Seven years ago, on a Thursday in November, not long after Connor Gushen, a sous-chef at
Vesta Dipping Grill, had moved to Denver, the scent of roasting turkeys wafted through the air. It was Thanksgiving, a day when families congregate around the dining room table and squawk about politics and each other. Gushen, who was on his own and bereft of a family in Denver with whom to squabble, didn't have plans. But fellow sous-chef Kenny Turk wasn't about ready to let Gushen spend the day on his own. "Kenny invited me and a handful of other line cooks with nowhere to go to a Vesta orphan Thanksgiving at his house with him, his wife Lisa and Cordelia, their daughter, and I remember being so grateful and learning from Kenny how strong the family vibe of Vesta really was," says Gushen.
So many other Vesta staffers, past and present, have similar stories about Turk, who, after an unprecedented sixteen years on the line at Vesta, is leaving that galley -- and Denver -- later this month to move to Albany, New York.
See also: Vesta Dipping Grill owner Josh Wolkon reflects on fifteen years of success
