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The Best Recipe for Joy By Nancy Dewar
Although local restauranteur and chef Evan Hennessey has been creating award winning recipes for over 20 years, he discovered his own best recipe for joy in 2019 when he got his first rescue dog, Ellie. The restaurant business isn’t easy, and at age 42 Evan was experiencing the tolls of the industry plus struggling with alcohol abuse. At a low point Evan knew it was time to focus on himself instead of just his culinary success. He began journaling, confiding in good friends, rock climbing more, running a lot more…and found special Ellie, a two-year-old Australian Kelpie rescue from the South. “She is the sweetest girl in the world. By the nature of her breed, she loves and needs exercise. I wanted a dog that was active, could hike mountains with me and go on adventures with me. Well… everywhere with me. Ellie is that dog. She gives me what I give her; the best life possible.” Evan & Ellie
Evan is the chef/owner of Stages at One Washington in Dover which he founded in 2012. A Dover native, he fell into the restaurant industry as a dishwasher and prep cook at the age of 19 never imagining where it would lead. He attended the University of Kentucky for two years and did exceptionally well in fine art and math…and “really nothing else!” So, he headed home, got his first job in the industry at Newicks in Dover, spent time at other establishments including 3 ½ years at the Olive Garden and then attended the Le Cordon Bleu School at the Atlantic Culinary Institute (which was located in Dover at that time) where he graduated top of his class. “I started working at real restaurants after that,” Evan said with a chuckle. Locally, he was the chef at 43 Degrees North and The Dunaway Restaurant and worked at the One Hundred Club, all in Portsmouth. Evan then went to New York City where he worked at a number of Michelin starred restaurants including Per Se, acclaimed restauranteur Thomas Keller’s New York
interpretation of Napa’s well known The French Laundry. After a stint at Trio with Chef Grant Achatz in Chicago, Evan returned home to start his own venture. He said, “I’m not a city boy at all. I love this area, and we have everything we need here.”
Evan’s goal was to create a small tasting restaurant, but he felt that since it was a new concept to the area, it would be best to do it over time in stages; hence the name. “We started with monthly themed dinners, for example ‘the Titanic’ and ‘Julia Child.’ We did this for 1 ½ years, changing the menu and décor monthly. It was exhausting! Stage two was serving a 4-course prix-fixe menu along with a long 12-course tasting menu, and then we eventually evolved into offering our current 8-10 course tasting menu.”
The restaurant offers two seatings (for six) a night at the Kitchen Table, as they refer to it, as you’re literally in the kitchen as Evan and his small crew cook and serve you. “By
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doing the two small seatings, we removed the chaos from the restaurant and added closeness and intimacy to fine dining,” Evan explained. “As cooks and hospitality professionals, we want to enjoy our jobs and our guests. Stages is like going to a friend’s house for dinner. Fine food, excellent wine and lots of fun.” In June 2021 they added the Living Room. “What’s the room next to your kitchen? Again, developing in stages. The Living Rooms offers a small plate menu with great cocktails, mocktails and lots of fun board games.”
Stages serves “progressive New England Cuisine” with all ingredients coming from New England. Evan works with one farm that provides vegetables and dairy. Fish comes from a co-op in Portland and the meat is from a local farm that he established a breeding program with. They calculate the meat they’ll need for the coming year, determine the cost of raising and caring for the animals and then pay the farm monthly on a pro-rated basis so they’ll have the necessary cash flow.
