On a sunny Easter day, people in their Sunday best sit at an altar, with its richly colored stained glass, white marble angels, and Italian oil painting of Mary and Joseph presenting young Jesus to St. Simeon. Beneath the cathedral ceiling, with its pipe organ on the top floor and flickering candelabras on the first, everyone is gathered for a kind of kinship.

But this is dinner service, not a church service, inside Frederick’s Wye Oak Tavern, a deconsecrated church converted into a modern American tavern from brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. The church was once part of the Visitation Academy, a former convent and Catholic girls’ school now transformed into the Visitation Hotel Frederick, which opened last December.

Given that sharing, celebration, and community are at the heart of dining, it’s an apt metamorphosis for the 1852 historic church that has not been a place of prayer since 2016. The church theme décor is well-executed without being overwrought—the altar is now a well-stocked bar with a top-tier list of spirits including a selection of creative martinis (the aptly named Garden martini with its vegetal St. George Basil Eau de Vie Brandy was a standout); the nave is now a striking dining room with teal textiles and original stained glass by noted German craftsman Franz Mayer.

In the adjacent dining room, forest-green walls and an almost ghostly arboreal wallpaper are meant to invoke the restaurant’s namesake—at nearly 500 years, the Wye Oak in Talbot County was once the oldest white oak tree in the nation until it was felled by a summer storm in 2002.

The Voltaggios are, of course, Frederick’s celebrity chef brothers, who became household names after competing on Bravo’s Top Chef. Bryan famously came in second place to his younger brother on the cooking competition. With restaurants on both coasts, this is their fourth spot together, the first in their hometown—and their most exciting project to date.

Michael says that while they initially pursued their own projects, they’ve finally hit their stride as a team. “I drive a lot of the creative ideas and Bryan, who has an unrivaled work ethic and is one of the best technicians I’ve ever seen, brings them to life.”

As with many of their projects, the brothers’ bent is toward sourcing ingredients that are as sustainable, organic, and regionally rooted as possible. But unlike past projects, Bryan says, “We are less of a multi-course, big-commitment, celebratory experience and more of an everyday restaurant.” Everyday maybe, but hardly ordinary.

Wye Oak focuses on steaks—be it a filet mignon, a New York strip, a 45-day aged Roseda rib-eye, or a signature slow-roasted prime rib encrusted with garlic and mayonnaise and served with a lofty cheddar popover. (The protein is familiar territory, thanks to their Voltaggio Brothers’ Steakhouse at MGM National Harbor.) The meat is enlivened with a slew of creative sauces, like the pit-beef-inspired Tiger Sauce and a selection of steakhouse-style sides that are stars in their own right (the spiced sweet potatoes are among them).

As we’ve come to expect from the Voltaggios, the food is imbued with a boundless sense of playfulness—but never at the sacrifice of taste. That spirit of friskiness and fun is most evident in the appetizers, which arrive with unexpected elements that push the palate—and the imagination.

The smoked beet pastrami—sliced, pastrami-spiced beets, doused with Thousand Island dressing, and lacy squiggles of funnel cake—imparts the slightly sweet and tangy flavors of a Reuben. A fish and chips special features beer-battered puffer fish tails sourced from the Chesapeake, and coddies get coated in crushed Saltines before being fried, then arrive speared on popsicle sticks alongside a cauliflower tartar and mustardy giardiniera garnish to complete the flavor profile.

My favorite appetizer was the shrimp and grits cocktail, featuring four plump Gulf poached shrimp dusted in Old Bay and served alongside a side of shrimp toast made with grits and shrimp mousse. A spicy green cocktail sauce, made with tomatillos and green tomatoes and spiked with horseradish and cracked pepper, provides delicious dipping opportunities for both preparations.

As for the entrees, there’s plenty to accommodate non-steak-eaters, like a swordfish piccata, a clever riff on chicken piccata and a nod to the Voltaggios’ Italian roots. The brown butter, lemon, sage, and caper sauce hits all the right notes: nutty, acidic, sweet, and salty.

Several weeks later, another visit yielded new discoveries, like a refreshing fluke crudo appetizer dotted with blood orange sections, showered with benne seeds, and served with salt and vinegar sweet potato chips for mopping; and a crisp-edged smashburger.

Desserts are also worthy of consideration. The Wye Oak Cake—a sort of tree with log-shaped chocolate mousse cake and chocolate bark that fans out like branches—was an edible work of art, and an apple dumpling, inspired by the annual Apple Dumpling Day tradition at the former all-girls’ school, recalls the cinnamon toast of childhood.

On both visits, service was calm and confident. Our table servers made excellent suggestions, ably answering our questions. (One briefly looked alarmed when we asked, “Isn’t puffer fish toxic?” But after consulting the chef—or Wikipedia—she was quick to reply that the variety from the Bay are safe.)

Wye Oak Tavern is a fitting homage to an important piece of Maryland history. In fact, the State Forest Service still grows seedlings from the ancient oak to preserve its DNA.

Like its namesake, my guess is that the tavern will be here for many years to come

Owen Pereira knew how to prepare full meals for himself by the time he was 5 years old, so when it came time for him to enroll in cooking classes as part of his school’s curriculum, the lessons were a breeze.

“Those classes were more like practice for me,” says Pereira, 14, now an eighth grader at the Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School. “I pretty much learned all of the basics from watching my mom in the kitchen, and then kind of taught myself the rest.”

The Mt. Washington prodigy—who mentions culinary idols like James Beard Award winners Thomas Keller and Daniel Humm—decided to put his skills to the test in 2016, when he auditioned and was chosen to compete on an episode of Food Network’s Chopped Junior. His appearance on that show later caught the attention of NBC’s Universal Kids, and the network invited Pereira to audition for the first season of Top Chef Junior in the spring of 2017.

Pereira stood out in a group of more than 200 teen applicants across the country, and was ultimately picked as one of the top 12 to compete for a $50,000 prize on the spinoff of Bravo’s long-running series Top Chef.

“I was really surprised that I made it that far,” says Pereira, who is now among the top three finalists on the show—which filmed in Los Angeles last summer and airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Universal Kids. “I pretty much skyrocketed from there.”    

A loyal Top Chef fan, (he notes Maryland’s own Bryan and Michael Voltaggio as some of his all-time favorite competitors), Pereira had an idea of what to expect once filming began. The junior iteration mirrors the original version, with each episode featuring challenges that force competitors to whip up dishes with specific parameters while crunched for time.

So far, Pereira has impressed judges—including host Curtis Stone, MasterChef’s Graham Eliot, Emeril Lagasse, and the Voltaggio brothers—with his creative dishes like Philly cheesesteak nachos, battered coconut shrimp, and an elevated fish and chips.

“I knew Top Chef was legit, so I expected Top Chef Junior to be also,” Pereira says. “There were no pauses. Even if our mics fell out or we got injured, the clock didn’t stop under any circumstances. We were shooting six days per week, almost eight hours per day. And sometimes we would be sitting in the interview room for up to four hours at a time.”

While he admits that the process was sometimes exhausting, Pereira says he also had a lot of fun meeting celebrity chefs and making friends with some of the other teens. In fact, he and fellow contestant Henry Wieser of Illinois have big plans to open a restaurant together.

“Our cooking styles are really similar,” Pereira says, adding that both chefs are passionate about local sourcing, and take a modern approach to classic French techniques. The duo plans to launch their own pop-up in Chicago next month, and Pereira hopes to bring it to Baltimore this summer.

Locally, Pereira looks up to Charm City greats including chefs Doug Wetzel and John Shields of Gertrude’s at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and our own James Beard Award-winning sustainability champion Spike Gjerde. He names Gjerde’s Remington meat mecca Parts & Labor as his favorite local spot—estimating that he visits the restaurant’s butcher shop once every two weeks.

“It was great representing Baltimore on the show,” he says. “I didn’t get a chance to cook any true Baltimore foods like lake trout sandwiches or crab cakes, but I tried my best to represent the city as best as I could.”

Looking ahead, Pereira is dreaming big. He wants to open his first restaurant by the time he’s 18, make the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List by the time he turns 20, and win two Michelin stars. Culinary school, however, isn’t part of the plan.

“It’s kind of ambitious,” he says. “But culinary school happens way too late. I don’t have the patience to wait until I’m 18 for my career to actually take off.”

Bryan Voltaggio’s newest Baltimore project, Family Meal, named for the staff meal eaten before or after a restaurant shift, manages to be in the heart of the Inner Harbor tourism district while remaining invisible from Pratt Street. The fourth of the former Top Chef contestant’s Family Meal restaurants, it’s a choice spot exuding a palpably relaxed vibe, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the harbor, Pier 5, and the Aquarium just across the plaza.

The menu is similarly approachable, with familiar home-style dishes, shareable sides, straightforward desserts, and stick-to-your ribs breakfasts. Voltaggio’s concept is “modern diner,” and it’s the details of the dishes that exhibit the thoughtfulness and creativity one would expect from a celeb chef. A seemingly simple Maryland catfish sandwich ($13) becomes a lesson in textural interplay, with a tender fillet encased in ephemeral and crisp tempura-like batter, and thin-sliced fried okra lending a slightly different stripe of crunchiness.

Grilled oysters are topped with bacon jam and “cheddar glacage” ($10), a sort of foamy meringue toasted on top and resembling a marshmallow, which renders the bivalves almost candy-like to satisfying effect.

Other standbys—including burgers, meatloaf, smoked brisket, and fried chicken—are less ambitious, but well-executed. The green-bean casserole ($3.99) is actually perfectly blanched haricots verts with an intensely oniony béchamel and shiitakes. Even the humble deviled eggs ($4.99) are prepared with an exquisitely light yolk filling. While not always on the menu, the smoked beet “pastrami” sandwich ($10.99) is another standout.

This sort of culinary rigor is present in Family Meal’s cocktail program as well, where house-made oils, syrups, and spirit infusions (somewhat confusingly referred to as “sous vide”), make for an expansive set of ingredients. “Le Jardinier” ($12) is a particularly good example of balance and nuance—mellow carrot-infused gin with the slightest bite of ginger and citrus, perfumed with a few drops of basil-infused almond oil to finish.

Service is notably hospitable across the board, though not necessarily completely expert in expounding on the menu’s complexities. That aside, locals who rarely venture to this more touristy part of town now have a good reason to visit.

›› Family Meal, 621 E. Pratt St., 410-601-3242. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: appetizers: $4.99-9.99; entrees: $10-23.99

The life of an elite chef spans far beyond all of the slicing, dicing, frying, and expediting that goes on behind the scenes at our favorite restaurants. With Father’s Day just around the corner, we talked to some of the city’s top culinary talent about what life is like away from the heat of the kitchen. These guys wear many different hats. They’re mentors, managers, and undoubtable food experts, but first and foremost, they are dads.

PIZZA PROTÉGÉ

As a father of three and the executive chef of one of Hampden’s hottest haunts, Chad Gauss often has his work cut out for him.

“One thing I’ve learned is that I’m always where it’s most important to be,” says Gauss, executive chef and co-owner of The Food Market. “If everything at the restaurant’s going fine, I’m going to be at dance for my daughter’s recital.”

From baking cakes in the kitchen at home to embarking on RV road trips, Gauss says that quality time with his children—Chad, 12, Zoey, 6, and Maisy, 3—is key.

“We always go places together as a family,” he says. “I don’t really go anywhere my kids aren’t welcome.”

Although according to Gauss all of his kids have diverse tastes, with favorites like seaweed and miso soup, his daughter Zoey has the most sophisticated palate of them all: “I mean, she wakes up in the morning and says ‘I want duck,’ she’s a huge eater.”

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to the oldest, ‘Little Chad.’ Often tasked with cleaning local produce and shucking corn during frequent visits to The Food Market, the 12-year-old has even found his inner restaurant critic.

“One thing my son and I like to do together is we rate pizzas,” he says. “We go around and we rate local pizza shops and we base them off of Matthew’s Pizza.”

Gauss says being a chef and a dad keeps him youthful.

“I’ve matured in responsibility, but not at all in personality, so it really allows me to enjoy my job,” he says. “And I think it’s awesome that my kids have a dad that gets to be himself all of the time. I don’t have to be a different guy when I come to work.”

OYSTER OVERLOAD

Well-known for his barbecue shrimp and grits and other signature brunch creations, Water for Chocolate owner and executive chef Sean Guy is a hangover hero in Upper Fells Point.

But aside from all of the accolades, his motto remains that he’s a dad first and a chef second.

His children, Taylor, 15, and Noah, 8, are all about chowing down on the goat cheese mac at Water for Chocolate, which is back up and running after suffering a fire in March, but he says that they’re not so big on the idea of global cuisine.

“We have a thing where we try to go to a different restaurant every other Sunday, and I always try to take them somewhere where they can try and appreciate a different cuisine, but Noah’s the guy that will spit it in his napkin and then go in the bathroom and fill his pockets with the mints, he really doesn’t care,” Guy says. “Taylor is really beginning to appreciate food a lot more. She had her first oyster already at The Oceanaire, and I wish I had a picture of the look on her face. It was like betrayal, like ‘Dad, how could you do this to me?’ I almost cried. But her palate is a little more developed than Noah’s.”

In order to spend as much time together as possible, Guy feels lucky to be able to structure the restaurant’s hours around his children’s schedules.

“During the week we’re open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., so after 7 I’m doing homework, and opening at 10 a.m. gives me a chance to take them to school,” he says.

In between studying theatre at Baltimore School for the Arts and participating in Habitat for Humanity projects, Taylor squeezes in time to work at the restaurant as a hostess on weekends. Noah has recently started to break into the family business, as well.

“He’s been rolling silverware and starting to get involved, but he overcharges me; he’s trying to get fifty cents per roll, which is crazy,” Guy says.

Although it doesn’t always work out as planned, attempting to diversify his children’s culinary interests is one of Guy’s favorite hobbies.

“More so than cooking for them, I like going out to different restaurants with them so they can learn the sense of service to try different things.” he says.

LITTLE LEARNERS

As the executive chef of Foreman Wolf hotspots Cinghiale and Pazo, Julian Marucci is no stranger to hard work—a value that he’s passing on to his oldest son, Luca, 4.

“Whether I’m in the kitchen or doing yard work, he always likes to lend a helping hand,” Marucci says. “We can sit outside and I can give him a bag of corn and he’ll just shuck the whole bag. Or I can give him a bag of cranberry beans and he’ll peel them all for dinner.”

The Marucci brood also includes Mia, 2, and baby Nico, 3 months. As they grow older, the chef feels it’s important to educate his children about how their food makes its way onto their plates.

“At Thanksgiving this past year, I got a turkey from a local farm with the head and feet on. The kids came into the kitchen and when I opened the oven to baste the turkey they saw the head, and they all started flipping out and giggling,” he shares. “I want to introduce these things to my kids so that they know where [our food] is from.”

Although bouncing back and forth between the two restaurants five days per week takes up the bulk of Marucci’s time, he looks forward to devoting his days off to tee-ball games, making Sunday dinner, and gardening with the kids.

“We’ll go out in the garden and pick herbs, or ‘seasonings’ as we call them, and then I try to explain that those green flakes and specs in our tomato sauce or whatever we’re making are the same herbs from our garden,” he says.

Looking ahead, Marucci is excited for his kids to eventually grow into little sous chefs.

“I can definitely see them coming in and helping with cleaning vegetables, picking filo beans, and picking peas,” he says. “And teaching them how to use a knife properly, that’s something I’m looking forward to.”

PRE-SCHOOL PLANS

Despite a nine-restaurant franchise and buzz-worthy Top Chef success, Bryan Voltaggio is the quintessential family man.

Although meal requests from his children Thacher, 8, Piper, 3, and Ever, 1, often vary, Voltaggio says that one factor always remains constant.

“With the kids, I find that their favorite dishes are the ones that involve time with dad, so it’s more about the entire experience,” he says.

When it comes to Thacher, the self-proclaimed picky eater of the bunch, Voltaggio says that experimenting in the kitchen inspires him to “grab new things and put ingredients together in the moment.”(Which explains Thacher’s Coca-Cola potatoes recipe published in Voltaggio’s cookbook Home.)

“He’s certainly not sitting down and eating roasted sea bass with cranberries, that’s just not where he is at this point, but whenever you get hands-on is when it gets fun,” he says.

While the restaurateur’s 60-hour workweek often presents obstacles that stand in the way of family time, the Voltaggios always find a way to make it work.

“Breakfast is an important time for us, it’s the one meal of the day that we all share religiously,” he says. “Sometimes I need to sneak out of Friday night service to get to baseball for an hour, but then I just sneak back in before anybody notices I’m gone.”

He says that being able to use his restaurants as an educational outlet for his children is an added perk, as well.

“If you give a kid a mixing bowl they can go for hours. I think there are a lot of life lessons there, too,” Voltaggio says. “Measuring ingredients becomes fun for them, and they can take the things they’re learning in school and put them into practice.”

While it may seem that the Voltaggio kids are preordained for careers in the kitchen, the chef says he’s hesitant about how much he pushes the restaurants on them.

“As much as I want them to love what I do, I definitely don’t want to force it upon them because I never want them to feel that this is the profession that they have to choose,” he says. “Although, Piper at her preschool graduation, did say that she wanted to be a cook when she grows up.”

Larry Hogan
Born 5/25/56
Year of the Monkey

The Year of the Sheep is predicted to be kind to monkeys like our new governor. Generally upbeat, flexible, and clever, those born in the Year of the Monkey can expect favorable social conditions and professional advancement this year. Financial luck will be especially strong for monkeys, though one website cautions they should avoid “any investment that entails a high risk.” How this will affect Hogan’s stated goal of lowering Maryland’s taxes remains to be seen.

Bryan Voltaggio
Born 4/19/76
Year of the Dragon

There’s good news for restaurateur and Top Chef runner-up Bryan Voltaggio, whose two latest ventures­­­—a second location of the comfort-food emporium Family Meal and the fine-dining Aggio—have brought him into the Baltimore market. Fortune is smiling on dragons in 2015, especially, it’s said, those who have business partners of the opposite sex, as he does in co-owner Hilda Staples. But dragons are also advised to watch out for professional sabotage and to balance their tendency to overwork with enough personal and family time.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Born 3/17/70
Year of the Dog

Uh-oh. Looks like 2015 will be full of challenges for those born in the Year of the Dog. Though nothing catastrophic is predicted professionally, there are warnings of numerous problems at work. Thankfully, these problems can be overcome with cooperation, perseverance, and tolerance, traits that dogs possess in abundance. More concerning though is a prediction of poor health for dogs in 2015, the prescription for which is caution in risky situations, moderate daily exercise, and a healthy diet.

Chris Davis
Born 3/17/86
Year of the Tiger

Typically brave, competitive, ambitious, and mercurial, tigers can expect fair to good fortune this coming year. Coming off a disappointing 2014 hampered by a late-season drug suspension, this is probably welcome news for the Orioles slugger/tiger. (We knew he looked good in orange for a reason.) He will have to work hard to prove himself, but, with patience, is likely to reap financial rewards by the end of the year—which just so happens to be when he gains his free-agency status.

Michael Phelps
Born 6/30/85
Year of the Ox

We all know that 2014 (the Year of the Horse, FYI) was not exactly the best for the Baltimore Bullet—what with his DUI, rehab, and other assorted scandals—but are things expected to look up in 2015? Well, not exactly. More turmoil is supposedly in the offing career-wise, with pressure and criticism potentially rattling the usually steady, hardworking ox. Oxen are advised to control their tempers and maintain strong relationships, which will help them navigate this rocky period and pay off in the future.

Abbi Jacobson
Born 2/1/84
Year of the Pig

Happy, kind, and easygoing, pigs—like Jacobson of Comedy Central’s hit cult comedy Broad City—can expect a favorable Year of the Sheep. Career advancement is hinted at in the second half of 2015. Plus, if the MICA alum is looking for love, apparently this is a great year to find it. (She might want to peruse our Top Singles feature.)

When I first heard that Bryan Voltaggio was opening Aggio in Baltimore, I was elated. The Top Chef runner-up’s highly acclaimed Volt in Frederick has been on my restaurant bucket list for years, though at the time, I had yet to make the 45-minute pilgrimage to Frederick County. (I’ve since been to Volt and I can assure you, it’s worth the trip.) Aggio was my chance to see what all the fuss was about.

My eagerness was only tempered when I learned the upscale Italian restaurant was opening in Power Plant Live (in the former space occupied by Tatu Asian Grill)—it seemed like an odd location. While branching out into the Baltimore market makes perfect sense for the Frederick native (who has been opening restaurants at warp speed, with seven Mid-Atlantic restaurants in seven years, including spots in Frederick; Ashburn, VA; and Washington, D.C., where he opened his first Aggio), why pick a place known more for its nightlife than fine dining?

If my most recent Saturday night visit is any indication, Power Plant Live!—with its ample parking and easy I-83 access—has not proven to be a problem.

Since its opening last June, I’ve visited Aggio several times, and it gets better and better—from the service (going from dismal to dedicated), to the portions (noticeably larger than on my first few visits), to the vibe (from a bit of a ghost town to a pleasant hubbub).

But let’s talk about the food. Aggio is a foodie fantasy with creative compositions you won’t find anywhere else in town. (It’s hard to say whether this place should earn a Michelin star or a nod from the National Endowment for the Arts.) And while imaginative, the food is surprisingly unfussy.

Like many menus these days, the roster is seasonal, with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients and a nod to the Mid-Atlantic. With a kitchen assist from chef de cuisine Dan Izzo, who honed his skills at Mario Batali’s highly acclaimed Del Posto in New York City, Voltaggio cleverly retools Boot Country classics. (A blissful burrata plus grilled Mission figs, Tiger figs poached in red-wine sauce, and slivers of prosciutto stand in for a traditional Caprese appetizer, for instance.)

Aggio is a foodie fantasy with creative compositions you won’t find anywhere else in town.

The lineup includes almost two-dozen plates to pick from, in addition to two six-course tasting menus ($95, plus $65 with wine pairings), though if you’re with a few friends, you can cover just as much ground by ordering a la carte.

While we settled on our selections, we indulged in the small and savory amuse-bouche “funnel cakes,” dusted with Parmesan, followed by a just-out-of-the-oven olive focaccia served with whipped mortadella and a mound of ricotta drizzled with olive oil. Both were delicious, and we had to stop ourselves from asking for seconds.

To maximize our tasting options, our party of four shared a number of plates. Our favorites included the fork-tender charred octopus perfumed with agrumato (lemon oil), which rests on a bed of toasted fregola (basically, Italian couscous), and a novel kale and collards Caesar salad with fried Mid-Atlantic oyster “croutons,” adding a nice element of brininess and crunch.

On the pasta front, we loved the reimagined take on a classic seafood and spaghetti dish. This version featured hand-rolled basil farfalle tossed with tender calamari, and flecked with clams cooked in a lusty lemon, saffron, white wine, and butter broth. Another great addition to the pasta program was a boundary-pushing preparation of chocolate tagliatelle and wild boar. The slightly bitter pasta, fashioned from unsweetened cocoa powder, was balanced by the sweetness of the meat. And the inclusion of orange zest added a surprising lift to an otherwise earthy entree.

We also eagerly tucked into a glorious fall-off-the bone pork osso buco blanketed by a pine nut gremolata, offsetting the deep richness of the pork. A plate of three fat sea scallops sautéed in a brown-butter-balsamic-sage sauce and nestled on top of a mound of sweet spaghetti squash, butternut squash purée, and roasted chestnuts was an exceptional choice, as well.

Given the newly ample portions, it’s not easy to save room for dessert, but you should try. We enjoyed a deconstructed spumoni (one scoop each of chocolate, cherry, and pistachio gelato), while also eyeing an artful tiramisu (presented with a cloud of coffee foam).

While Voltaggio may have lost the Top Chef spot to his younger brother, Michael, he has quickly become one of the top chefs in Baltimore.