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At home, or at his Restaurant, The Sunray Grill, Chef Dana Deutsch begins each meal with a pair of scissors and a basket, trimming fresh herbs from around his yard. Even his young daughters know all the herbs by sight and smell, often collecting the fresh seasonings for him when he cooks at home. This love for the natural elements of cooking began while back packing through Europe. Dana took a job working for a small Inn and restaurant in Austria where just about everything used in the restaurant came from the family farm and surrounding mountainside, rather than a delivery truck.
Dana was fascinated with the restaurant business and in particular, this wholesome and natural way of collecting ingredients. Once he got back in the states, he found it was possible to recreate that experience while working in Aspen and ultimately in New Orleans where lives today with his wife and two young daughters. Before Katrina, Dana enjoyed two year's experience at the Grill Room inside New Orleans' famed Windsor Court Hotel before opening the Sunray Grill in 1996.
He's been serving his beach cuisine at three locations in the city and was among the first number of restaurants to return post Katrina…under some very tough circumstances. But the Sunray Grills bounced right back with the great city of New Orleans…giving each of them another great story to tell and a greater sense of history. It must feel good to be a part of the New Orleans "foodie" scene…and survive the critics and Katrina. Chef Dana Deutsch and his Sunray Grills have done both with great aplomb!
