During his four-year stay in the Caribbean, Dan served as Chef de Cuisine for the award-winning Stone Terrace and the classic island favorite, the Lime Inn.

In 2001, he traveled back to the states and settled in Boston as a Sous Chef, serving up the trend-setting French-Indian cuisine of Mantra, under the direction of Chef Thomas John.

In 2003, Dan joined Trumbull Kitchen, working beside Chef/Owner, Christopher Torla.  In July 2004, he joined the Goodwin Hotel as Executive Chef, with the culinary vision of sharing his cuisine with the public.

In 2006, Dan combined his fine-dinning background and hotel catering experience to serve up cutting-edge cuisine for weddings, corporate events, and wine dinners for Marquee Events and Catering.  During his tenure there, he assisted in opening The Back Porch Restaurant in Old Saybrook, CT.

In 2009, Dan joined the Infinity Music Hall and Bistro team to start up a restaurant in both Norfolk and Hartford, CT.  Here, his vision and talents in preparing progressive American cuisine made Infinity Bistro a destination restaurant. 

In 2015, Dan teamed up with James Chen, opening several award-winning restaurants in the Granby, CT area.  With 23 years of experience, Chef Dan will ensure an expert, personalized catering experience no matter the event. 

Chen owns four Connecticut restaurants — La Figata in Granby, @ The Barn in Granby, Han Asian Cuisine in Granby, and Table 570 in Simsbury. Chen also owns Z catering serving the Connecticut area.

Chen is known for his prowess with Asian restaurants. His Han Asian cuisine has been a Granby staple for sushi and other Japanese, Chinese and Thai specialties, and in late 2016, he revamped his Simsbury eatery Green Tea to become Table 570, an upscale Asian fusion destination. 

For nearly five years, Chen has been successfully experimenting with new ideas in the center of Granby: @The Barn, an elegantly designed contemporary American restaurant, came along in the fall of 2015; and La Figata, with a wood-fired Italian menu of pizzas, pastas and red-sauce classics, which opened in 2018.

His next stop was the USS Chowder Pot in Branford, CT, where he continued to gain experience working with seafood.

In 2007 Chef Stefan decided to begin his more refined culinary studies by enrolling in the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, New York. During his studies, Chef Stefan secured an internship with world renowned Union Square Hospitality Group, working at Blue Smoke and Jazz Standards. It was here where he learned the art of smoking food and BBQ and was able to gain experience in the realm of catering within Blue Smoke’s new catering department.

In 2009, Chef Stefan came back to Connecticut and began working at Basta Trattoria. In 2010, Middletown’s Esca came calling, and he was promoted to Sous Chef there just a year after working on the grill station. Chef Stefan then accepted the Head Chef position at Taino Smokehouse, where he furthered his experience in BBQ, smoking, and catering. In 2017, Chef Stefan returned to Esca as the Head Chef. In 2021, Chef Stefan connected with the team at Z Catering, teaming up to spearhead their growing catering business. With his years of experience in the kitchen, Chef Stefan and the Z Catering team will ensure that you receive a professional and personalized catering experience from start to finish.