Sundown Chef Patrick Stark Talks Sourcing Locally and Scorching Hot Pans

Lauren Drewes Daniels March 21, 2012 10:01AM

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Originally from Akron, Ohio, Patrick Stark, chef at Sundown at Granada, enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America fresh out of high school at 17 years of age, partially because he just wanted the get the hell outta town. He's worked throughout the United States, a few spots in Europe and had a two-year stint in Mexico. After serving as a private chef in Dallas, he's now loving his new gig at Sundown and, more than anything, his new band.

So you enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America at 17. That's pretty young. My dad wouldn't let me graduate from high school early unless I had a career in mind.

Why such a rush to get out of high school? Minimal overhead and the food is great. I just hated high school. I really didn't connect to that mindset much. I graduated with honors and all that, but I was a punk kid. I quit sports my freshman year and joined a band. My older brother was constantly on me to not get stuck in the town.

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Lauren Drewes Daniels is the Dallas Observer's food editor. She started writing about local restaurants, chefs, beer and kouign-amanns in 2011. She's driven through two dirt devils and is certain they were both some type of cosmic force.

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