Meet the Chef: Jon Vaast of The Dressing Room

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of profiles on chefs at local restauraunts.

Most 24-year-olds aren't quite yet glutted with work responsibilities besides standard entry level drudgery. Many unwind from their work day by physically reminiscing about their college primes: a case of Natural Light, friends, and some chintzy sitcom on TV. They barhop on the weekends and chat on Facebook, all the while searching for their future spouses.

For Executive Chef Jon Vaast, life is quite different, and the blame can be shed on his early high school days.

"When I was younger, I had to get a job," he said. "My first job was in a restaurant." It was this dishwashing stint at Fairfield's Pazzo Pizza that intrigued him enough to pursue chefdom.

But, Vaast didn't grow up with a pan or wooden spoon in his hand.  Nor did he become executive chef of The Dressing Room by graduating first-in-class from an esteemed culinary institution or by travelling abroad, gleaning skills from Michelin-starred chefs. He did it with with patience, he did it homegrown.

Four years ago, Vaast joined The Dressing Room as garde manger chef, preparing the menu's cold dishes. It wasn't long  before he found himself feeling the licking flames at the stove, flipping pans on the sauté station and slinging pasture-fed beef on the grill. When he trumped those quick-fire positions, he stepped up another rung on the kitchen ladder and pulled the reigns as sous-chef.

This past May, Vaast pocketed the full set of keys to the kitchen and became executive chef. "The change was challenging, but most of what I had to know I learned as sous-chef," he said. "Now, it's just a lot of number crunching."

While the kitchen's heat may age a person faster, there's a youthful air still clinging to Vaast. He stands bespectacled with cutting, thoughtful blue eyes and a Van Goghian rust-hued beard. His chef garb consists of a pressed chef's coat, baggy jeans, and sneakers; a fusion of a mid 20-year-old's wardrobe and that of a professional chef. His culinary creations, however, are all mature.

Like a poet who has a notebook of poems, or an artist who has a compendium of sketches, Vaast also compiles his dish ideas in a book, most of which are seasonally inspired.

"Sometimes I'll sit down and an idea will pop into my head," said Vaast. "Other times I get inspired because I see all of the new season's produce I can get from the local purveyors."  

Not only does most of the produce come from local Connecticut farms, but a good amount is plucked straight from the home garden of The Dressing Room's owner and award-winning cookbook author, Michel Nichan. His half-acre garden is tilled to further Vaast's inspirations. It's as local as one can get.

"Michel asks me at the end of the season what produce I'll need for next year," said Vaast. "Right now they have zucchini, strawberries, swiss chard...I've already picked through all of their blackberries."

Besides this organic movement, it's the creativity that draws Vaast to the kitchen each day. But, he's not some abstractionist chef, he's practical about his craft. Given a  hypothetical mystery basket of Hudson Valley foie gras, blackberries, a bag of Skittles candy and a stocked pantry, Vaast opted out of creating an outlandish dish. "I can't serve Skittles. So, I'd eat them first and then sear the foie gras, and serve it with a blackberry jam."

While his new number-crunching duties as executive chef are many, his passion for creativity is greater. For now, his knife kit will stay open, a sauté pan will stay near by.

"I need to be behind the stove. I need to cook."

The Dressing Room

27 Powers Ct, Westport, CT 06880. www.dressingroomhomegrown.com

Reservations: (203) 226-1114 or online at www.opentable.com

Hours: Brunch, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Lunch, Wednesday to Friday 11:30a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner, Tuesday to Sunday, from 5 p.m.