfect soufflé. In either case the Dexters bring fine dining straight to the customer, so you always get the best seat in the house.