Harper Bradshaw
0 Comments | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Jul 15, 2010
Harper Bradshaw grew up with grandmothers and parents who were “phenomenal cooks.”
“It seems like I’ve always been cooking,” Bradshaw says, smiling. “There’s a picture of me on a stool, cutting a carrot when I was 5, and another of me leaning in the dishwasher, wearing a diaper.”
Today, Bradshaw is 29 and the chef de cuisine at the Vintage Tavern, the restaurant at 1900 Governor’s Pointe Drive in Northern Suffolk. In addition to preparing meals, his duties include being “responsible for everything in the kitchen on a daily basis.”
After a warm welcome, Bradshaw recently gave a brief tour of the restaurant – from the shiny glassware, china and starched white napkins on the formal dining room tables to the cozy tavern area and the lovely courtyard with its bubbling waterfall.
“I’ve read lots of cookbooks and worked with a lot of gifted and talented chefs who passed their knowledge on to me,” Bradshaw says. “Tonight there are six chefs in the kitchen, and we make everything in-house and made to order.”
His favorite dish is the Pig Plate, which features pork prepared in various ways.
“We use only local farmers and fishermen, and in the fall we serve boar and elk. I’ve even cooked a piece of a moose
kitchen stools