Kevin Dundon

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Kevin Dundon
Born Dublin
Residence Dunbrody, County Wexford
Nationality Irish
Education Dublin College of Catering
Occupation Chef
Employer Self-employed
Known for Heat, Guerrilla Gourmet, Dunbrody Country House Hotel
Spouse(s) Catherine
Children Emily, Sophie, Tom

Kevin Dundon is an award-winning[1] Irish celebrity chef, television personality and author, known for featuring on television series such as Guerrilla Gourmet and Heat. He is the author of the book, Full on Irish: Contemporary Creative Cooking and his recipes have been featured in publications such as the Sunday Tribune[2] and Weekend magazine in the Irish Independent.[3][4] He has also cooked for both a queen and both an Irish and a US President.[5]

Dundon is the owner of Dunbrody Country House Hotel, in County Wexford, which also houses the Dunbrody Cookery School, the "signature chef" of an "Irish gastropub" located in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and the "face" of Las Vegas's Nine Fine Irishmen New York-New York Hotel located restaurant. He has appeared many times on both Irish, British, Canadian and American television, including The Afternoon Show on RTÉ One, BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, UKTV's Great Food Live, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ESPN Cable and CBS's The Saturday Early Show.[5][6][7]

Career

Early career

Dundon was born in Dublin.[1] He worked on a scholarship in Switzerland after finishing school and completing a course at Dublin Institute of Technology, graduating in 1986.[5][6][7] He began his career by working in The Old Schoolhouse, a restaurant in Dublin.[5] He then had a job cooking on a cruise liner in the Caribbean before furthering his career by spending eight years at the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in Canada, at the age of twenty-two becoming the youngest ever executive head chef in the company's history.[6] Dundon returned to Ireland in 1994 and was named the executive chef at Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel.[6] He opened Dunbrody at the age of thirty, four years after this.[6]

Recent career

In May 2005, Dundon opened the Raglan Road Irish gastropub in Disney World, Florida.[7]

In 2006, Dundon published Full on Irish: Contemporary Creative Cooking, his first cookery book.[1] He began to feature regularly on The Afternoon Show.[8][9]

On 17 March 2007, he featured on CBS's The Saturday Early Show.[7]

In February 2008, Dundon featured in the first episode of Guerrilla Gourmet, a television series which had six professional chefs attempt to set up their own temporary restaurant in an unusual location.[8][9] He established his restaurant in Saint Saviour's Boxing Club in Ballybeg in the middle of Waterford.[8][9] Four of the fifty members of the boxing club prepare the food, including pigeon and tomato and poitín soup,[10][11] in the temporary kitchen.[8][9]

In March 2008, he opened his second American restaurant in Kansas City.[3]

In July 2008, the reality television series, Heat, was launched. Two series of the programme have been produced, with Dundon taking on rival chef Kevin Thornton in each.[12] He was Heat Champion in the first series but lost the second series to Thornton.[13][14]

In April 2009, he helped launch the outdoor Taste of Dublin festival alongside fellow chef Thornton.[15] Dundon also demonstrated his cookery skills at Dungarvan Town Hall in County Waterford as part of the second annual Waterford Festival of Food in April 2009.[16]

Celebrity clients

Dunbrody has been visited by U2 frontman Bono, President of Ireland Mary McAleese and BBC television personality and actor Graham Norton.[6] Dundon has also cooked for monarchs and presidents, including Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and former US President, George W. Bush.[5]

Awards

Dunbrody has been awarded Restaurant of the Year thrice, in 2004, 2005 and 2006.[5]

Personal life

Dundon is married to Catherine O'Shea Dundon and the couple have three children: Emily, Sophie and Tom.[3] Dundon and his family moved into their third Irish home, a new 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) house in Dunbrody, in March 2008 after three years waiting for it to be built.[3] Dundon, wife and daughters had previously lived "over the shop" in Dunbrody, in a thatched cottage in Kilmore Quay, County Wexford, and in Beggar's Bush in Dublin when Dundon was executive chef at the Shelbourne Hotel.[3] His favourite room in his current house is the kitchen.[3]

Dundon has "a huge passion" for architecture.[3] He collects Architectural Digest and is always reading architectural magazines on aeroplanes.[3] His favourite television programmes include Prison Break and CSI.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Full on Irish: Creative Contemporary Cooking by Kevin Dundon". RTÉ. 27 March 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  2. ↑ "Kevin Dundon – Sunday lunch for 6". Sunday Tribune. 8 March 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 "House that Kevin built". Irish Independent. 8 March 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Sweet memories". Irish Independent. 26 April 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "HEAT – Kevin Dundon and Kevin Thornton". RTÉ. Accessed 25 April 2009.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "Speaker Solutions". Speaker Solutions. Accessed 25 April 2009.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "St. Paddy's on a Shoestring". CBS. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Guerrilla Gourmet hits the ring". The Munster Express. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Programme 1". RTÉ. Accessed 25 April 2009.
  10. ↑ "Pan Fried Breast of Pigeon ". RTÉ. Accessed 25 April 2009.
  11. ↑ "Tomato and Poitin Soup". RTÉ. Accessed 25 April 2009.
  12. ↑ "Programme 8: Heat Final". RTÉ. Accessed 25 April 2009.
  13. ↑ "Stars of The Day". RTÉ Guide. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2009. 
  14. ↑ "Trevor Thornton (Team Thornton)". RTÉ. Accessed 24 April 2009.
  15. ↑ "Ditch the bad pizza for fine dining say top gourmet chefs". Irish Independent. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 
  16. ↑ "Waterford Festival of Food attracts over 8,000 visitors". Irish Independent. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009. 

External links

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