As Roanoke emerges into its “new normal,” the Star City is strong, resilient, and ready for what’s next – home to a diverse set entrepreneurs, creatives and community-builders from around the world … and right down the road. In each installment of our blog series, you’ll meet a new face who’ll share their spin on the Star City – their favorite places to eat, drink, connect or get inspired.
Courtesy Chef Gabor Bede
Chef Bede is pictured here with his son, Gabor “Chris” Bede, at a wedding last year. The two cooked side-by-side in the family catering business for years.
Chef Gabor Bede has a certain knack for attracting adventure and landing on his feet.
A diminutive man with salt-and-pepper hair, Gabor has been a longtime fixture at the Greenbrier Nurseries farmers market, where he sells traditional Hungarian favorites like goulash, stuffed cabbage rolls and chicken paprikash “with the little dumplings,” as he likes to say with a big grin. He’s personable, even chatty, coaxing customers to try an extra side or strudel.
If this seems like a simple life – and it is – don’t be fooled: Chef Gabor has seen his share of sharp left turns.
Courtesy Chef Gabor Bede
Chef Bede was freshly arrived in New York when this photo was snapped at the Hungarian Rendezvous in 1975.
“I’ve been so many places,” he says. “I [came] from Hungary. They dropped me off in New York. Then I’ve been in California, Florida, so I learned from a lot of people… Everything turns out for the best.”
Gabor is fond of telling his American origin story. In the early 1970s, arriving in the Big Apple in the middle of winter, the 20-year-old chef started his new life with his hotel fees paid and just $5 in his pocket. “I got a Hungarian-English dictionary, a couple loaves of bread and some eggs,” he remembers.
Luckily, his hard-earned cooking skills landed him in a job at “a little place called The Hungarian Rendezvous,” he says. The owner, “picked me up, basically – invited me into his family. It was wonderful.”
After restaurant stints in California, in Miami nightclubs and in high-end South Florida hotels, Gabor met his wife, Dolly, and the couple started a family. Together, they decided it was time for a shift. They picked Southwest Virginia at random, and Gabor was soon working as the first chef aboard the Virginia Dare on Smith Mountain Lake.
These days, Gabor finds himself in a slower, simpler life, sharing his gifts in the family catering business and at local markets. He takes special joy in making his cooking affordable for all.
“In my belief, you don’t have to be rich to eat gourmet,” Gabor says. He focuses on simple dishes with fresh ingredients, and he never uses a recipe. “The older-generation chefs … we used to do it for fun… There’s nothing better than working with fresh products, fresh herbs. It’s just like [if] you’re a painter or an artist, you play with the colors. In this case, the cooks, chefs, they play with the flavors.”
Courtesy Chef Gabor Bede
Chef Gabor Bede has been a longtime favorite at the Farm to Table Market in South County. He currently sells pre-prepared take-away dishes.
Here’s what this lake-area resident has to say about his favorite places to eat, connect, and stay creative.
Q: As Roanoke begins to adapt to new rhythms, you’re probably excited to get back to a few special spots. What’s a restaurant or two you look forward to visiting again?
GB: Carlos, absolutely… I’m the worst person to go out to eat with; I want so simple, my steak medium-rare … I want the waiter to know how to open a bottle of wine, how to serve by the book. I get goosebumps just talking about it! … It’s hard to find places like that.
Q: How about a great take-out spot?
GB: The Copper Kettle … We buy it, sit down at the lake … They have a large area and a beautiful view.
Q: Connecting with others has been a challenge in these past few months, but it’s been fun to see so many local community organizations and arts venues building online spaces to gather, hear great music, view great art and connect with others. Are there any you’ve enjoyed?
GB: We Shop Local SML … It’s a community, all buying stuff from each other, supporting each other… They started it about six months ago, and they’ve been doing really, really well.
Q: Where do you go locally to feel creative and inspired?
GB: Anything on the lake!
Q: Do you have any best-kept secrets – great places other Roanokers may not have discovered yet?
GB: There’s a hotdog place on 40 … going to Ferrum on the right-hand side, Bowling’s. They sell nothing but hotdogs, the old-fashioned pink hotdogs… Good people! … [And] Boone’s Country Store on 116 … The bread, the sweet rolls are just awesome … They do everything the old-fashioned way.
Q: Is there anyone locally who’s inspiring you to hustle harder, learn and grow?
GB: I really think a lot of the LEAP Program [Local Environmental Agriculture Project] … What they’re doing, they’re just wonderful people and a wonderful community … It comes back to my point: anybody can have good, decent food if they want.
Q: It’s been a challenging season … What’s something that’s encouraging you lately?
GB: My customers … When you see the people, they come out and they thank you for the meal or just chat … all of this, food and fellowship, it’s a good connection.
To find out what Chef Gabor is dishing up next, follow Back2Basics Cooking on Facebook, or visit him at the Grandin or Greenbrier Nurseries farmers markets.
Stay tuned for our next installment of Roanoke According To …
About the Writer:
Ashley Wilson Fellers is a writer, educator, self-taught painter and contemplative photographer in Roanoke, Virginia. When she isn’t teaching writing at Virginia Western, she snaps photos of sidewalk cracks, rescues wet leaves from windshield wipers and leaves poems hidden under park benches. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Tech.