Rising Stars: Meet Evan Sabin of serpentine cider

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Sabin.

Hi Evan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Both My parents were very good cooks, my uncle was/is a professional chef. Some of my earliest memories were visiting his restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard for an omelet. I loved omelets.

I grew up in a very progressive town in Massachusetts, Northampton. Northampton was full of great food, incredible Italian, chinese, Indian, Puerto Rican, and Mexican restaurants. I didn’t find out until much later in life the Mexican food wasn’t all that great…. I was a very adventurous eater as a kid and often grossed out the local kids when I’d eat calamari tentacles or “weird” pastelón.

Northampton was home to Smith College, an ivy league all women’s college. Smith, also funded a local vocational high school. Smith vocational high school. I attended and joined the culinary arts program. At 15 years old, sophomore year, I was placed in a co-op program and landed a job in a local restaurant , fitzwillys (think family owned applebees), instead of attending school. Never looked back.

There was a lot of uncertainty in my house growing up, I was more or less abandoned by my parents who were more interested in living their best lives than they were raising their kids. At 17 years old , I was on my own, forever it turns out.

I had always had a passion for food, it was something that was very interesting to me. I was also very competitive and driven, I grew up playing sports and always had a very competitive edge. I knew that if I stuck with something that I could be very good at it. The catalyst wasn’t ideal. But now I had every reason to be a great cook. So I didn’t end up homeless.

After a few years working, living away from home for the first time, being young and dumb, etc. I had gotten myself involved in some less than perfect situations. I knew that I needed to leave my hometown if I ever wanted to be happy, to become more than just a towny. I probably wouldn’t survive here.

I moved to Martha’s Vineyard at 19 years old. I landed a job in a hotel called the mansion house in Vineyard Haven. I didn’t know it at the time but this was the move that changed my life as a chef. Martha’s Vineyard in general was very wealthy, very cultured, the bar was set high. The food on Martha’s Vineyard was much different than what I was used to. It was coastal, it was refined , it was expensive. I learned how to make incredible food, in a very fast paced environment, and I really learned to love what I was doing.

I bounced around Martha’s Vineyard for several years, working in many different restaurants , breweries and nightclubs. I worked in close proximity to several big stars, Michael j fox, Johnny Knoxville, dan akroyd, spike Lee, Larry David, Bruce Willis, and many more. I was living the dream! I even landed my first executive chef job at an upscale oyster bar, Oyster Bar Grill.

Martha’s Vineyard was a seasonal island, I found out quickly. During the summers the island was alive and well. During the winters, it was cold and dead. I learned quickly that moving away during the winters was ideal for keeping my sanity. Boston was very close, did a couple winters there, new york, and eventually the virgin islands. I spent several years relocating twice a year. Sometimes it was boston, sometimes new york, sometimes the virgin islands. Always came back to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer time (and still would if I was younger).

Most of my ambition and opportunity was driven by necessity. Don’t forget I didn’t have a safety net. All the travellings I was doing, the seasonal lifestyle. If any of that fell apart I had nothing to fall back on. I knew that I needed to take the next step in my career, progress to the point where I felt more comfortable and safe. That’s when I attended New England Culinary Institute in Vermont.

NECI, was great. I entered as an advanced placement student because of my years working in restaurant prior to school. I was top of the class and got special treatment from a lot of the chefs. It was an incredible experience to work with so many amazing chefs, and to get the attention from them that helped me get to where I wanted to be. I worked very closely with master chefs, michelin rated chefs, and several other incredible talents. Inside of school as well as outside. Some of them had their own businesses outside of school and I jumped at the opportunity to work along side them without the regulations of the classroom kitchens. I learned so much and refined my cooking exponentially.

I was given the opportunity to intern in the virgin islands for a star chef. She was born in Germany, studied in France and Spain, then moved to the US Virgin islands to open a restaurant, La Tapa.

I worked for la tapa for a little over a year, completed my internship and was ready to return to Vermont to finish out my degree. Just kidding, I stayed in the virgin islands, are you kidding? It snows in Vermont, a lot. I stayed in the virgin islands for 4 years. I took over a local catering company as the executive chef. I got to work with Kenny chesney, I did weddings for several high profile celebrities. Life was good. I love west Indian food!!!!

St. John does get very small after some time. You walk down the same roads every day, see the same people, doing the same dumb stuff. “We’re all here because we’re not all there” is a locals saying that stuck with me and makes a lot of sense. The island got small.

When it came time to leave st John I gave myself two options. I didn’t want to get snowed on anymore. It was san diego, or new orleans. I’d never been to either. Didn’t know anyone, didn’t have a job, nothing. But I’d done this kind of thing my whole life. I packed a suitcase with ten pairs of boardshorts (I didn’t even own pants), undershirts, and sandals. Took off for san diego.

When I first arrived in san diego I was living in hillcrest and had found a job in LA jolla at a catering company. I rode a bicycle to and from work every day, I think it was about 30 miles a day??

Things were not easy when I got here. I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 guys, all of which weren’t doing great. Paying the bills was not easy. I had met these people via craigslist as well as my current employer. Things were as unstable as they’d ever been and I was a loooong ways away from my comfort zone.

It took a couple years but things finally started to come together. I landed a great job with an up and coming restaurant group. I started to get my finances in order, and I got incredibly lucky things didn’t come apart.

15 years later, I am still in san diego. I met my wife here, I have two beautiful children. I worked my way up the ladder and have held some incredible positions here in san diego.

I was a chef for craft and commerce, I opened ocean beach brewery as executive chef, I was a chef at kettner exchange, I was executive sous chef at la valencia hotel, executive sous chef for Evans hotels, sous chef at cowboy star, I have had a couple of my own catering operations, as well as many more. I have done very well for myself here in san diego.

Once my wife and I got settled in together, we did a lot of traveling. For me , I wanted to see the world, but I also wanted to try the food and learn how to make it as I went. We traveled to Italy, Germany, China, Thailand, Maldives, Sri lanka, I’ve been all over central American and the Caribbean, I’ve done some time in Canada and all throughout the way, I’ve been picking up different food techniques and dishes.

I’ve done so much here in san diego in the past 15 years. I have taken my career to a very comfortable and stable place. What I’ve always pushed for. I’ve been on my own since the start and I made it all happen with hard work , integrity, and learning from many mistakes.

I am now the chef at serpentine cider and smokehouse. Our products are second to none. Our bbq is nearly 100percent from scratch. Our mayo, ketchup, spice blends, etc all made in house. Our meats are slow cooked/smoked. Everything is made with great care and supports our concept of food emphasis. I personally put 26 years of experience into my dishes, I wouldn’t serve something I didn’t think was absolutely delicious.

Our cider is expertly crafted and although I don’t make it myself , I see the time and energy that goes into the preparation and I know that the end result will not disappoint.

Making great food isn’t always about lobster and truffles. I take every ingredient and maximize it’s potential through masterful techniques and years of training.

Come try our bbq and cider. You’ll love it

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I had absentee parents, I was brought up around drugs and violence. Kitchen were different when I was coming up. It wasn’t tv stars with tattoo sleeves and gelled up hair . When I was coming up kitchen were very rough places to be. We were all degenerates. Half of the people I worked with were on work release, in prison or had just got out..

This business doesn’t reward the weak. You have to give everything to the kitchen. Family, friends, relationships, holidays, sleep, physical health, sanity. You’ll lose it all.

We spend every second of every day serving other people. Making food for people that will most likely never even know my name. I’ve lost everything to do it.

This is not a lucrative business. Every restaurant has one person that gets paid well. The chef. Everyone else is struggling.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Serpentine cider and smokehouse. We are a combination or serpentine cider, obviously, as well as smokin j’s BBQ. Our bbq is arguably the best in san diego. We put a little extra into everything we do. We make everything from scratch. We take our time with our meats, slow cooked/smoked. We use techniques handed down from My mentors. Literal master chefs.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Coming up was a master class of luck. I knew what I needed to do, how I would change my life around as to not fail. But it was hard. This industry is hard. I could very easily have ended up dead or in jail. I know that’s cliche, but it’s true. I navigated one of the most unnavigatable businesses in the world and came out on top. It took 26 years and I’m still learning how to keep it going without falling flat on my face. Luck is on my side.