SALAMANCA — There seemingly isn’t a happier guy than Chef Dean Metzger, who has been recently promoted to executive chef at Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino.

Metzger joined the culinary team as a sous chef for Thunder Mountain Buffet in 2004 when the casino opened its doors. Since then, he has taken on increased responsibility.

As a graduate of Orchard Park High School and Wallace D. Ormsby Vocational and Technical Center in East Aurora, where he took culinary arts, Metzger has been in the food business almost all of his life.

“That’s where I got my start,” he said. “I was a very good student in school and everyone was surprised when I decided to go to BOCES for culinary arts. They were thinking I would choose a different direction, but I absolutely think BOCES started me on my journey.

“I had a phenomenal teacher there and, as a matter-of-fact, at 16 years old, it got me my first job at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, cooking for the young priests and seminary students.”

Metzger started his professional career as a chef in 1990 and had his first real professional chef’s job at the Brierwood Country Club in Hamburg, where he was executive sous chef. In the hierarchy of chefs, a sous chef would now be Metzger’s assistant.

As executive chef, Metzger supervises all the culinary staff at the casino. There are 106 kitchen staff members in his culinary department including the chefs de cuisine, who are room chefs that run each of the individual restaurants. He said they all have sous chefs under them, then there are cooks that work under the sous chefs.

“We absolutely love what we do and it’s different almost everyday,” he said. “There’s something new and exciting going on and it never changes, whether it’s an event at the casino or a new menu or just bringing in new talent.”

Metzger said there are plans to expand The Western Door Steakhouse within the next year. He said there’s another room behind the current dining area that will allow for the expansion.

“Our current dining room seats about 120 diners, but the expansion will allow us to accommodate another 50 to 60 people,” he said.

According to Metzger, the best part of the casino is always the food. He said the steakhouse just got a new line of wild game in and they’re going to offer Bison Strip Steak as one of the entreés on the menu. A new menu for the summer is in the works for Patria, the Italian restaurant. He said they’re redoing all of the features at the café, so there will be a new weekly feature menu coming out every week throughout the summer.

Metzger said the other exciting things at Seneca Allegany are some of the great events offered like the outdoor concerts.

“We just had Ringo Starr here for a whole week. He kicked off his new All-Starr Band Tour in Syracuse, then spent a week here rehearsing with his band,” he said. “It was great to meet him and to have the privilege of cooking for a Beatle.

“Who can say they cooked for a Beatle? That’s just amazing.”

Metzger said it takes a lot of people who love what they do to put out some great food, and his culinary staff are proud of what they do.

“I’ve been in this business since the early 90s and this is by far the best culinary group I’ve ever worked with,” he said. “I love the people I work with and I’ve got a great team. They are the greatest chefs and the nicest people. They may not be the most talented all the time, but they have the most passion. I’m happily stuck here and I want to stay here forever.”

Metzger said he can’t say enough on how much his staff care about what other people think and how they want to share their hospitality with them.

“That’s sort of what our business is all about — it’s hospitality,” he said. “One of the first things I said to my staff was, ‘What does hospitality mean? It’s being hospitable. Think about these people as coming to your house. You want to impress them everyday. You want to give them the best meal you can give them and you want to let them to have the best time. You want them to walk away thinking, boy, I just had a great experience and I felt like I was at home, or at a friend’s house.’ It’s that sort of feeling we like to give our guests.”

Metzger lives in Great Valley with his wife, Randi, and son who attends Ellicottville Central School. The couple also has two older daughters.

(This story appears in the June 23, 2016 edition of The Salamanca Press.)