Hot Times Ahead: Stefy Devita Is Fired Up to Be Bar Dough's New Executive Chef

"I never want to stop learning," says Stefy Devita, who took on the first executive chef role of her career at Bar Dough in June. "There's so much to know, there's so much to learn, and that's always been something that's fueled my fire."

It's that passion for learning that led her to the culinary world in the first place. Born in Puerto Rico, Devita grew up in Tampa and went to college at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she studied music, played trombone in the marching band and worked in restaurants to support herself.

"Then, junior year, I was like, I don't want to play trombone for the rest of my life, but here I am," she recalls. She'd taken a food and ethics course that sparked an interest in sustainability, so she decided to switch to a broader humanities degree. Devita kept studying music history, but also loved "figuring out where my food came from and how it was raised sustainably and why it was sustainable."

After graduating, she moved to St. Petersburg and decided she ought to "get a real job," she remembers. "So I sold lawn care, and I hated it. I was making a lot of money, but I just found that I couldn't sit at a desk. I was studying menus as I was selling plants." So she decided to look into opportunities in the local culinary scene.

A culinary education

In late 2014, celebrity chef Michael Mina opened Locale Market and its upstairs counterpart, upscale restaurant FarmTable Kitchen (which was later rebranded as FarmTable Cucina and has since closed) in St. Pete. "It was this massive institution," Devita says. The lower-level market functioned like a food hall, and each station had a different theme as well as its own sous chef. "It was basically like a small school for me. I was on grill, but I talked to all the other chefs and really wanted to get to the upscale restaurant, so I worked my way up."

FarmTable Kitchen had a focus on farm-to-table fare, "which I was obviously very into with my educational background and everything I knew, and I wanted to immerse myself in it," Devita notes.

Once she landed a position at FarmTable, she thought her next move should be culinary school. "I remember one sous chef told me, 'You do not need to go to culinary school. Do not spend your money on culinary school. Stay here — look around, use your resources. Ask questions.'"

Which is exactly what she did. Over the next four years, she "soaked in every bit of information. It was the first time I made pasta; the first time I butchered a fish; the first time I butchered a cow; dry-aging. ... It was intense. It was twelve-hour days, balls-to-the-wall, go-go-go-go. I was obsessed with the rush of it, and I was surrounded by so many talented, knowledgeable chefs."

Moving to the Mile High

Eight years ago, Devita was ready to get out of Florida and head west when a few signs pointed directly to Denver. For one, she had a childhood friend who offered her a place to stay. She also knew she wanted to move to a city where "the food scene was growing and somehow interject myself into it and help it grow," she says. The Mile High fit the bill.

She was encouraged by the success of two local female chefs, as well: James Beard Award winner Jennifer Jasinski, founder of the Crafted Concepts group, and Carrie Baird, who was executive chef at Bar Dough at the time. "I knew that if I came to Denver, I wanted to work for a woman chef, because I was just surrounded by all these male chefs all the time," Devita recalls.

She'd learned about Jasinksi and her restaurant Rioja online, and "I studied it, I studied her. I had the whole menu memorized, and I emailed her," Devita says. To her surprise, Jasinski emailed back, offering Devita the opportunity to stage.

Devita was told about Baird by Joe Sasto, whom she worked with for a time in St. Petersburg. He'd just wrapped filming Top Chef season fifteen with Baird — though it hadn't aired yet, and no one knew both were contestants.

After packing her car and making a week-long family road trip out of the move with her dog and dad in tow, Devita arrived in Denver and went to Rioja for her stage the next day. That's when she learned that Jasinski's husband, Max MacKissock, had opened Bar Dough in LoHi and was a partner in its parent group, Culinary Creative — a quick lesson in how "small town" Denver can be.

She staged at the Italian eatery the day after that and ended up with a job offer from both spots. "That was the first time in my life when I was like, whoa, I get to choose," she remembers. "It was this big moment for me." Ultimately, she went with Bar Dough because "it was still young, it had just opened, was still discovering itself a little bit, and I just saw more opportunity to grow."

Rising to the top

In early 2020, just before the pandemic shut down indoor dining, Baird left Bar Dough to pursue a venture of her own. (She's since returned to the Culinary Creative Group and opened brunch restaurant Fox and the Hen last summer.)

At the time, Devita thought she'd be next in line for executive chef, but Russell Stippich stepped into the role instead. "It was a very emotional experience for me," she admits, recalling MacKissock laying out two options: Stay at Bar Dough to be chef de cuisine under Stippich or move to another Culinary Creative spot, Señor Bear, to be sous chef for Blake Edmunds. "'Do you want one sharp sword or multiple swords?'" Devita remembers MacKissock asking her.

She decided she did have more swords to collect, so she took the gig at Señor Bear, where she delved into Latin fare and reconnected with her Puerto Rican roots. "It was like my reboot," she says.

But after two years, she began feeling burned out and frustrated. She'd stepped into more of a support role for the team, and with a lack of leadership above her in the kitchen, "I wasn't learning," she says. When she reached out to Culinary Creative founder Juan Padró about her concerns, he offered an unexpected opportunity: to go to Boston for a month to stage at award-winning chef Jamie Bissonnette's restaurants.

"I'd been feeling burned out for a minute and I'd let it fester," she admits. "It was definitely a moment where I was like, stick up for yourself, Stefy. Tell them what you want. They're not going to know what you want if you don't tell them. ... I was so nervous to have that conversation, but I'm so glad I did because it sparked a whole new chapter. Going to Boston made me grow a lot. It was a big leap."

When she returned, she jumped in to help at Bar Dough and its sister steakhouse, A5, while the Culinary Creative team worked to carve out a role for her as a trainer.

But then a new opportunity came up when Stippich decided to make a move: He recently opened Osteria Alberico with the Frasca Hospitality Group. With an open role to fill, MacKissock called Devita. "He said, 'I feel like you've collected a lot of swords. I think you're ready to be an executive chef, and I need one at Bar Dough,'" Devita remembers him telling her. "I, like, blacked out for a second. ... I really wanted to be a chef before I was thirty." But at 33, this was close enough, she jokes.

"When I say this is a full-circle moment for me, I can't mean that enough," she concludes. "It's awesome. It's a life goal, and I love it here. Now I get to really go into my next level, which is, who am I as a chef?"

Diners in Denver should be excited to find out the answer.

Q&A with Stefy Devita

Get to know more about chef Stefy Devita, including her go-to kitchen soundtrack (hint: She has a Blink-182 tattoo).

Westword: What can diners expect on the menu at Bar Dough as you make changes?

Stefy Devita: It's a slow process. ... I don't plan on being here a short amount of time, so I've got time. So it's definitely like, let's do this the right way. Bar Dough is a special place, and it always has been; it's just finding my voice and how I want to represent it, and that's not something you can rush. ... But my ultimate goal is to do Puerto Rican Italian food.

What do you remember about your first day at Bar Dough?

I was pretty nervous, and I walked on the line and chef Carrie was in the middle. She was playing "Africa," by Toto, and I was like, okay, I can get down with this. It was so her in that moment, and I was like, I think I can vibe with her.

What music do you like to listen to in the kitchen?

Shitty punk rock.

Favorite ingredient right now?

Tahini.

Most overrated ingredient?

Avocado.

One food you detest?

Licorice.

One food you can't live without?

Pizza.

What are your favorite restaurants in Denver?

Hop Alley, Cart-Driver and Pochito's Tortilla Factory.

What do you think Denver's dining scene does well?

The amount of diversity. There's a lot of creativity and openness to concepts.

What can be improved?

Diners should be more open and willing to explore food.

How has being both Latina and part of the LGBTQ community played a role in your culinary career?

You have to have a thick skin, for sure. You have to be very self-aware of who you are and what you represent, and not be scared to be yourself. ... I'm very proud of who I am, and I want other people to see that. Being a female lesbian Latina chef, I want other people to see that and know that they can get there, too. It doesn't matter how different you are, you can 100 percent chase your dream and get there.

Memorable advice you've gotten from another chef?

Never throw away any of your notebooks or anything you write. I have like 15 to 25 little memo books filled. ... Now I'm going through all of them and writing all the recipes and when it was and how it made me feel. The goal is to, hopefully, write a book one day.

What advice would you give to a chef just starting their career?

Ask questions, listen, be patient, and be ready to work.

Bar Dough is hosting Chef Stefy & Friends, a five-course dinner celebrating its new executive chef, on September 24 with food from former Bar Dough chef Carrie Baird, Ash'Kara chef Reggie Dotson and Fox and the Hen chef Zak Stensland. Tickets are $85 per person and can be purchased via OpenTable. An optional wine pairing is available for $55 and the non-alcoholic beverage pairing option is $45.