Local chef David Krasnoff has the recipe for retirement

David Krasnoff sat at a friend’s dining room table talking about dining. During his legendary career as a chef and restaurant owner at the Delaware beaches, he rarely had time to sit.

At 75, Krasnoff just recently hung up his apron for good after a career that started in 1969 as a dishwasher in Charlottesville, Va., and finished this year at the Rose & Crown, his second stint at the landmark on Second Street.

In between, Krasnoff worked at some of Washington, D.C.’s top restaurants, feeding the nation’s movers and shakers. He and his wife Daria also owned an ice cream shop there. She made specialty cakes for leaders like Ted Kennedy, and President George H. W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush.

In 1981, Krasnoff began his legendary run on the Delaware coast, working summers at The Summer House on Rehoboth Avenue. Krasnoff has cooked at many of the area restaurants locals know and love: Pig & Fish, Casa DiLeo, Rehoboth Beach Country Club, and the list goes on. He describes himself as a hands-on chef. 

in 1985, he opened his own restaurant, his pride and joy, Kupchick’s on Lewes Beach. “My grandmother owned a restaurant in Montreal, and I always told her I would name [my place] Kupchick’s. That was my mom’s maiden name,” he recalled fondly. “I’m a bad manager, but a good operator.”

“We were the first white tablecloth restaurant, first destination restaurant. We were quite upscale,” he said. Seafood was his specialty. “We would offer six to eight fresh seafood dishes every night. I had a relationship with two different companies where if I called up at six in the morning, [we] would have [our] delivery at two in the afternoon. We were voted best seafood restaurant by Field & Stream and Sports Afield magazines in 1998-99 because of the variety and freshness of the product.”

Kupchick’s survived bankruptcy in 1990, but could not survive local politics. “The city zoned us out of business,” he said. “They rezoned my piece of property residential. I was allowed to stay, but we had an inspector every other minute. We were kind of forced to sell, and they built the seven houses up there. We had just enjoyed our two best years of business.” Kupchick’s served its last meal Jan. 11, 2001.

Because of that experience, Krasnoff threw his hat into the ring for Lewes City Council in 2003. “I generated more votes against a candidate than any election ever,” he said with a smile. His campaign ideas included running a train into town from the old depot behind Old World Breads and increasing density of residential areas to prevent sprawl.

Even though he did not win the election, Krasnoff remained a community activist. Most recently, he was instrumental in stopping a planned medical building near his house on Mulberry Street in Milton. Krasnoff has also been a prolific letter writer over the years. He wrote to the Cape Gazette last year in support of Andrew Williams for Lewes mayor. Williams had worked for Krasnoff as a bus boy and server at Kupchick’s. 

The Kupchick’s name wasn’t gone after the restaurant closed. in 2005, Krasnoff opened Kupchick’s Corner Market on Wescoats Road, the property that recently became Emmanuel’s. He said he lost that business in the recession of 2008.

One of Krasnoff’s proudest moments outside the kitchen came when he hired a man named Sherman Carter at Kupchick’s. “He was brought in with Easter Seals with a trainer. He had an IQ of 40. He had a traumatic brain injury as a child,” Krasnoff said. “He came to work for us in 1989 or 1990. We picked him up every day. His mother was his only surviving parent. After she died, they were going put him in a group home in Seaford. So we made him our foster son. He continued to work five or six more years, lived with us and was twice nominated State Employee of the Year for the disabled.”

Carter is now 56 years old and lives in a group home. He was among the friends who attended Krasnoff’s recent retirement party. Carter still calls him three or four times a day.

Krasnoff said he has little appetite to keep cooking, but never say never. “If somebody called me up and said, ‘Can you do a party?’ I might do it. The last two years, I’ve done a party for Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City for 150-200 people, pretty successfully,” he said.

“I don’t think my skills have diminished. I think I could walk into any kitchen and cook their line at the age of 75,” he said.