Chef Ken Vedrinski

Sunday Family Style Supper

Pull up a chair. Fill your plate. Again and again. Make new friends. Bring old friends. Mangiare! "Go on a Sunday afternoon and you will be rewarded with chance to eat the "family meal" ($34), more food than you ever stuffed down at Grandma's, basically half the menu splayed out before your party, big platters of sliced hanger steak and mashed potatoes spiked with olive oil and little mushrooms seared and then soaked in a sweet and sour marinade." - Charleston City Paper

Ama la cucina italiana
(He loves Italian food)

Moving deftly through an award-winning career spanning decades, and a variety of haute cuisine styles, Chef Ken Vedrinski has found his passion and heritage in Italian fare. He’s also found his “place” in Charleston, a coastal city rich with fresh bounty from the land and sea, and a long way from land-locked Columbus, Ohio where he was born.

Ken grew up cooking in his grandmother’s kitchen under her passion-infused, Italian-influenced tutelage. He was an eager student with such fervor for food that it led to his degree in restaurant management from Columbus College and a three-year apprenticeship under Certified Master Chef Hartmut Handke. His lifelong passion and career was ignited. Years later, Vedrinski was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales University.

Vedrinski’s first stint as an Executive Chef was at the acclaimed Opus Restaurant in the former Swissôtel Atlanta, where his talent was quickly lauded when Opus was named “One of the Best New Restaurants in America (1991),” by Esquire Magazine. Chef Vedrinski was an early adopter to the practice and promotion of farm to table freshness as he heralded Georgia homegrown foods, landing him a spot on The Today Show.

His next stop took him closer to Charleston, in nearby Summerville, SC, where he served as Executive Chef at Woodlands Inn & Resort. Ken earned the only Mobile Five-Stars awarded to a South Carolina restaurant at The Restaurant at the Woodlands. In 2002, the restaurant received the only perfect food score in North America by Condé Nast Traveler.

Closer still to Charleston, Chef Vedrinski moved next to Daniel Island, a suburb of Charleston, where he co-owned and operated Sienna Restaurant, his first professional commitment to exclusively Italian cuisine. Once again, Esquire Magazine took notice with yet another, “One of the Best New American Restaurants (2004),” designations. (“Were I to award points in this annual restaurant survey, only Sienna would get a ten solely for its cooking.” John Mariani, Esquire Magazine)

Embracing his culinary heritage, Vedrinski embarked on food-fueled expeditions to Italy in search of the most authentic ingredients, olive oils and wines. His journeys took him to Lucca in Western Tuscany, which he claims to be the home of “the best olive oil in the world.”

Named for the beloved olive oil, Vedrinski has most recently styled his first solely owned restaurant: Trattoria Lucca. This time, his restaurant is actually located on the Charleston peninsula. Lucca was quickly hailed as “Charleston’s Best New Restaurant,” by Charleston City Paper and was a semi-finalist for “Best New Restaurant,” in the 2009 James Beard Awards. The modestly priced, Trattoria Lucca showcases lowcountry fish and produce prepared with an Italian influence, along with imported Italian cheese, (earning him “Best Cheese Plate” from Charleston City Paper), sausage, olive oil, Italian wines, olives, and on-site baked Ciabatta. Sunday Family Style Suppers are offered (and typically sold out) in two seatings each week.

Vedrinski’s Italian treks have inspired his next gastronomic vision: Introdacqua, named for his mother’s native soil in the Southern Italy region of Abruzzo. Introdacqua (within waters), like its namesake, will be located on the peninsula, between two bodies of water – in this case, the Ashley and the Cooper Rivers. The Italian seafood eatery will open in February 2010 at the Cigar Factory on East Bay Street in Charleston. (…he [will] combines an Italian sensibility with Lowcountry ideas to make modern dishes like piccata of grouper with a spicy blue-crab marinara” Gourmet Magazine.)

In the meantime, Vedrinski has his eye, his hands and his heart tied up in his love of Lucca – the olive oil and the Trattoria.