Major changes in the meal plan are under way at TKE Beta-Pi. Under the guidance (or insistence) of John Reagan, the chapter has hired a chef and charged him with making being on the meal plan at TKE an outstanding benefit of membership.
Chef Hewins helps Undergraduates Learn how a Real Kitchen is Run
Participation in the meal plan is mandatory at TKE for several reasons. Dinners are the one time during the entire day when there’s a good chance you can see every other member of the Chapter and evening activities have long been organized around meeting for dinner. As well, the expense of having an employee is a large overhead cost for the collegiate organization and that cost needs to be spread over as many people as we can. On the other hand, since the meal plan is mandatory, food should be healthy and nutritious and cost-competitive.
After reviewing a large number of resumes, Reagan and a committee of undergrads invited several applicants to interview in person and offered the job to Steve Hewins.
Steve grew up in Dunwoody, Georgia and started cooking while he was in college. A stint at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead motivated him to pursue a formal culinary education at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After graduating, Steve worked for the Stars Restaurant in San Francisco where he helped open four restaurants.
Time in Europe followed after Steve met his future wife, Nunzia, an Italian native, on a flight to Atlanta. He learned the techniques of Italian cooking (and learned Italian) and eventually took an executive chef position at the Hotel Stephanie Bristol in Brussels, where he perfected his French. Chef Hewins was named one of the city’s 25 best chefs by Paris Match magazine, and he often cooked for the country’s Queen Paola.
His next stop was in Munich, Germany where he helped a hotel group build relationships with American culinary schools.
Italy called, however, and Steve and his wife finally realized their dream to open a restaurant of their own, which they did in Formia, on the coast halfway between Rome and Naples. There he worked long hours but he developed a love for the Italian life and cuisine that he keeps with him.
The Meal Plan is Popular with Summer Residents
After the birth of their son, Jordan, Steve and Nunzia felt it was important for him to grow up closer to his Georgia family so Steve took a job in Ponce, Puerto Rico at the Costa Caribe Golf and Country Club where he was part of the team that designed and opened Acqua Pazza, Costa Caribe’s flagship Italian restaurant. Within a year, Acqua Pazza was rated the number-two restaurant on the whole island and Hewins was featured in Great Chefs of Puerto Rico.
At last he returned to Georgia, when a new new Tuscan-inspired winery opened in Dahlonega. Chef Hewins was hired for the concept design and the Executive Chef position at Montaluce’s Le Vigne Ristorante.
And now Steve is the chef at TKE Beta-Pi where he is designing menus, cooking from scratch, teaching some of the undergraduates their way around the kitchen and raising expectations about food quality. We are thrilled to welcome him. He started a few weeks ago and is using the summer to figure out procedures and portions that will work when the larger part of the membership returns in the fall. An experienced kitchen designer, he has already rearranged almost everything that is movable in the kitchen. He has bowled over the undergraduates (and a few Board members) with his new take on fraternity house food–It ain’t Myrtle’s or Ozzie’s fare–and we are looking forward to working with him to set the standard for on-campus dining at Georgia Tech.
