St. Petersburg chef and restaurant owner Ted Dorsey, 43, died Thursday. He had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in April.<\/p>\n
In early August, Dorsey \u2013 known around town as Chef Ted \u2013 closed the Sunshine City Tavern, his \u201chomage to 1990s St. Petersburg,\u201d after his ongoing medical treatments left him too weak to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was my dream, my vision,\u201d he told the Catalyst at the time, \u201cand it\u2019s one of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever had to do, one of the hardest choice I\u2019ve ever had to make, to shut it down. Because my legacy was to leave this to my children. That clearly isn\u2019t going to happen now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorsey\u2019s son and daughter, ages 8 and 11, lived with him five days a week. \u201cNow my focus is, how long can I be around for my children?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe account opened by Dorsey\u2019s sister raised more than $50,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cTed was a great talent in the kitchen,\u201d friend and fellow restauranteur Mario Farias said Thursday. \u201cAlways looking for the next great meal in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the thing I\u2019ll always remember about Ted was, no matter how busy he was, or what kind of day he had, he would see me and this big grin would come across his face, like he knew he was keeping a secret. I just loved that part about him. And he\u2019d give me a big bear hug.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Atlanta, Dorsey grew up in Clearwater and Tampa, the son of a longtime restaurant owner. He graduated from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, which had a Hillsborough County campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was front of the house my whole life, so I didn\u2019t really have any desire or passion to be a chef,\u201d Dorsey said in a 2023 Catalyst interview. \u201cI thought, go to culinary school, have a better understanding of the back of the house and how it functions, and costs, how it works and how to make money \u2026 but not to be a chef.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point, I guess I wanted to follow in my parents\u2019 footsteps and be an entrepreneur. I figured I needed to know all aspects of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
To his surprise, he loved cooking and planning menus. After making his reputation in Hillsborough restaurants including Ciro\u2019s Speakeasy & Supper Club, Boca Kitchen Bar & Market and Copperfish, he became executive chef at Castile, the restaurant inside St. Pete Beach\u2019s Hotel Zamora.<\/p>\n
Between 2015 and 2023, Dorsey was co-owner and executive chef at the popular downtown St. Pete eatery The Mill. He spent six months running the kitchen at The Club on Treasure Island; venue owner Bill Edwards then named Dorsey executive chef at Sonata, the fine dining restaurant inside the Edwards-managed Mahaffey Theater.<\/p>\n
He resigned in 2024 to open (with business partner Teddy Skiadotis) Sunshine City Tavern.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the lightbulb moment is when you have the first taste of success in any business,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously that\u2019s different for everybody \u2013 Derek Jeter\u2019s lightbulb moment was when he was 12! Mine just came much later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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