Chef Dave Rawson

Chef Dave Rawson started his career at Meijer, where he was a backer.  He attended Sinclair’s culinary program and then started working at The Winds in Yellow Springs, where he met his wife Robin, who also worked in the kitchen.  It was also there he met Elizabeth Wiley, who eventually left to open The Meadowark in 2004.  In 2006 Rawson was hired on as her kitchen manager and he’s been there since then.  Wiley describes Dave as, “solid, feet-on-the-ground, creative and hard-working, a good communicator and fantastic cook. To watch him make risotto, or ratatouille is poetic.” Wiley sold Wheat Penny and Meadowlark in 2022 to her long time  business partners and friends, Chefs Dave Rawson and Liz Valenti

What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?

Peppers! I love them. Sweet, hot, fresh, dried, smoked, grilled on a bratwurst, ground into romesco, simmered in ratatouille. I feel they don’t get enough credit.

What ingredient do you dread?

This is a hard one. Ingredients or methods that take extra care or are difficult or monotonous to prepare are more of a challenge than a dislike for me. I’ll go with an ingredient that I don’t like to eat, which there are few, liver.

What’s your favorite dish to make?

Ratatouille. My Chef at the Winds, Kim Korkan, showed me how to make it years ago. It’s such a beautiful combination of summer vegetables, all of which can grow in Ohio. (and in talking with him this will probably appear on the menu next week).

What’s your favorite pig out food?

Chef Dave cooking down tart cherries

There are too many! I would have to say ice cream if made to choose.

What restaurant, other than your own, do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley?

Another tricky one. Chefs tend to keep similar hours, so most are closed at the same time as Meadowlark. The list is long though. Dayton has quite a few stellar restaurants.

What’s your best advice for home chefs?

Just like anything else, practice. Take advantage of today’s technology and watch cooking shows, get some cookbooks, take some cooking classes, become familiar with your tools. Keep at it and continue to build off what you know. Call the Meadowlark and ask me questions!

If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party, who would they be and why?

I’m taking the liberty of adding “living or dead” to this question.

1. My grandmother. She was a good cook, and she taught my mother to cook. She never got to see me do this, and I think she would be “tickled pink” as she would say.
2. My mother. She was a good cook and taught me the excitement of trying new things.
3. My wife. What point would there be of having a dinner party without Robin there? Besides, she’s a better cook than me.
4. My mother in-law. She and my mother didn’t get to spend enough time together and she’s an awesome lady!

Wiley & Dave

Who do you look up to in the industry and why?

I’ll go with people I know as opposed to famous (or not so famous) chefs. Elizabeth Wiley, Kim Korkan and Mary Kay Smith. They helped form my approach to cooking and the business side of cooking. The main lesson is you must really care about your ingredients, your customers and your staff.

What do you do in the Miami Valley on a day off?

As little as possible! But in all seriousness, hanging out with my wife, our dogs, and our friends, which doesn’t happen enough!

Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story:

As you know, the restaurant business can be very volatile. Although I had been a baker for many years, I was relatively new to professional cooking when I found myself, only nine months into my first restaurant job, being promoted to kitchen manager. I think my bosses at the time thought that since I seemed to be fairly responsible and eager to learn, that they would teach me as we went along. I think it turned out all right.

Meadowlark