Business & Tech
Aaron Eldridge Runs the Kitchen at Dawson's Cafe and Family Restaurant
Get to know the people behind some of Bradenton's best eateries.
Name: Aaron Eldridge.
Title: Executive Chef/General Manager
Restaurant: Dawson’s Café and Family Restaurant, 7303 52nd Place East
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Contact Info: (941) 756-2233, www.dawsonscafe.com
Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Find out what's happening in Bradentonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Specialty: Down home Southern cooking that uses fresh local ingredients. I used to be a guide at the Yellowstone National Park in Montana, so I’m pretty a pretty decent campfire cook, too.
How long have you been cooking? About 14 years. I started cooking when I was 14. I hold Culinary Arts degrees from MCC and Le Cordon Bleu.
Do you cook at home? Yes.
What is your favorite comfort food? Fried chicken.
Other than your restaurant, where else do you like to eat? I have a ranch out east and don’t spend too much time in town when I’m not at work. There’s a new restaurant in Sarasota that I really love called Indigenous.
A message from Chef Aaron: My bottom line philosophy is that it is always simpler and cheaper to cook from scratch. I believe that it’s important to let food speak for itself. The best cooking advice I can give is to keep it simple.
Other information: We use as many fresh ingredients as possible at Dawson’s Café, and we get our produce locally at King Family Farms. The café opened on April 15th and at that point, we just got some paint on the walls and got the place running. We’re getting ready to do a big decorative overhaul and really pick up the atmosphere of the place, so be sure to come in and check it out soon.
