After an nine-year absence, chef Doug Sisk is back in Bermuda and cooking up a storm.

Mr Sisk, who worked at the Reefs in Southampton in 2016, is now the executive chef of the Azura Bermuda’s new restaurant, Surf, in Warwick.

“Surf opened about a month ago, and it has been quite successful,” Mr Sisk said. “We have had some good compliments from guests on the overall value and the variety of items on the menu.”

Surf offers gorgeous views of the South Shore in Warwick and a “seafood forward” menu with a Mediterranean flair.

“Our Maine lobster is very popular,” Mr Sisk said. “It comes with caviar, butter sauce, brown rice and local vegetables.”

Another favourite is the Portuguese octopus cooked to butter-soft tenderness and charred on the grill.

“We also do other things such as prime steaks, locally sourced chicken, plus pastas and salads,” he said.

The menu suits the executive chef well since he is himself a fish lover, often cooking himself salmon at the end of the day.

“It is comforting,” he said.

Originally from St Louis, Missouri, Mr Sisk first came to Bermuda in 2014 to open Aqua Terra at the Reefs.

“That was after an extensive renovation,” he said. “Surf was a new build, which has its own challenges. You have to not only create and develop menus, but also do lots of staff training. There is also construction to deal with. There are many different things you have to choose aside from just the menu, such as silverware, glassware and place mats. It is fun and exciting to see how everything comes together.”

Years ago, Mr Sisk helped to open the Havana Club in Miami, Florida.

“That was a new restaurant on the top floor of a downtown highrise,” he said. “During demolition of the space, everything including all the old concrete had to go down a chute 55 storeys to the ground. Everything new had to come up by the service elevator.”

The 52-year-old started in the restaurant industry at the age of 14.

“I started as a bus boy in St Louis, Missouri, because I was saving up for a car when I turned 16,” he said. “Once I started working in the restaurant, it really became a passion of mine to be in the back of the house. I could see that it was so much more creative and exciting in there. So I transferred to the back.”

Starting as a dishwasher, he worked his way up to the pantry, then moved on to the fryer, then the grill and sauté station.

Along the way he did manage to buy that car.

“I bought a 915 Porsche which I restored with my father,” he said.

Over time he rose through the kitchen ranks to sous chef then executive chef.

“Then I started working towards getting certified and continuing my education,” he said.

He studied culinary arts at Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky.

Since then, Mr Sisk has cooked for at least two American presidents. He once got a “great lunch” compliment from George Bush Sr at a fundraising event during his son’s 2004 presidential campaign.

Another time, while working at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in St Louis, Mr Sisk was tasked with settling President Bill Clinton’s tab, while the Secret Service looked on.

He has four flags embroidered on the collar of his chef’s coat representing the countries he has worked in: the United States, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Jamaica.

In 2016, he left Bermuda and moved to Miami, Florida, where he had a house.

There he worked as executive chef at the Williams Club, then worked as a culinary and sales consultant at Sysco South Florida, before opening his own business: Culinary Concepts Consulting, working with restaurants and hotels to maximise their food and beverage operational output.

He returned to Bermuda in May.

“It is definitely different, compared to what it used to be,” he said. “Tourism as a whole has changed. Covid-19 definitely took a huge chunk out of it. There used to be an annual cooking competition at the Chef Shop in Hamilton. That was very influential, years ago.”

Now he hopes to work with people on the island to bring back some of the old culinary competitive excitement that was here when he left.

Mr Sisk said the hardest part about being a chef is maintaining a work-life balance. A chef’s working hours are very unsociable.

For fun he plays golf as much as he can, describing himself as an “OK” player.

“I would like to be better,” he said. “Golf is one of those games that is not like riding a bike. You need to play continually to be decent at it.”

Mr Sisk said you do have to watch your health while working in restaurants.

"If you ate every single thing that you created or had to taste, then you would gain weight,“ he said. ”However, our concept at Surf is Mediterranean, which lends itself to healthier food. It is lighter. We do not use a lot of butter. We use healthier oils and fats. For example, the vinaigrette in the salad is made from passion fruit juice. It is light, refreshing and very flavourful.“