Dawn Walker – Chef

The restaurant business and food is in Dawn Walker’s blood.  Her father worked for S.E. Rykoff (now U.S. Foods) most of her childhood and went on to master distribute Famous Amos Cookies.  Growing up, the experiences she remember most were riding with her father on his runs in Malibu, Pasadena or Beverly Hills.  She could small talk with the head chefs in some of the top restaurants of the day. She ate her way through hospital commissaries, retirement home kitchens, dormitories and cafés.  Dawn’s dad helped her get her first waitressing job at Coco’s when she was in high school.  She worked in restaurants (Marie Callenders and Cheesecake Factory) until she graduated California State University, Northridge with a B.A. in Communications and went to work for Rykoff-Sexton herself, selling food and equipment to the industry in Philadelphia.  She stayed at Rykoff a year until she was lured away to the insurance industry.  After  eight years in the insurance industry, and after she got married and had children, she realized that she missed the restaurant industry.  Her husband, Air Traffic Controller Dan and Dawn took many culinary vacations and Dawn finally graduated from Westlake Culinary Institutes’ Certificate Program.  During the program, after doing several demonstrations for class, Dawn’s teacher and Chef Cecilia DeCastro, suggested that she teach.  Dawn and Dan redesigned the kitchen so that she could teach cooking classes out of her home.  Dawn now consults and organizes large events.  She still teaches private classes for adults and kids and holds private cooking parties in her home in Stevenson Ranch.   Her newest and most successful culinary adventure is Dawn’s Dinners.  Chef Dawn prepares fresh dinners for families in the Santa Clarita Valley.  Chef Dawn also offers fresh frozen meals, complete with reheating instructions, ready to take home and defrost.   Not only do families get healthy home-style cooked meals, but the meals are usually only $22 for four people and $28 for six!  Surf over to Chef Dawn’s website www.chefdawn.comwhere you can see what is on the menu for dinner tonight.  When Chef Dawn is not cooking, which is rare, she enjoys spending time and camping with her amazing husband, four daughters, Truffles the dog and Puff and Custard, the dragons.  Dawn volunteers much of her free time to her kids’ school, SCVi Charter School, Hadassah, Temple Beth Ami and Girl Scouts.  Dawn is also a Licensed Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser and Notary Public.

Contact information for Dawn:
http://chefdawn.com/  
661-803-2166