by Pat Nowak
What makes a great chef? Obviously, it’s the love of cooking, which is what I found out when I visited 30-year-old Chef Wesley Wright, the new chef and general manager of Revolution Grille. His enthusiasm is infectious as he described his transition from civil engineering student to chef.
Wright grew up on a farm in Indiana before moving to Ohio. He graduated from Southview High School and enrolled in college. As he worked with a CAD program he realized that engineering was not in his future and turned his thoughts to something he had always enjoyed—cooking.
He enrolled in the Connecticut Culinary Institute near Hartford and began his new journey. After an externship on Fisher Island in New York he decided to come back to the Midwest to be near family and friends. His first job was cooking at the Village Inn in Sylvania.
Chef Mike Rosendaul hired him to join the Main Street Ventures restaurant chain and he spent several years at Ciao! Restaurant. He credits mentors Rosendaul, Terry Kretz and some of his culinary teachers for instilling in him a love of culinary artistry. When the opportunity presented itself at Revolution Grille, he jumped at the chance to perfect his techniques and show his abilities.
Wright loves to cook seasonally, creating dishes with cured and dried meats and rich hearty soups with root vegetables in the winter months, while delighting the palate with fabulous farmer’s market finds in summer. He recently became engaged and
I am sure his fiancée probably enjoys all those culinary delights.
His special recipe for Mature Living News:
Romesco Sauce
1 – Red bell pepper charred on the grill with skin removed and deseeded
1 – Roma tomato charred on the grill with the skin removed and deseeded
1/4 lb. toasted hazelnuts
1 TBSP. chopped garlic
1/4 cup of toasted bread
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp of sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a paste like  consistency. Use as needed and refrigerate leftovers.
Grilled Vegetables
2 oz. mushrooms
2 oz. cherry tomatoes
½ tsp Garlic
½ tsp Shallots
4 oz. French Green Beans
3 oz. corn
2 oz. chicken stock
½ tsp salt and pepper
Heat sauté pan with oil – add mushrooms and cook until soft. Add tomatoes,
 garlic, shallots, French green beans and sauté until soft. Add corn and chicken stock – sauté until corn is hot and add salt and pepper.
Redfish with romesco and grilled vegetables
Redfish is a North Atlantic Ocean perch – it is larger than Lake Erie perch but does have a similar taste, so Lake Erie perch can be substituted.
2 6-oz. Redfish, blackened and seared; finish in the oven for about
4-5 minutes. The Blackening Spice can be used for this and other recipes.
 1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp cayenne pepper
 Mix ingredients together and blacken the perch.
Place Romesco sauce on the bottom of the serving plate. Layer the grilled vegetables and place the Redfish on top…bon appetit!
