Dylan Burkhart is the new head chef of the forthcoming Daisy Baker’s restaurant in Troy.
Courtesy of Dylan Burkhart
The third version of the Troy restaurant Daisy Baker’s, in a historic building at 33 Second St., is being readied for a December opening, 13 years after it closed because of a flood.
Paul Buckowski
Jim Scully revived Daisy Baker’s in 2000 and ran it until 2011. He owns the wine bar Bacchus in the basement of the building and has been planning Daisy Baker’s for a year. The organ pipes, left over from the room’s use as a Christian Science church, are decorative, not functional.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Veteran server Quang Tran is supervising front-of-house hiring, training and service for Daisy Baker’s.
Provided photo
TROY — The forthcoming revival of the beloved restaurant Daisy Baker’s has hired a new executive chef, Dylan Burkhart, as it prepares for a planned December opening.
Burkhart most recently held the same position at The Wild Horse in Saratoga Springs, which is co-owned by the managing partner of its sibling Spa City restaurants, Siro’s and Noah’s Italian, where Burkhart also held senior chef positions. He previously ran the kitchen for several years at Black & Blue Steak and Crab in Guilderland.
Article continues below this ad
The hiring was confirmed by Daisy Baker’s owner Jim Scully, who since 2008 has also owned the pizza-focused wine bar Bacchus Wood-Fired in the basement of the historic 1891 brownstone at 33 Second St., across from the Troy Music Hall.
“Dylan was the right fit,” Scully said. “He’s low-key and grounded, but he has the experience to put a newer twist on some of the Daisy Baker’s dishes we want to bring back.”
Scully hopes to debut the renewed Daisy Baker’s during Troy’s Victorian Stroll festival on Dec. 6, though regular dinner service may not start immediately in the following days. He originally brought back Daisy Baker’s in 2000, a dozen years after the first version closed. Scully sold the business in 2011, and it never recovered from a flood at the end of 2013.
While Burkhart was born, raised and lives in Troy, he’s never worked in a Collar City restaurant. He said he looks forward to the opportunity to help reintroduce a dining spot cherished by generations of residents and visitors.
Article continues below this ad
“There’s so much history to it,” Burkhart said. Referring to Scully, who is 36 years his senior, Burkhart said, “He wants me to bring back some of the classics, but with my more modern style.”
Among the dishes likely to be featured are togarashi-spiced tuna — so venerated that a visitor who happened to pop in during Burkhart’s interview with Scully lobbied for its return — and an entree with duck breast that Burkhart said he is already developing.
Burkhart has been tasked with filling the kitchen roster and said he expects to hear from or reach out to past colleagues once word spreads of his new position. After he left The Wild Horse following the end of this year’s track season, he said, “My phone was blowing up with people (saying), ‘Let me know where you go next. I want to work with you again.’”
Located in a dark-paneled, high-ceilinged room that for about 50 years was the sanctuary of a Christian Science church, complete with organ pipes, Daisy Baker’s was a political watering hole and dining destination starting in 1974. Legendary Troy raconteur and banker Harry Lee bought the building and launched Daisy Baker’s, naming it in part after a friend’s niece and in part after Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. The original version closed in 1988.
Article continues below this ad
Scully said he believes Daisy Baker’s 3.0 will be “a bridge from the past to the new generations” and will enjoy strong business from patrons of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which reopened with a busy schedule in December after an eight-month, $17.5 million renovation last year.
He said the clubby, Old World elegance of the room will be a showcase for Burkhart’s menu and an elevated cocktail program, given that the more casual Bacchus mostly focuses on wine and beer.
Front-of-house training and service is being led by industry veteran Quang Tran, whose resumé includes Michelin-starred restaurants in San Francisco, top spots in Albany and Saratoga, and the former Peck’s Arcade and his own Quang’s Vietnamese Bistro, both in Troy. Tran worked with Burkhart in Saratoga and recruited him for Daisy Baker’s, Burkhart said.
Article continues below this ad
“Downtown Troy was a great place to go out in the past, but the big difference is that so many people live here now,” Scully said last month. “And so many of them have no idea what this (Daisy Baker’s) room is like, (or) that it’s even here. People come in now and are like, ‘Wow! This is amazing!’”
Dining and Cooking