A vision of The Edge
 David Somerfield, head chef at The Edge Bar & Grill in Worth, slices into a pork loin. Somerfield has fine tuned The Edge's menu in an effort to improve diversify and upgrade the offerings at the restaurant. |
by Cassi Petrusevski
Correspondent
To be granted the title of “chef,” dedication, persistence and natural talent in the culinary arts certainly help one attain that goal.
David Somerfield, chef at the Water’s Edge Golf Club. 7205 W. 115th St. in Worth, is putting those characteristics to work as he incorporates his own style onto the establishment’s menu. As the head of the kitchen at a golf course that until recently has served primarily typical “bar food,” Somerfield is faced with the challenge of legitimizing The Edge Bar & Grill as a dining destination in a competitive market.
Somerfield began working in the restaurant business as a youth, and after gaining a better position discovered his passion for the fast-paced atmosphere of the kitchen. He ventured to Charotte, N.C., and attended two years of culinary school at Johnson & Wales University. He then returned to Chicago and attended Kendall College, where he earned his degree in culinary arts.
Somerfield has worked in various restaurant types including fine dining and hotels, and throughout his career has weaved in and out of the country club scene. He began his career in the fine dining industry at Toby’s Dining & Spirits, 13248 S. 76th Ave.in Palrs Heights, and later switched over to country clubs, eventually opening the Crystal Tree Country Club in Orland Park. He then moved on to the hotel industry and worked for the Hyatt Corporation and later at the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio.
After his hotel endeavors, Somerfield was recruited to do an opening for Ruffled Feathers, which was then a brand new country club in Lemont. That brought him back into the country club ambiance, and after adding several notches onto his culinary belt he and his wife opened their own steakhouse, Bogart’s Charhouse in Homewood.
Since accepting the executive chef position at The Edge Bar & Grill earlier this year he has been working about 60 hours a week to provide new, unique and delicious menu items to customers, he said.
He is working on creating a culinary library and has collected 430 cookbooks, both old and new, and has been studying each one to enhance his culinary vision at The Edge.
One of Somerfield’s favorite dishes to prepare is slow roasted prim rib, which is offered at The Edge as a sandwich and occasionally as a special. He also enjoys cooking fresh pasta and seafood, and likes to reinvent “comfort foods” by offering a twist in presentation as well as “doing the classics well.”
He has added a few of his signature dishes onto The Edge’s menu including chicken rigatoni made with a tomato vodka sauce, fresh spinach and mushrooms, and imported parmesan with fresh basil. His tavern-style fish and chips is based on the signature English recipe of fried cold water cod, fries and malt vinegar, as opposed to the standard tartar sauce. The dish is served on newspaper print to keep with tradition. Somerfield typically makes 80 to 120 pounds of coldwater cod — an amount he hopes will increase — at The Edge’s weekly Friday night fish fries.
Somerfield has a few goals to accomplish at The Edge, but through hard work and good training primarily wants to showcase food by putting a new, innovative and creative menu in place.
“I’ve really been feeling my boundaries with how unique I can get,” Somerfield said. He would like to increase private parties, create a banquet room and stay open year round for holiday parties and private events, he added.
In addition to cooking, Somerfield has to create and adhere to budgetary requirements along with training staff and marketing the restaurant. Unlike some executive chefs, however, he is “hands on” the majority of his shift, he said.
No matter how successful Somerfield has become as a culinary master, safety and sanitation still remains number one on his priorities. His motto is, “If you can’t work clean, then you can’t produce a good product,” he said.
This is part of the October 29, 2009 online edition of The Reporter.
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