Meet John Strove
J
ohn Strove was born in Ojai, California,
and from the beginning he was a Dodgers
fan. Maybe that’s because his grandfather,
a cement contractor, who was contracted to
build two giant cement champagne glasses
as part of the construction of the Dodger
Stadium. Those glasses are still there today.
John remained a Dodgers fan even after his
family moved north to Morgan Hill where his
father worked for the City of Morgan Hill.
Today, John and his family live in Gilroy and
his parents live in Washington.
As John tells it, as a young man “he had
to be lost before he was found,” and back
then he found himself in Coos Bay, Oregon
working in a Mongolian Restaurant and then studying culinary arts at Oregon Coast
Community College. John said that in that part of the country your profession was either
logging, fishing or cooking at the Casino. He finished the two-year culinary program in
one year. Shortly after that, he went to Las Vegas where he worked for PF Chang’s. Then
he came full circle, returning to Gilroy to help with the opening of the Milias Restaurant.
He worked there for a year. It was there that he met his future wife Andrea Dias, who was a
pastry chef. Andrea made pastry and worked the pantry and the hot line at Milias. It wasn’t
long before Andrea, a Gilroy native and graduate of Gilroy High School, became Andrea
Strove. John and Andrea decided to start a family and became the proud parents of a baby
boy whose name is Grayson.
John is now the Executive Chef at DeAnza Community College in Cupertino. He gets
up at 3:15 in the morning and starts his work day at 5:00 a.m. His job at DeAnza includes
managing the entire food service operation from serving the president of the college and the
administration to student dining in the student union. He manages a staff of 40. Andrea is
the Event Manager at Gilroy Lodge on the Hill (Gilroy Elks Lodge). She is responsible for
marketing, booking and staffing special events. Recently when Dave Bozzo, Chef at the Elks
Lodge, was looking for a special dessert for the Elks’ Spring Fashion Show, Andrea came
through with 175 servings of white chocolate raspberry mousse.
At 34, John enjoys Gilroy. He says it’s convenient to Morgan Hill, San Jose, and Santa
Cruz, and the community is family friendly. He enjoys the wineries and the agriculture.
John would like to see a culinary program offered at Gavilan Community College, and
maybe even teach a class or two, which would be an opportunity to share his knowledge.
John feels that with the spare time that he has, he would like to give back to the
community.
John says that he and Andrea, who is 24, work together as a team in their parenting.
Andrea’s own parents live in Gilroy, and sometimes grandma Dias takes care of Grayson
when she and John are at work. In their free time, Andrea said they like cooking together.
When John’s older son, five-year-old Aiden, comes for a visit, John and Andrea enjoy taking
the boys to the park. John says that Aiden is the smartest five-year-old he has ever met.
Since John and Andrea live in Gilroy, it’s hoped that John will turn his allegiance to our
sports teams in the Bay Area. And maybe we will see him and Andrea on the Cook-off stage
at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Welcome to South County, John and family.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY / AUGUST 2016
Hidden Gems
Campaign –
Visit California
In May 2016, Visit California
announced they will showcase
eight different and diverse “Hidden
Gems” from the state’s wide collec-
tion of incredible and unique des-
tinations in the eight rural regions.
For the Central Coast region, the
Circus Trees in Gilroy Gardens
were selected as the “Gem”. A
90-second video will feature the
Circus Trees and tell the story of the
creator, Alex Erlandson, and the
man who preserved and organized
the transfer of the trees to Gilroy
Gardens, Michael Bonfante. This
video will be designed to inspire
viewers to make the trip, short or
long, to discover one of California’s
hidden gems, and to do it soon.
gmhtoday.com
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