Article and photography by Fitz
Lead photo of Executive Chef Bryan Wegener in the Esoteric Kitchen
Six years ago, Bryan Wegener was doing nearly a year in jail in Virginia Beach for marijuana possession. These days, he is the executive chef at Esoteric, one of the best younger restaurants in the Vibe District of Virginia Beach. In a roundabout way, though he shouldn’t have been in jail for simply possessing a plant that continues to gain legalization, it did serve him well since it started him down the path to the chef he is today.
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As he explained to me while I visited with him in the Eso kitchen recently, “Oddly enough, I realized I truly liked to work with food in the jail’s kitchen.” Once Bryan got out, he started in the industry with a passion for learning, working at Burton’s Grille and then Eurasia (a restaurant his mother helped open).
WEGENER WORKING IN THE ESOTERIC KITCHEN
In 2015, Wegener landed the sous chef position at Esoteric under Chef Ian Hock. Before Hock and Esoteric parted ways, Wegener credits Hock with teaching him a lot about making pasta and hot sauce. Currently, during the off-season, Wegener is beginning to shape the menu more in his own vision. He’s a hungry and talented young chef who, if he makes food consistently as delicious as his sorghum glazed pork belly and tichon scallop with confit tomatoes and chives over Parmesan risotto, should soundly make the move from sous to executive.
SORGHUM GLAZED PORK BELLY | TICHAN SCALLOP | CONFIT TOMATO | CHIVES | PARMESAN RISOTTO by Wegener
For more on Wegener and Esoteric visit HERE
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