From Hunger to Feast : Chef’s appetite to work at Ojai inn is satisfied as he’s given banquet job.

Over the past several years Kevin Sherry has served as head chef at Las Posas Country Club in Camarillo, the Pierpont Inn in Ventura and Cafe Buenos Aires in Santa Barbara--all fairly upscale, gourmet settings.

But a goal remained unfulfilled for the Ojai resident.

“I live three miles from the Ojai Valley Inn,” Sherry said. “When I first moved to Ojai in 1989, one of my dreams was that one day I was going to be working there.”

That day will come next week, when Sherry takes on his new role as banquet chef at the Ojai resort. Sherry said that as the Inn’s culinary staff takes shape, his job ultimately may shift.

“They don’t have an executive chef right now and they’re looking for some big name,” he said. “We have to wait until the executive chef is hired to see what’s best.”

Sherry will arrive at the Inn less than a year after he took on the executive chef title at Cafe Buenos Aires. Sherry was hired at the Argentine restaurant last July to help owners Wally and Sylvia Ronchietto in their move from a smaller site and smaller-scale operation.

“This is my last week there, which is sad in some ways,” Sherry said. “It’s an exciting place, it’s new, a little bit different than all the other restaurants. Wally and Sylvia have a genuine love (for restaurateuring) that you don’t see anymore.”

Sherry said he expects a new chef to be hired at Cafe Buenos Aires by the end of this week.

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Music lovers will be in tune heaven during the upcoming Ventura County Chamber Music Festival. But food fanatics will by no means be left out of the festivities.

Organizers of the April 30-May 10 festival, dubbed a “Window to the World,” plan to offer a look at international and multicultural cuisine at themed receptions associated with most of the 30 festival concerts.

Included among the opening programs is a Tea and Trumpets concert May 1 at Ventura’s Bella Maggiore Inn. The celebration will feature an authentic English tea reception with Nona’s Courtyard Cafe providing the food, Trufflehound’s Fine Chocolates serving the chocolate and Tottenham Court providing the English tea, Devonshire Cream and lemon curd.

Also on May 1, the Musical Mosaic concert at the San Buenaventura Mission will pair the music of Cuarteto Latinoamericano with South American and Central American cuisine. Yolanda’s Mexican restaurant has signed on, and Cafe Beriloche is expected to cook up some Latin American specialties.

For tickets and more information, call 648-3146.

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Ron Fitzgerald is as surprised as anyone to be in the restaurant business.

For years the longtime Ojai resident made a living operating Fitzgerald Painting and Sandblasting. In retirement, he and his wife, Barbara, have been concentrating on real estate investments.

But now the couple has added Italian bistro-style cuisine to their day’s chores.

The Fitzgeralds, owners of Fitzgerald Plaza in Ojai, have taken over ownership of Nora’s of Ojai (formerly Nora’s Bistro). The establishment, owned by Thomas Marshall before he declared bankruptcy, is located in the Fitzgerald shopping center.

“We’re going to do a complete remodel,” said Ron Fitzgerald.

“We’re going to double the size and hopefully have some entertainment--we’ve got to get our liquor license squared away. We’re going to have the same food, only a little bit better prices.”

Fitzgerald said he plans to split Nora’s into a nightclub on one side and a restaurant on the other.

“I didn’t think it was our place to change the [cuisine] drastically--we are trying to have the same quality,” he said. “With the right people it could be a gold mine.”

Gael Lecolley, former executive chef at Wheeler Hot Springs, also formerly owned by Marshall, is overseeing the food preparation, with three other chefs handling the daily kitchen duties.

Nora’s is at 423 E. Ojai Ave.