PITTSBURGH — Dustin Gardner has mentored scores of young cooks in the 16 years he's served as executive chef of Casbah, an upscale Mediterranean restaurant in Shadyside. But it's safe to say the budding chef who tugs tightest on his heartstrings is his pint-sized daughter.
Gardner, of White Oak, and his wife, Lindsay — the two met while students at the former Pennsylvania Culinary Institute — have been cooking with 3-year-old Ellie for as long as she's been able to crawl up onto a step stool at the kitchen counter. Which is to say before the youngster even celebrated her first birthday.
He knows what you're thinking: Of course the child of two chefs would have a natural interest in cooking.
