Indigenious Steven Phelps

A husband, fisherman and musician, Chef Steve Phelps began cooking at the age of 13 at his uncle’s restaurant in Ohio. Realizing it was
both fun and lucrative, he worked his way up through a series of jobs.

Over the years he eventually earned an opportunity to be the sous-chef at Hyde Park's flagship steakhouse. Phelps credits this time as an intensive ‘school of hard knocks’ -style education in the restaurant business. He thrived in the high pressure environment and was eventually given a chance to shine as executive chef at Cleveland’s top dining destination.

After seven years at Hyde Park, Phelps began working at
a place called Fat Cats in Cleveland’s Tremont area. He fell in with a great network of chefs, including Iron Chef Michael Symon, who inspired each other through friendly competition. 

In 2001, Phelps and his wife Kim moved to Sarasota so she could attend while he worked as a chef at several local restaurants.

He took over as chef at Canvas Café in 2007, propelling the hit restaurant until its unexpected close, and then moved to .

In spring 2011, Phelps began to pursue the opportunity to open his own restaurant, Indigenous, working with a talented group of professionals to realize his personal vision of a great local restaurant.

Phelps now embraces Sarasota and his newest venture in Towles Court (in the ), opening in September. This food writer can hardly wait. Phelps is a man of geniune passion and refreshingly leaves his ego at the door, makign him approachable and respected.

Patch: What does Indigenous mean to you and how has it molded you to the chef you have become?

Chef Steve Phelps: Indigenous is not just a restaurant — it's a feeling. When you dine here, you'll feel like you are nestled into the
perfect surrounding of real Florida. We focus as best as we can
on sourcing from within the state for all aspects of the restaurant.

I was magna cum laude in the "School of Hard Knocks" and Indigenous is custom made for our guests. I took the ingredients that proved successful from the restaurants I worked at before and added my own twist of using only perfectly executed techniques with carefully sourcing local, sustainable and seasonal ingredients whenever possible.

Patch: What famous chefs and culinarians have inspired you and who do you most relate to?

Phelps: Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Dan Barber at Blue Hill are my top two gurus. Dean Fearing was the chef that really got me kicked off into changed cuisines.

 But really it's a blender of all the chefs I've every worked with and those I've been inspired by. As a chef, I consider myself a mutt. I use a little bit of every style.

Patch: Do you have a secret junk food that you just can’t go without?

Phelps: Ice cream is my guilty pleasure. Any flavor. I like it all.

Patch: What are the challenges of being a chef in such a tropical climate?

Phelps: The number one challenge is the availability of produce in the summer, so so we try to source local but I have to be very resourceful, both with the menu and finding amazing ingredients from all over the country. 

Second, being a high-percentage outdoor-seating restaurant, the weather can hurt us, so we've built an additional dinning room inside the restaurant for when it is so hot.

Patch: If your food was related to a rock band - what band would that be and why?

Phelps: Beastie Boys because of the variety in what they do in their music. They always create something unexpected, and it makes you feel good. They're also very experimental and I do like to experiment in my cuisine quite a bit.