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Executive Chef Chuck Chalfant prepares an “omelet to order” for Marianne Woodward. “I like my onions caramelized,” said Woodward, “so the omelet bar is a real treat for me.”

A new menu rolled out by Wesley Homes Executive Chef, Chuck Chalfant, is a testimony to his commitment to serve fresh food and elegant meal choices to residents of Wesley Homes, Des Moines campus. “Because I come from a fine dining background I try to stretch their palate without straying too far from the familiar,” said Chalfant.

How important is the quality and presentation of a tasty meal? You’ve heard the sentiment, “A good cook makes a house a home”. Cooking is the art most directly associated with giving comfort and expressing care.

“To make our meals especially nice, we offer a fresh egg omelet bar” at our breakfast buffet,” said Chalfant. “and we expanded the grill at night to include six different options for the residents to choose from. Our lunches and dinners are “plated” which Chalfant explained duplicates the ambience and table setting you would expect at a nice restaurant.

Chalfant’s new menu includes approximately 500 recipes in a four-week cycle. For example for lunch “We just added a grilled chicken breast on top of braised lentils and served with a curry mayonnaise sauce,” said Chalfant “We also have cherry spareribs; ribs braised in cherry mustard sauce, and of course our residents love soup so we have a lot of tasty soup recipes.”

Chalfant brings to Wesley Homes his years of experience as Saucier Chef at the Sea Tac Red Lion Hotel where he was in charge of the plush Maxi’s Restaurant Sunday Brunch, “a very exclusive and elegant brunch” recalls Chalfant, “I even did the ice carvings.”

By the time Chalfant was in his late 20’s he was both the head Saucier Chef preparing all the sauces for all three Red Lion restaurants and their Banquet Chef doing 15 million dollars a year in banquets.

Chalfant won critical acclaim in 2003 when, as chef for a fine dining restaurant “Goodfellas Steak House” in Lakewood, the restaurant was named #2 of the best new restaurants in the Puget Sound Area.

In 2007 Wesley Homes hired Chalfant as, “their first executive chef in 65 years of existence,” said Chalfant. Now the Lea Hill facility has its own Executive, Chef David Beall, so good cooking, professional preparation and elegant presentation has become a core identifying feature of the Wesley Homes company culture.

– Ilene Little for Wesley Homes

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Active Retirement Communities, General Info, Time to Retire?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.