Shawn Doyle
Owner & Executive Chef
When you start talking to the affable Shawn Doyle about something specific in the food world, prepare to be happily sidetracked. That derailment may include talking with him and his sous chef/chef de cuisine, Sean Rainey, about the challenges of accommodating diners with allergies; please tell any chef ahead of time so they can happily prepare something lovely for you. Or it’s a highly nuanced conversation about sustainable seafood and fish, and his choices of Chilean sea bass and Jail Island salmon. Or why he opts to buy from a pork farm that’s in northern Virginia “when we live in Pennsylvania, for crying out loud.” (It’s really good and happens to be the same farm esteemed chef Thomas Keller sources from.) Or why he won’t ever, ever, call himself a farm-to-table restaurant—more on that later. Once you indulge him and start to ask questions, you can begin to understand what makes him tick and how that translates into what appears on your beautifully prepared plate.
The way Doyle tells it, he walked into a restaurant 40 years ago—in his case, his uncle’s, to fill in for a dishwasher—and never left. The energy and rhythms of the restaurant world got a stranglehold on him, and that was that. And that passion translates into how he and his wife, Dorothy, who oversees much of the front of house matters, have been running Savory Grille for the past 20 years. It’s a modestly sized fine-dining restaurant that seats about 65, located in the carriage house of the historic Seisholtzville Hotel—smack-dab in the countryside. There’s nothing modest, however, about what comes out of that kitchen. Nor is there typically much modesty about the chef himself, but let’s be real here: Have you ever met a chef with a shrinking ego? It’s what propels them forward. In Doyle’s case, add some curiosity and what he calls a “very bipolar” approach to running a restaurant. “I’m concerned with getting the food on the plate and having it look beautiful—and what the guests think when the food arrives,” he says.
Savory’s an intimate spot and it’s designed, as best as it can given its historic footprint, to maximize the interaction between chef and diner. As the story goes, when Doyle worked at Brookside Country Club, he was so accustomed to people walking into his kitchen to communicate with him, it became his default modus operandi. Many chefs would be rankled by such interruptions, but that engagement provides an immediate feedback loop—of all kinds.
Unsurprisingly, people who opt for the Savory Grille come with a similar mindset: They want to engage with the people they’re dining with and enjoy a well-prepared meal. It’s partly why the restaurant has morphed into a “special occasion place,” as their recent Decadent Dish Award attests. “It wasn’t our goal to end up that way—we’d love people to come every week—but dining habits have changed,” he says. Translation: People are squeezed for time and there’s a lot of competition for diners. But they still want a very good meal and are willing to drive a little further and temporarily escape from their everyday stresses. “We don’t rush people by any means,” he says. Leisurely two-hour reservation windows are the norm, as the word “savory” works on a few levels here.
There’s certainly an argument to be made for visiting Savory Grille once a week, as that’s about how frequently Doyle changes the menu, sometimes more so depending on what types of ingredients come through the kitchen door. His location means access to farms is very easy, and it’s partially why people have often dubbed him a farm-to-table chef. It’s a fair but flawed assumption. “I love seasonality as much as the next person. I believe in it and get excited by it, because it changes what we’re cooking,” he says. “But I love global food. And unless you’re sourcing 90 to 95 percent of your food locally and using it all sustainably, it’s not really farm to table.”
What looks like an idiosyncratic mindset may actually be a bit of healthy resistance, as Doyle isn’t going to just blindly chase down what seems trendy. He’s a self-professed “carbohydrate junkie” who makes crusty bread (marble rye!) for service and who lasted just a few days on a low-carb diet once. And low-fat anything is anathema to this (and admittedly many) chefs. Fat carries flavor.
While we were talking trends, I asked him if all his meat is cooked sous vide—typically a vacuum-sealed bag submerged in water for what amounts to a low, slow poach—and he said “No, not all of it.” Doyle was skeptical at first when that specific modernist technique became more widely popularized a few years ago. “I still like a good char,” he says, as sous vide tends to be more hands off. Doyle is more about careful implementation of innovations—it has to serve the food and, ideally, not cost a fortune. (Being a chef owner means that’s always on your mind.) “I tell you what, though, I haven’t had a piece of meat come back as overcooked in three years,” he says, acknowledging that proteins prepared sous vide are incredibly moist and tender and consistently so.
Doyle is old-fashioned in many of the best, most classic ways, those that keep him keenly focused on taste, flavor, texture and how food should be served. The key to that? “I structure the plate in the window,” he explains. Partially, it’s a space constraint, but he believes hot food should be served hot; cold food, such as a salad, will be presented on a chilled plate. “People say, ‘I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve had a hot meal.’ It’s interesting feedback,” he says.
It’s easy to lose focus on the details if you are spread too thin. Some chefs globe-trot and work in marquee-named kitchens and fill up their resumes, or they hop from restaurant to restaurant for a while before they find a home. Or they open up many restaurants and create small empires. What’s unusual, though, is the chef who stays put in his own space, and manages to succeed for 20 years. It doesn’t happen by accident, nor does it happen easily, or without learning new things. When you are running your own restaurant, there’s little escape from that intensity; things move fast, and you have to adapt quickly. And it never stops. Doyle credits chef Steve Kershner, for example, whom he worked with years ago and who owns Twisted Olive in Bethlehem. “I learned so much from him,” says Doyle.
Plenty of chefs who are now holding down executive positions in other restaurants spent time in Savory’s kitchen. It has attracted and retains good employees; Christopher Padden, the first server to arrive in the early afternoon, is seasoned, having managed the Glasbern Inn for ten years. Pastry chef Amanda Jacobs (aka AJ) has been working with him for 11 years. “Since she was 16,” Doyle says. Through those years, he’s become keenly aware that you learn not only from the people you work for, but those who help execute meals, day after day. It takes a certain kind of humility to admit that. (His gratitude-filled note on Facebook a few months ago tackles this more eloquently and in depth.)
As much as Doyle has fed his customers, he’s also nurtured himself by investing in his skills and his interest in food. He imparts that knowledge and energizes his staff with it, too. That is why Savory Grille continues to make its guests happy. He visits farms he wants to forge relationships with and asks them all the questions. He retains an appointment as the corporate chef for Indian Ridge Provisions, which provides him with access and insights into new and better products. He’s an active board member of the Lehigh Valley chapter of the American Culinary Federation, and is involved in advisory committee/board programs at both Northampton Community College and Lehigh Career and Technical Institute. He’s always
interested in exploring new restaurants, wines or foods—and were it not for the excessively rainy summer that delayed construction, he’s been anxious to get his greenhouse going. It’s all part of his engagement with his craft and community.
“Shawn effortlessly layers 40 years of experience onto each dish with the flavors and textures,” says Padden. “We can feel it and see it and taste it, but he doesn’t see it the way we do. It’s just second nature to him.”
Woe to the chef who stops being inquisitive about food; it cannot be concealed to the diner. Rest assured, you’ll never taste boredom in Shawn Doyle’s food.
Savory Grille
2934 Seisholtzville Rd., Macungie | 610.845.2010 | savorygrille.com
Hours
Wed.–Sat.: 4:30–10 p.m.; Sun.: 1–8 p.m.
Payment
Visa, MasterCard, American Express
Parking
Lot on premises
Reservations
Recommended, especially for weekends
What to Order
It’s tough to tell you what to order, because Doyle is always changing the menu. Let the seasons be your guide. If it’s fall into winter, he’ll be braising. If it’s spring, look for dishes with lots of newly green things. And summer? Well, tomatoes are center stage, along with a summer corn and crab chowder. Seriously, though, Doyle says that there will always be sea scallops and duck on his menu because they are so beloved, and around nine entrees and seven to ten starters, “depending on what kind of mood I’m in that day.”
