On Aug 9, 2:13=A0am, Mike Vandeman <mjva...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Evolution in action....
This news must have hit Mike pretty hard.
http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3D7161984&version=
=3D1&locale=3DEN-US&layoutCode=3DTSTY&pageId=3D3.2.1
Metro Chef Dies In Colorado Hiking Accident
Last Edited: Thursday, 07 Aug 2008, 9:02 PM CDT
Created: Thursday, 07 Aug 2008, 9:02 PM CDT
A young but well known Kansas City chef has died while hiking in the
mountains near Breckenridge, Colorado.
Ryan Torpey, 31, didn't return from a hike on Wednesday. Search and
Rescue had been searching for him ever since and found his body on
Thursday.
Torpey was vacationing with family in Colorado for his sister's
wedding. The coroner said it appears Torpey died in a fall. Friends
and co-workers were shocked to hear the news.
Torpey grew up in the metro and is a Park Hill graduate. He started
out in Kansas City at Le Fou Frog. He was just out of culinary
school, Cordon Bleu in Oregon.
"You could see he was brilliant," Barbara Rafael, co-owner of Le Fou
Frog, said.
Rafael said Torpey was well liked and the girls called him Brad Pitt.
But she said he especially made an impression on her husband, Le Fou
Frog's chef.
"My husband liked him and that's a big deal because there's a lot of
people in this industry and when you see ****ning stars you thank your
stars they came to you and we were really lucky to have him working at
the Frog," Rafael said.
Torpey recently got his big break as executive chef of the Swizzle on
71st and Wornall. It recently closed despite rave reviews that called
Torpey, "the best chef you've never heard of, a real talent."
"We heard great things that his menu was fabulous and he was just a
really a talented kid and it's really sad," Rafael said.
Swizzle's owner still currently owns the Gaf on Wornall and he had
just learned of Torpey's death Thursday afternoon and was not prepared
to talk about it yet.
"It's shocking and very very sad and I'm sorry for his family and his
friends and it's a great loss to the Kansas City restaurant industry,"
Rafael said.
The trail where Torpey died is a difficult one, rated for experienced
to advanced climbers. But his family told rescue crews that Torpey had
climbed it before and was a skilled hiker.
Tess Koppelman, FOX 4 News
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