Sunset Key Welcomes New Chef

Dakin Weekley

Recently Chef Jerry Crocker was welcomed as the new Executive Chef of Latitudes, the signature restaurant at Sunset Key, a hop, skip, and a jump from Key West. He brings with him the experience, professionalism, and passion to maintain the taste and atmosphere of this luxury resort restaurant as famous for its dishes as it is for its views.

Chef Crocker brings along with him thirty years of experience in restaurant, off-site catering, and hotel food and beverage practice. This impressive career includes twenty years as the co-owner and executive chef of Holbert’s Catering in Montgomery, New York; and being a former co-owner and executive chef of Back Yard Bistro in Montgomery, New York and Yankee Kitchen Restaurant in Coldenham, New York. Chef Crocker began his career in various culinary positions at prestigious resorts in places such as Killington, Vermont; Lakeland, Florida; and Boston, Massachusetts after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America.

In these many years and positions, Crocker has gained specialized knowledge such as meat cutting and even ice carving. While he lived in the Hudson Valley, Crocker was afforded the opportunity to cook with ingredients not available to much of the country at the time, like heirloom squash and heirloom tomatoes before they were the fashion. This was because at the time, foreign chefs were moving to New York City and bringing with them exotic seeds from their homelands, so that they could use the ingredients they were accustomed to cooking with. They would employ the services of the Hudson River Valley farmers to grow these ingredients, and Crocker was able to take advantage of this situation to experiment with various exotic fruits and vegetables. Crocker was truly farm-to-table before it was a phrase and a selling point, and this helped to shape Crocker’s professional outlook.

As Crocker grew tired of the mainland, he came in search of his newest adventure. He was willing to walk away from his award-winning catering enterprise to find that adventure. He and his wife found it here, at the end of the road. So they sold off three-quarters of their possessions and moved. Crocker describes his current commute as, “a twelve-minute bike ride and then a six-minute boat ride,” which appeals to him in its embodiment of the unique lifestyle of the Keys. This style of living is helping Crocker to settle in not on to the new lifestyle but to his new job as well.

Latitudes is maintaining its reputation for one of the most popular dining destinations in Key West. After spending an afternoon enjoying the menu under Crocker’s oversight, I can say that the reputation is alive and deserved. Chef Crocker’s resume boasts many accolades and awards. But you should go see for yourself. After all, it is only a twelve-minute bike ride and a six-minute boat ride away to this fine-dining oasis.

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