Dante is Turning ‘Taste of the Shoreline’ into a Foodie Phenomenon
When Andrea Dante signed on last year to help turn Taste of the Shoreline into a foodie phenomenon, she knew what participating chefs were thinking.
“Listen, we’re restaurants, this is what we do. It should be about taste; it should be about food; it should be about small plates, and tasting everybody’s dishes—not one giant plate of food,” says Andrea, executive chef of The Marketplace at Guilford Food Center. “It should be an opportunity to do something you, as a culinary professional, want to showcase and highlight, something you may or may not have in your restaurant. It should be an opportunity to be able to have fun, and be creative, and think outside the box.”
Andrea’s philosophy has flipped the script on an annual event that needed some juice, says Shoreline Chamber of Commerce (SCC) Event Director Michele Call. Now, the proof is in the pudding—every restaurant that participated last year (save for one no longer in business) will return to participate in SCC’s Taste of the Shoreline 2017, coming Sunday, Aug. 20, from noon to 5 p.m. on the Guilford Green.
“We really needed that connection to a restaurant that was passionate about the event,” says Call. “As a Chamber, we can execute, but for us to know what the inner workings of a real event for a restaurant base would look like, we don’t have that bandwidth. So the partnership with Andrea and the Marketplace has been great, because they have the knowledge that this is what it should look like.”
The Marketplace at Guilford Food Center, together with The Russell Hall Company, are the event’s presenting sponsors. In addition to bringing in more than 20 shoreline area restaurants to the Green, Taste of the Shoreline will feature chef demos from 1 to 4 p.m., raffle prizes, and live DJ entertainment from John “Cadillac” Saville. Then, at 6 p.m., Guilford Parks & Recreation brings in a free summer concert featuring Magic of Motown, with costumed performers delivering memorable dance moves and chart-topping harmonies.
“We love John Saville, we’re so glad he’s back again, and then the concert is right after, which just makes it a really great day,” says Andrea. “There are other food events around Connecticut, but we’re trying to build up to be one of the big ones...In five years, we want to be the biggest and best food festival in Connecticut.”
As a Guilford native whose culinary calling took her to train at the French Culinary Institute in New York City and live abroad in France, Andrea says she couldn’t be happier to have found her niche back in her hometown. She started off here running her own Guilford business, the Mad Gourmet, which was how she first became involved in Taste of the Shoreline. Back then, things were a bit different—including the event location, which was at the Guilford Fairgrounds.
“Five years ago, I did Taste of the Shoreline and that’s how I became close with Michele Call. It was off the Green, and we saw it was dwindling, and we wanted to make it better,” says Andrea. “Our goal was to bring it back to the Green, bring in some great restaurants, and really focus on the food. We really wanted to make it about the restaurants and have the culinary face of the community—people not just from Guilford, but from all across the shoreline, so people could come and see what we have to offer.”
At the time, Andrea had her hands full as a successful entrepreneur with a business that had a growing reputation. She credits her staff with helping her whip up incredible meals and menus that put her on the map as one of the shoreline’s top chefs. Two and a half years ago, the founders of The Marketplace at Guilford Food Center, located at 77 Whitfield Street, came calling at Andrea’s kitchen door at the back of the Whitfield Street shops. The rest, as they say, is history.
“They said, ‘Hey, we’re starting a new venture, do you want to join us?’” recalls Andrea. “And the great part about it is, I had this giant commercial kitchen across the street, and [the former Guilford Food Center, now The Marketplace] didn’t have that type of ability to produce out of its kitchen. So I’m still in the same kitchen that I built from the ground up with my staff I started with at Mad Gourmet; I’m just going back and forth across the street all the time! And now we’re also with everyone at the Marketplace. So we’re one big, crazy family—it’s really special.”
The opportunity was also serendipitous for Andrea, who is legally blind.
“Every day’s a challenge, but my staff is a great support system. They know how my eyes work, and we’re a great team,” she says. “For cooking, it helps, because my other senses are heightened. So when I listen to brown butter on the stove, if I don’t see the color, I can hear it popping and turning into brown butter, and I can smell it. Cooking is really sensory.”
Cooking wasn’t Andrea’s first career choice, but it was her love. After she graduated from Choate (Class of ‘98) and then Colgate, she was working on her master’s degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. when she decided to follow her heart.
“I was studying political science and went to George Washington and did some grad work down there, and then I told my parents I wanted to go to culinary school,” says Andrea. “I was so not into living and working in a cubical in D.C.! People were like, ‘Um, we’re not so sure you’re going to be able to work with knives!’ But I made it through.”
Andrea loves being the chef leading the culinary magic that is a big part of The Marketplace at Guilford Food Center. Another big part of the place is its sense of “community,” she says.
“This is a community. We are a place where people come to meet people, to spend time together, where families come together and people come for their business meetings,” she says.
Andrea is also glad to add her chef’s knowledge and restaurant savvy to help SCC create the best possible Taste of the Shoreline for the restaurant community and the community at large.
“It’s really great having all the restaurants come together, because we never get to network with each other, because we’re working like crazy all the time! We get a chance to be around each other, but not be in competition.”
At Taste the Shoreline, “We’re serving diverse, small bites, so people really can taste everything,” says Andrea. “And I’m so proud of what the Chamber has done, especially Michele—she’s brought this where it needed to be. Everybody seems excited, and people want to be involved. That just makes me happy and proud to be a part of the event.”