Home on the Range

So how does a New Jersey-born and bred chef end up in Metropolis, Ill.?

Jon Kell, the new executive chef at The Range Steakhouse at Harrah's Metropolis Casino, told me how during a recent media event (i.e. free lunch). His father, also a Jersey native, met and married a woman from Livingston County. They bought a farm in Livingston County, but his father traveled often for business. The couple later divorced, but his father loved the farm and bought his half. Jon attended the University of Kentucky, where he met his wife, and they also fell in love with the natural beauty of the farm. When they told his father that they wanted to marry at the farm, he told them they could come down on weekends from Lexington and work the land to get it into shape for the ceremony. After they married, Kell worked at Cynthia's in downtown Paducah. Later, the couple decided to move to northern Kentucky, and Kell saved enough money to open his own restaurant, Wildflour Tapas and Bakery, in Newport, Ky., a Cincinnati suburb.

Kell described the early days of the operation when it amounted to a little more than a dorm-like kitchen. When he sold it, the restaurant had grown in size and reputation. He collected honors from Cincinnati Magazine for "Best Tapas" (or small plate), CityBeat Magazine for "Most Eggselent Adventure (Best Brunch)" and Friends of Covington for "Best Coffee." Although Kell loved working and owning his own restaurant, he decided he needed a change when he and his wife began their family. They talked about options for communities in which to raise a family. He laughed and said he wanted Philadelphia. His wife, though, chose Paducah.

Kell found a job at Harrah's that satisfied his wife's desire for a small-town setting for their family and his desire to continue his passion of the culinary arts.

Not only were we treated to good conversation, we also sampled some of Kell's creations. He demonstrated a blackened grouper dish and made it look easy enough anyone could do that in his or her own kitchen, flames and all. I shot video of his "entertainment" but you'll have to come back to our Web site on Wednesday to check it out.

I'll have more about Kell's dishes in next week's Taste.

If you have ideas or recommendations for stories for Taste in the future, please let me know. Feel free to post comments.