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Restaurants House of Shields, Canteen, The Sentinel | ||
Dennis Leary is a restaurateur and chef based in San Francisco, California. Leary owns and operates six restaurant and drink businesses in the San Francisco area, along with a forty-acre farm in Capay Valley called Andromeda Farm. The six restaurants include Rx, Café Terminus, Natoma Cabana, Golden West, House of Shields, and the Sentinel.
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Early life
Dennis Leary began his professional culinary career at the age of 14 as a dishwasher at The Red Lion Inn in his hometown of Cohasset, Massachusetts. By the time he graduated high school he had moved on to become a line cook.
Leary attended Wheaton College (Massachusetts) and studied English literature. At Wheaton College (Massachusetts), he joined and graduated from the fraternity Phi Beta Kappa. While attending college, he worked at both Kimball's, also in Cohasset, and at the Parker House Hotel in Boston.
After college, Leary moved on to line cook positions at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale and at the Carmel Valley Ranch in California. It was then that Leary met Alain Rondelli, who hired him to work as pastry chef at his restaurant in San Francisco. A year later Dennis started at Drew Nieporent’s Rubicon as sous chef and became executive chef.
Career
In 2005, Dennis Leary started his own restaurant and bar called Canteen, as the sole chef and owner. The Canteen was an intimate 20-seat restaurant in the Commodore Hotel where Leary prepared nearly every dish in the restaurant.
Dennis Leary partnered with Eric Passetti and opened The Sentinel, a sandwich shop downtown San Francisco in 2008. Similar to The Sentinel, they united to open The Golden West that serves breakfast and lunch on weekdays.
During 2009, Leary and Passetti joined the bar business and opened House of Shields in SoMa. The House of Shields has been in existence since 1908. To keep tradition, the bar has no clock on premises, nor a T.V.
Throughout 2013 and 2014, Dennis Leary and Passetti opened up two restaurants in the San Francisco area, Terminus and the Trocadero Club (reopened as RxBar). Terminus serves breakfast, lunch and provides a catering service. Leary received the title of Empire Builder of the Year at the 2013 Eater Awards, with his partner Eric Passetti.
July 16, 2014, Leary opened up Natoma Cabana with partner Eric Passetti on Natoma St.. Natoma Cabana is set in a former blacksmith’s shop. The interior of the bar dates back to 1913. Leary commissioned local graffiti artist, Ian Ross, to design the front of Natoma Cabana.
Dennis Leary reopened the location of Trocadero Club as RX in November 2014. Rx is a craft cocktail bar in the Tenderloin. The name comes from the prohibition era, when a doctor’s prescription was one’s only way to legally access liquor.
Personal life
Dennis Leary bought a forty-acre parcel in Capay Valley called Andromeda Farm. On his property, Leary grows and roasts coffee beans to supply to his restaurants. Andromeda Farm produces vegetables, which can be found at Leary's establishments.
Awards
2001 - Rising Star Chef SF Chron
2005 - 10 best New Restaurants SF Chron
2009 - 50 best restaurants in US 2009: Bon Appetit
2013 – Eater Awards: Empire Builder
2014 – Eater Awards: Empire Builder