Chef Dave Rawson
Chef Dave Rawson started his career at Meijer, where he was a backer. He attended Sinclair’s culinary program and then started working at The Winds in Yellow Springs, where he met his wife Robin, who also worked in the kitchen. It was also there he met Elizabeth Wiley, who eventually left to open The Meadowark in 2004. In 2006 Rawson was hired on as her kitchen manager and he’s been there since then. Wiley describes Dave as, “solid, feet-on-the-ground, creative and hard-working, a good communicator and fantastic cook. To watch him make risotto, or ratatouille is poetic.” Wiley sold Wheat Penny and Meadowlark in 2022 to her long time business partners and friends, Chefs Dave Rawson and Liz Valenti
What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
Peppers! I love them. Sweet, hot, fresh, dried, smoked, grilled on a bratwurst, ground into romesco, simmered in ratatouille. I feel they don’t get enough credit.
What ingredient do you dread?
This is a hard one. Ingredients or methods that take extra care or are difficult or monotonous to prepare are more of a challenge than a dislike for me. I’ll go with an ingredient that I don’t like to eat, which there are few, liver.
What’s your favorite dish to make?
Ratatouille. My Chef at the Winds, Kim Korkan, showed me how to make it years ago. It’s such a beautiful combination of summer vegetables, all of which can grow in Ohio. (and in talking with him this will probably appear on the menu next week).
What’s your favorite pig out food?
Chef Dave cooking down tart cherries
There are too many! I would have to say ice cream if made to choose.
What restaurant, other than your own, do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley?
Another tricky one. Chefs tend to keep similar hours, so most are closed at the same time as Meadowlark. The list is long though. Dayton has quite a few stellar restaurants.
What’s your best advice for home chefs?
Just like anything else, practice. Take advantage of today’s technology and watch cooking shows, get some cookbooks, take some cooking classes, become familiar with your tools. Keep at it and continue to build off what you know. Call the Meadowlark and ask me questions!
If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party, who would they be and why?
I’m taking the liberty of adding “living or dead” to this question.
- My grandmother. She was a good cook, and she taught my mother to cook. She never got to see me do this, and I think she would be “tickled pink” as she would say.
- My mother. She was a good cook and taught me the excitement of trying new things.
- My wife. What point would there be of having a dinner party without Robin there? Besides, she’s a better cook than me.
- My mother in-law. She and my mother didn’t get to spend enough time together and she’s an awesome lady!
Wiley & Dave
Who do you look up to in the industry and why?
I’ll go with people I know as opposed to famous (or not so famous) chefs. Elizabeth Wiley, Kim Korkan and Mary Kay Smith. They helped form my approach to cooking and the business side of cooking. The main lesson is you must really care about your ingredients, your customers and your staff.
What do you do in the Miami Valley on a day off?
As little as possible! But in all seriousness, hanging out with my wife, our dogs, and our friends, which doesn’t happen enough!
Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story:
As you know, the restaurant business can be very volatile. Although I had been a baker for many years, I was relatively new to professional cooking when I found myself, only nine months into my first restaurant job, being promoted to kitchen manager. I think my bosses at the time thought that since I seemed to be fairly responsible and eager to learn, that they would teach me as we went along. I think it turned out all right.
Meadowlark
Dayton Ohio 45429
937-434-4750
Fri & Sat: 11:30am– 9:30pm
Miami Valley Meals makes thousands of meals each week to feed our community. transforming donated and rescued food into nutritious meals for those experiencing food insecurity. For their third anniversary in 2023 they unveiled a lineup of chef-created spice blends created in partnership with Big Axe Spice Salt Free Seasonings; The Root of Love, Give Back Garlic Blast, and Feel Good Fusion.
Like many female chefs in the Miami Valley Chef Mariah Gahagan is quick to credit to other women in the industry that mentored her. She thanks Elizabeth Wiley for teaching and The Winds’ co-owners Mary Kay Smith and Kim Korkan for helping start her career when she first worked as a dishwasher. ” Since then she’s had stints at Coco’s, Chin’s, Sidebar, Wheat Penny, Lily’s has been with Tender Mercy for at least the last yer.
If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party who would they be and why?
What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
Meet Chef Waverly Howard, affectionately known as Chef Wave, hailing proudly from Dayton, Ohio. Over the last decade, he has breathed life into his culinary aspirations. Chef Wave’s odyssey commenced with launching his food truck, 
A Dayton native whose culinary career includes stints at Rue Dumaine, Hotel Covington and a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York has returned to Ohio to lead a new boutique eatery opening in early 2022.
David Belknap is the Area Executive Chef overseeing The Foundry and all banquet, catering and private dining events for guests at AC Hotel Dayton in addition to running the Spanish-inspired rooftop lounge and restaurant VASO at AC Hotel Columbus Dublin.
The husband and wife team of Mykie and Patrick Thompson are celebrating the third anniversary of their breakfast and lunch bistro in Troy. When creating the concept, their vision was to create an atmosphere that would relaxed and comfortable. redBERRY would serve the classics with all the taste and no fuss. There’d be breakfast populars like biscuits and gravy and French toast, and lunch favorites like BLTs and hearty soups.
Chef Franco Gallo grew up in a small town in Italy by the Adriatic Sea in Brindisi, where he got his first taste of the restaurant business doing every job imaginable alongside many Italian Chefs in his hometown. He also served in the Italian Army and was trained in culinary art to serve the high ranking officer staff. He met his wife in the Navy, stationed in Italy where they met and he followed here here. His most recent experience was being the Head Chef at the Dayton Bicycle Club for 15 years. Last summer the stars aligned with the opportunity to open Franco the Foodie, where he is the now the owner and Chef, creating a unique rotating menu every week and catering for parties and events. His family is all involved in the business with his wife and one daughter works in the kitchen, while his other daughter works the front of the house.
Chef Summer Key is an American Culinary Federation award-winning certified chef. She started culinary school at Sinclair and after years of learning and honing her skills, and working with renowned chefs, she started her own catering business, 
What ingredient do you dread?
Well if you know me at all then you already know this answer. Chef Anne Kearney and Anthony Head. I love them very much.They both have done so much for me in different ways. Chef Head taught me in school to do more, better, faster. A good cook, cooks. A better cook reads and the best cooks write. He pushed me to join our competition team in culinary school at Sinclair. I won an American Culinary Federation bronze metal for the state of Ohio and became captain then coach. He introduced me to the top chefs in our city doing events for them with him and other students. Holding me accountable for my work still to this day, never letting me give up.
Even though I never get a full day off I always make time for my son. He has to deal with my schedule so I make sure we go on ‘”adventures” a few times a week. Normally something fun outdoors. Metro Parking it up. Young’s dairy, putt putt golf, swimming and movies/drive in theaters are a few. We love the $6 tuesday shows at The Green
Meet Executive Chef Gavin St. Denis!
1.What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
6. What’s your best advice for home chefs?
professionals to assist by quickly and efficiently bulk preparing nutritious food.
What’s your favorite dish to make? A dish I call Rotolino. It was created by my mentor, Chef Dennis McCarthy, and passed along to me. I use it as a teaching technique (similar to foie gras torchon) with young chefs and everyone gets to enjoy the result. It consists of 4 cheeses, 3 pestos, and pinenuts, rolled up to make a pinwheel that screams Italian on an American table.
What restaurant, other than your own, do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley? There are many wonderful places to dine in our region to carve out just one. I tend to find myself in a booth at any ma and pop kitchen I come across, looking for that genuine heartfelt creation. Yet to put a spotlight on the best we have around, I have enjoyed experiencing what Chef Wiley has done at her restaurants over the years, along many of the other greats that have come and gone, but truly the props go out to all of those independents getting up everyday and cooking their hearts out.
y because he would never stop laughing, and that would be an entertaining evening with great food!
Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story: Many years ago, I was hired as a new corporate chef for an independent dining group in downtown Columbus. Two weeks into my tenure was Easter Sunday. I spent the week prepping and setting up the usual. I was all ready to go. Turns out, the night before was graduation day for OSU, and I had no idea of the amount of people we would serve, since I was from out of town. Needless to say, I ended up using much of my Easter prep to complete dinner service that night. After the shift ended, myself, my sous chef and her wife (also a cook) stayed through the night and into the next day restocking the menu. That Easter we served over 800 guests and no one had any idea I was on a 32 hour straight shift to make it happen. That was the longest shift of my career.
Whitted has operated 
Jorge Guzman
