Wanda Cole

The Path

Two posts define the daily range of Wanda Cole’s work: sommelier at VinBev and chef at Halfway Kitchen. The pairing points to a kitchen life built on timing, service, and close attention to detail, where flavor has to be read quickly and handled cleanly. In Cole’s case, the craft is less about display than about repetition, confidence, and the ability to move between front-of-house judgment and back-of-house execution without losing composure.

The Work Today

Biscuits sit at the center of Cole’s current cooking. In her own words, “The biscuits are a family recipe and we may implement sausage gravy, and maybe tomato gravy and possibly chocolate gravy for the biscuits.” That leaves the dish open, but only within a clear frame: a family recipe held steady while the accompaniments shift across savory and sweet registers. At Halfway Kitchen, the biscuits function as both anchor and working document, a familiar form that can carry different gravies without losing its identity. Adjustment to the kitchen’s physical demands is part of the craft as well. “I had to get comfortable with the equipment and the volume,” Cole says. The line points to the practical side of professional cooking: learning the machinery, working through noise, and keeping pace when service compresses the room. Familiarity with that environment is not incidental; it is part of the job, and part of what lets the work hold together under pressure.

Signature

Biscuits are Wanda Cole’s signature dish. The choice is plainspoken and durable, which suits a kitchen practice built on continuity. In Cole’s hands, the biscuit carries family memory and room for variation, with sausage gravy, tomato gravy, or chocolate gravy all sitting within the same domestic logic.

In Their Words “The biscuits are a family recipe and we may implement sausage gravy, and maybe tomato gravy and possibly chocolate gravy for the biscuits.” “I had to get comfortable with the equipment and the volume.”