Signature Dishes: Pounding out schnitzel at Chef Dato's Table in Derry Township

This is part of an ongoing series highlighting Signature Dishes at locally owned restaurants in the region. See Trib Total Media’s new online directory of restaurants, Dine Local, at dinelocal.triblive.com.

Elizabeth Evans of Blairsville has been cooking since she was 15. Starting in her hometown of Elmira, N.Y., Evans has worked her way — in both a geographic and culinary sense — southward to Pennsylvania and ultimately to Chef Dato’s Table in Derry Township.

She can remember being enthralled with the culinary arts at a young age.

“I’d come home from morning kindergarten and watch Julia Child,” Evans said. After a previous five-year stint as Chef Dato’s executive chef, Evans returned last November after some health problems.

On a sunny Thursday afternoon in mid-September, Evans is busy on the kitchen line, whipping up lunches while also preparing for a wedding catering job.

It’s hard to pin down a signature dish at Chef Dato’s Table, where the menu is constantly changing and exploring a new country’s cuisine on a weekly basis.

But with fall coming on — and the restaurant’s Oktoberfest celebration coming up — it’s all about the schnitzel for Evans.

“It sells phenomenally,” she said. “We probably go through about five whole pork tenderloins a week when it’s on the menu.”

Cut, pounded and breaded in-house, the pork schnitzel is served as-is or as jaegerschnitzel, topped with a deep, rich mushroom brown sauce.

Evans never got a chance to work directly with restaurant namesake Chef Dato Kadigishvilli, who died in 2011 in a car crash at 50. A native of Tbilisi in the Caucasus nation of Georgia, Kadigishvilli had a penchant for new and vibrant foods from around the world that has influenced Evans’ own cooking.

“I’m known more for the international dishes here, and I learned a lot of that from coming here,” she said. She also counts among her mentors Dave Hart, executive chef at nearby Sharky’s in Latrobe.

“He really taught me the discipline of being a kitchen manager, of being an executive chef, and that’s where I learned,” she said.

For $15.99, diners receive two generous pieces of schnitzel, served with smashed potatoes and haricots verts.

With it being Oktoberfest, it also doesn’t hurt to order one of Chef Dato’s giant Bavarian pretzels with beer cheese as an appetizer ($9.99).

Evans said she tries to do things the way Chef Dato would have done them, including coming out to speak with customers about their dining experience.

“I’m not that big of a people person,” she said with a laugh. “But it’s important to hear not only if they enjoyed their food, but more importantly, if they didn’t, I want to be able to fix it, make it right, or know what we can do differently the next time.”

Chef Dato’s Table (645 Route 217 in Derry Township) is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. See chefdato.com or call 724-739-0228.