Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
This Filipino-American meal will feature lumpia, “scallop” crudo, grouper sandwiches, singulaw, chicken adobo and halo-halo severed over banana leaves, plumeria flowers and candles. Joui Wine owner Lauren Gay will pair four wines with the meal.
“Every single dish in this dinner has a story attached to it,” Keane said. “My hope is that through my storytelling and my food it invokes memories of anyone who’s there of their own memories and food.”
Growing up in Florida
Keane grew up in a Filipino household where his grandmother on his mom’s side lived with them. He said his dad is from upstate New York and his mom is from the Philippines. His grandmother immigrated from the Philippines to raise him and his two brothers, so his parents could go to work.
“I have fond memories of her chasing us around with a spoon full of rice just trying to have us eat,” Keane said. “We were just wild and rambunctious Florida boys trying to catch lizards and things like that.”
In Filipino culture, food is everything. Keane believes food is the driving force that brings people together. He remembers the smell of adobo throughout his house growing up and the demand for his mother’s lumpia.
“You have to make them with love. I’ve made them angry before and they were terrible,” Keane said.
His mom emphasized community — not only being part of it, but always helping out and being selfless. He recalled his mom rolling 10,000 egg rolls, with the help of his classmates’ mothers, every year for about five years for his school’s festival.
A blending of cultures
“There was this funny blending of the cultures,” Keane said.
Every Sunday, he went to his Irish-American side of the family. His grandfather on his dad’s side had immigrated to the United States from Ireland. He said his dad was one of eight and his grandfather was one of seven, so that side of his family was very big.
“It was always a house filled with laughter, insults and good food,” Keane said. “I took advantage of this huge community of people. I feel very blessed with the way I was raised. A lot of people don’t have that.”
Credit: Submitted Photo
Credit: Submitted Photo
He praised his grandmother for working behind-the-scenes to unite his family. When she died in 2021, he said there were so many stories of her taking care of their family like making sure all of her children went to Ireland.
The dinner at Joui Wine “is my contribution of taking care of people.”
His journey through the culinary world
Keane wanted to attend the Culinary Institute of America growing up, but after seeing how expensive it was, he talked himself out of it. He was recruited to play soccer in North Carolina at Methodist University and studied music.
Upon graduation, he returned to Florida where he worked at his best friend’s restaurant, Valentino’s.
“That’s where I basically started cutting my teeth in the industry,” Keane said. “He opened the door.”
He worked in sales for less than two years, but what he really wanted to do was travel the world. He did so with his now wife, Maggie. They lived in South Korea for three years where he taught English.
“That’s where I really fell in love with food,” Keane said. “Everything was open all the time.”
He recalled how convenient it was to get ramen and Japanese rice dishes. He enjoyed visiting traditional tea houses and 24-hour fish markets. He said it reignited his passion for food, but he missed home.
After South Korea, he returned to Florida and started working at the Birchwood.
“I go from being a teacher to now being a sous chef at a high-end restaurant in very little time,” Keane said. “I knew I had to step my game up at the Birchwood.”
About a year later, he got engaged to his wife, who is originally from Englewood, and moved to Dayton. In the region, he has worked at Table 33, Salar and most recently the Moraine Country Club as sous chef.
A love for Cubans and hosting dinners
If you’ve met Keane, you probably know he has a love for Cuban sandwiches. In 2021, he started Chino Cubans, a pop-up Cuban sandwich company, after realizing Cubans in the Midwest didn’t taste like they did at home.
“I did this out of necessity because I missed home so much,” Keane said. “Daytonians deserve better because they are loyal to a fault.”
To make a Cuban, Keane starts by overnighting bread from La Segunda Central Bakery in Tampa, FL. His Cubans feature pork, salami, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickles that’s pressed to a finish.
He temporarily halted pop-ups when he was working at the Moraine Country Club for three years, but Chino Cubans is back up and running.
“The response has been tremendous,” Keane said. “I didn’t realize how many people have a connection to the Tampa Bay area.”
Keane also hosts supper clubs/private dinners for his neighbors and friends.
“Let’s reconnect in the digital world and do the things I didn’t realize my grandmother’s were teaching me,” Keane said. “Let’s stop. Let’s sit down. Let’s eat. Let’s talk to one another.”
When Keane isn’t in the kitchen, you can find him writing menus, gardening, reading, listing to jazz on his vintage stereo equipment, wrestling with his rescue dog, Frank, or talking on the phone with his friends and family. He also helps out his friends at KungFu BBQ.
His favorite places to eat in Dayton are Benjamin’s the Burger Master at 1000 N. Main St., Jimmie’s Ladder 11 at 936 Brown St. and Taqueria Hondureña at 1916 E. Fifth St.
MORE DETAILS
Tickets for Sheila Supper Club, 6 to 8:30 p.m. at 117 E. Third St., are $125. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit exploretock.com/joui-wine-dayton.
If you can’t make it to the supper club, Keane will be preparing food for Haunted HeARTS, an art infused Halloween Party at the Dayton Arcade on Oct. 31 with a portion of proceeds benefitting Heartsiq and Culture Works. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit eventbrite.com.
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