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Chef Showdown: Ian Crandall
Ian Crandall - Chef Bio
Ian Crandall didn’t know he had a future as a chef and restaurateur when he graduated from St. Mary’s College magna cum laude in 1994, but he knew he had entrepreneurship in his blood. Growing up in Gaithersburg, MD, Ian watched his parents run several successful wine & beer shops. Equipped with degree in economics, Ian decided to take his education in a new direction and enrolled in L’Academie de Cuisine, a renowned French culinary school near his hometown.
After completing the 2-year professional culinary arts program, he quickly entered the restaurant world in Washington, DC. Ian found his home at Café Deluxe, a bustling French-style bistro near the Washington Cathedral, where, over the next 11 years, he worked his way up from prep cook to executive chef. When asked to help design and run kitchens for two additional Café Deluxe locations, Ian knew the experience would prepare him well for his own future endeavors.
It was a chance meeting with Matt DiSabatino, owner of Striper Bites restaurant in Lewes, DE, that sparked Ian’s entrepreneurial spirit and started his next culinary adventure. Ian and Matt quickly found that they shared a passion for food, wine & hospitality, and that became the basis of a strong business partnership. So in the Fall of 2006, Ian and his wife, Joanna, packed up their house and two dogs made the move from the big city to the Delaware shore.
2007 was busy year for the couple. Together with Matt and his wife, Ali, they opened two restaurants in the Lewes area in one year—Half Full in January and Kindle in July. At Half Full, Ian and Joanna designed a menu of unique, rustic pizzas to accompany a small but stellar wine & beer selection. As executive chef of Kindle, Ian has taken comfort food to a new level. There he executes a seasonal American menu that uses traditional French methods (a nod to his training at L’Academie) but focuses on simple presentation that is true to the ingredients. His perfect meal is a nice hanger steak, sautéed exotic mushrooms and a good Rhone red.