By Alexandra Greeley
Special to The Washington Examiner
Dressed in his chef's outfit from his days working in the White House mess, Charlie Redden -- otherwise known as "Chef Charlie" -- sips his water and tells of his rise from the inner city of Wilmington, Del., to walking the halls of celebrity. All through his cooking, he points out.
Like many of his culinary colleagues, Chef Charlie credits his mom and grandma with sparking his love for food. After all, he says, as fervent "country girls," both ladies spent much of their time cooking. Though as a youngster Redden was not particularly interested in cooking, he loved to eat their home-prepared meals.
In high school, he attended vocational classes in his freshman year in a clothing management program. Tiring of the lackluster school lunches, he asked his teacher to let him join the commercial food-making class where students were creating interesting lunch food. That's when Redden decided, "This is where I want to be," he said.
"It just took off from there," he continued. "The teacher discovered I knew how to turn food into animals of different handbags shapes. In the garde manger [preparing and presenting cold food items] section, I was creating many different things with cold food ... I didn't know about recipes, but I could create masterpieces, and people eat with their eyes."
By the time Redden was a senior, he had advanced enough in the culinary field to be only one of three students sent out as an apprentice to the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington. Looking back at that turning point, Redden, who initially was reluctant to go, now credits his teacher with encouraging him to use his God-given talents, and thus avoid life in the streets.
Thanks to the mentoring of the hotel's executive chef, Roland Johnson, Redden was well on his way into a culinary career.
"He saw my talent," Redden said, "and he encouraged me to try it all. 'If you want to be the best, spread it around,' he said."
After 2 1/2 years, Redden joined the Navy, and once again, destiny pulled him to the kitchen: He became a culinary specialist working with the head chef. That meant cooking for the captain in his quarters. Redden recalled the captain nicknamed him "Mr. Gourmet Magazine."
Then in 1995, when White House personnel were touring naval bases looking to recruit cooks for work in the White House Mess, Redden recalled his admiral asked if he was interested in applying. Despite his initial reluctance, Redden did apply, and his commentary at the interview won him the position.
"I said that there's lots of competition," he said, "but I'll cook any of your chefs under the table. That was the right answer."
From then until middle of 2001, Redden worked as the catering supervisor plus earning the certificate as executive chef.
"I was the first certified executive chef of the White House Mess," he said, recounting how he traveled extensively with the Clinton retinue, checking out hotels and restaurants in advance of the first family's arrival, and preparing soups, pizzas and spaghetti meals for their personal use.
"Tony Powell and E.J. Farmer, food service coordinators for the White House, became strong mentors and helped me serve the White House better," he said.
Today, Chef Charlie's day job entails diplomatic security work with top-secret clearance. But in his spare time, he runs his own catering service, Chef Charli
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