Longtime Roanoke resident and Table 50 head chef Mike “Mikey” Caudill has died. Caudill, 52, suffered from lung cancer that had metastasized.
If the online response to Caudill’s death on Thursday is any indication, people will remember him as a good, goofy guy and wonderful chef.
He was a Roanoke restaurant scene staple for many years, friends said.
“I met Mike back in the late ’90s when I moved to Roanoke,” Rob Wright said. “I met him at Corned Beef & Co. when he was a manager. … When he left Corned Beef, he went across the street and he helped open Frankie Rowland’s [Steakhouse]. He was the original chef at Frankie Rowland’s. … He made an awesome impact on Roanoke when downtown was not saturated with restaurants.”
Caudill found family through the restaurant business.
“I got to know him back in those early days,” said Jimmy Ayers, who met Caudill when both were in their 20s. “He will be forever missed and loved but never forgotten. … He was just brilliant, always, in being a chef and a human being. … If there was anybody that could ever impact someone’s life, it was Mikey, in an incredibly positive way.”
In June 2006, after attending the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York, Caudill opened Table 50 with Eric DiLauro. Caudill and DiLauro had worked together at Frankie Rowland’s Steakhouse and — to show just how choice their tables were — the two named their restaurant after the best location in the room.
Table 50 has been on downtown Roanoke’s Market Street for 16 years, offering American cuisine with classic French technique and a fine dining experience. That combination has attracted loyal customers, many of whom have been gathering online to mourn the loss and remember the good times.
“He had an awesome passion for the restaurant business and he was a killer chef, an amazing chef. … He was super talented,” Wright said.
More important, though, was Caudill’s big heart, his friends remembered. Jordan Puzzo, who worked with Caudill at Table 50 and other restaurants for many years, said Caudill approached life with a vibrant, almost childlike enthusiasm.
“He always considered us his family,” Puzzo said. “He didn’t have a lot of family, and he would always end a conversation with ‘much love,’ and we would say it back to him.”
Wright said Caudill mentored many.
“He took a lot of time to show people what being a chef is like and how to do things the right way,” Wright said.
Daniel Hammond, who has taken over as Table 50’s head chef in the last year, said Caudill didn’t hold back on instruction.
“He was always about teaching me what I needed to know to take over for him,” Hammond said. “Some chefs are really weird about ‘that’s my secret recipe’ or ‘that’s my secret technique and you don’t need to know how to do that’ — there was never any of that with him. He was always super open. … When he would end a text message to me he would say, ‘Much love, more respect.’ And that always meant a lot to me.”
Ayers said Caudill, who never smoked a day in his life, held his head high when he received his cancer diagnosis and never let it get him down.
When Caudill’s birthday came in April, he asked that friends donate to the American Cancer Society.
“I’ve chosen this nonprofit because their mission means a lot and is very personal to me. I hope you’ll consider contributing as a way to celebrate with me. The American Cancer Society is leading the fight for a world without cancer,” Caudill wrote in an April 3 Facebook post.
His family and friends are still working out funeral arrangements, but details may be available on the Table 50 Facebook page in the coming days.
“We have a void, but we will carry on his legacy for sure,” Puzzo said.
