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Photo by Talia Hodge
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Photo by Talia Hodge
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Photo by Talia Hodge
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Photo by Talia Hodge
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Photo by Talia Hodge
Todd Whitman knew his life was on the line. After his 2015 release from a two-year sentence at Lake Erie Correctional Institution, he spiraled out of control again — and overdosed.
“I’m like, I’m gonna die this way if I don’t change,” says Whitman, now the executive chef at Sérénité Restaurant & Culinary Institute in Medina.
Whitman, now a married father of eight, has intermittently served over five years in correctional institutions for charges such as driving under the influence. For around nine years, Whitman, his wife and his kids struggled with homelessness, couch surfing after numerous evictions.
In July 2015, he pleaded with his parole officer. “I said … You could keep locking me up,” he recalls. “The real problem is my alcoholism, addiction. Can you get me help?”
Whitman completed programs at the Community Assessment & Treatment Services center and Edwins Leadership & Restaurant Institute, in which formerly incarcerated adults receive culinary training. Edwins led to a line cook job under acclaimed chef Andrew Gorski at Parker’s Downtown, where Whitman cooked for LeBron James, Matthew McConaughey and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“It was really exciting, changing my life and devoting so much energy into food,” he says.
My Favorite Local Bite:
Cool Beans Cafe’s house medium roast coffee and breakfast sandwich
“I love their coffee and breakfast sandwiches,” says Todd Whitman, executive chef at Sérénité Restaurant & Culinary Institute. “I’m a big coffee drinker.”
In 2018, Whitman began working at Sérénité as a sous chef. Now the executive chef, he made the expensive French menu more approachable — with dishes such as chicken Marsala, cassoulet and a braised pulled pork sandwich for December. That month marks the debut of the restaurant’s pistachio-crusted Chilean sea bass ($60) as a regular menu item.
The dish starts with mixing emulsified, clarified butter with crushed pistachios to create a crust. The fish is baked in white wine, salt, pepper and olive oil. Whitman crafts a key lime beurre blanc by reducing white wine vinegar, shallots, lime zest and lime juice and emulsifying butter and cream into the mixture, separating out the shallots. It’s served with baked rice pilaf and blanched asparagus.
“It’s been a smash hit,” he says.
Sérénité hosts a six-month training program for those in recovery from addiction. The restaurant shares a property with the Recovery Center of Medina County and offers a 12-step program that Whitman established. He shares his story regularly, including at the Medina County Jail every six weeks. Several program graduates work at Sérénité, including Rick — its first student, he’s now Sérénité’s general manager.
“I get to help people. I’ve been in their shoes,” Whitman says. “It’s life-changing for students.”
Whitman has been sober for nine years. Asking for help saved his life — and cooking has been an immense motivator for his recovery.
“God put me in this position to be here for a reason,” he says. “Food is so exciting. It heals people.”
538 W. Liberty St., Medina. 330-952-2611, sereniterestaurant.com
My Favorite Local Bite:
Cool Beans Cafe’s house medium roast coffee and breakfast sandwich
“I love their coffee and breakfast sandwiches,” says Todd Whitman, executive chef at Sérénité Restaurant & Culinary Institute. “I’m a big coffee drinker.”
