We’ve got another Dan in the kitchen! Meet Dan Turek, our Executive Chef, who has been mastering culinary arts for nearly two decades, bringing a love for cooking and top-notch ingredients to every position he holds.

Dan oversees menu development for our dining hotspots, Ash (our hearth-centric eatery concepted by JVR Group owners and chefs Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite), Branded and The Yard, as well as catering for banquets and special events.

Prior to taking the helm here at The Iron Horse, Dan was executive chef at Bass Bay Brewhouse in Muskego, where he managed all restaurant and banquet operations. He was executive chef at popular Bay View bar and eatery Palomino, chef de cuisine at the former Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub (alongside Van Rite), and head chef at Honeypie. He also spent time in the kitchen at Comet Café and Hilton Milwaukee City Center, among others.

During his tenure at Hinterland he adopted a mantra to “keep it simple and let the food speak for itself” — something he credits Van Rite for teaching him. “Less is more. That is the approach I would like to bring to The Iron Horse Hotel — utilizing the best possible meats, veggies and spices to let the flavor profile of the food be its own star,” he says. “We have the rare and wonderful opportunity to cook for locals and visitors alike; we can show them how amazing Wisconsin food is and how the flavors tell their own unique story.”

Dan earned an associate degree in specialized technology at the Le Cordon Bleu Program in Culinary Arts at Pennsylvania Culinary Institute in Pittsburgh in 2004.

When he’s not in the kitchen, you’ll find him digging for vinyl gold at Bay View’s RushMor Records and spending time with his wife, Erika, and their three cats and dog, Sledge.