SPIRITS
WINE BAR’S
STAR RISING
BY CAMILLE S. YATES
52
wenty five years ago, Kitty Wagner thought
she would one day become a veterinarian. “I
studied animals and science,” she says. “I never
thought that I’d be in the restaurant business.” While
in college, this Columbus, Ohio, native started cooking
at a French restaurant in Lexington, Ky. Later, she moved
back to Ohio to get a degree in culinary arts. From there, she
apprenticed under certified master chef Hartmut Handke for
three years through the American Culinary Federation. Following
a stint in a German boutique hotel kitchen as the first
female employee, she landed a job as the sous chef at Vero
Beach’s Windsor Club.
Wagner became attached to Vero, but her love of adventure
took her to Gasparilla Island to be the executive chef at the
Greenbriar’s Boca Bay Pass Club. “Life was good there, but
too slow for me,” says Wagner. “During the off-season, Gasparilla
made Vero Beach look like New York City,” she says
with a chuckle.
In 2003, Wagner moved back to Vero and opened a fine
dining establishment called Blue Star Fish, in central beach
at 925 Bougainvillea Lane. Then, in 2005 she opened and ran
another restaurant called Undertow in downtown Vero. Be-
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T
ED DRONDOSKI PHOTOS
Blue Star Wine Bar carries an assortment of American and European craft beer. Owner Kitty Wagner, back right, looks for “needle in the haystack” wines
and likes introducing people to something new.