RECIPE FOR GOOD WORKS TARZANA CHEF HONORED FOR DEEDS AS WELL AS DISHES.

Byline: Steve Carney Staff Writer

TARZANA - Daniel Drumlake has been named L.A. Chef of the Year, and not just for his signature dishes, chocolate chip pecan pie and pheasant Alexander.

Rather, the executive chef of one of the San Fernando Valley's fanciest country clubs won the award largely because of his work with charities.

``I always feel privileged and happy how my family and myself have turned out. And I feel sorry for people who can't make ends meet,'' Drumlake said, taking time out from his duties as executive chef at Braemar Country Club in Tarzana.

The annual award, from the local chapter of the Chefs de Cuisine Association of the American Culinary Federation, goes to established chefs in part to honor their philanthropic work, as well as their professional excellence.

Drumlake, 43, supervises the Chefs de Cuisine Golf Tournament, which last year raised $2,750 for the Help Youth Foundation to distribute to various charities.

The Sylmar resident also serves on the Youth Foundation's board and evaluates requests for contributions, and co-chairs the annual Chefs-Purveyors Golf Tournament that raises money for needy children in Los Angeles.

The Michigan native was a forestry student in college, until botany and biology stymied him after three semesters. His mother suggested he take a job at a restaurant while deciding what to do next.

``She said, `I think you've got a knack for it.' My sister and I used to do a lot of baking and cooking,'' he said.

In 1974 he started as a dishwasher, and worked his way up for seven years to be one of the supervising chefs. He then took jobs at country clubs in Dallas and Abilene, Kan., before coming to work as a chef at Braemar.

But now as executive chef, overseeing a staff of 24, he said he rarely gets time to cook anymore - even his favorites, chocolate chip pecan pie and pheasant Alexander, named after his father, who hunted pheasant in Michigan. Now Drumlake is occupied mainly by bureaucratic duties - scheduling, budgeting, planning menus and training his staff.

And in addition to all that, Drumlake also teaches cooking students at Mission College.

``I want to give back to the next generation,'' he said. ``I love to be the one helping somebody out. I wouldn't be where I am today if somebody didn't help me out.''

Ernest Green, a retired chef who serves as treasurer of the Chefs de Cuisine of California, said Drumlake's modesty and calmness are rare for the profession, and said his teaching and charity work are extensions of his demeanor.

``To me it shows he truly loves the profession and he cares about the people around him,'' he said. ``He does an awful lot of what the rest of us wish we had, A, the time and, B, the gumption to do.''

Drumlake can sympathize with his students, because he's one, too. He left culinary school a semester shy of graduation to take the job in Dallas. Now, 26 years out of high school, he's earned his associate's degree from Mission College.

Drumlake, who played hockey as a youth and now teaches it at a rink in the Valley, compared cooking to sports, citing the camaraderie and choreography of the team he's assembled in his kitchen.

``You're trying to think ahead, how to make it through the day without making any mistakes,'' he said. ``In this business it's mostly the people. We're pretty much all family.''

The L.A. chapter of the American Culinary Foundation, founded in 1923 and the nation's second-oldest, has been naming chefs of the year since 1960. Now Drumlake is eligible to win the title for the 13-state western region and for the United States.

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Photo: Daniel Drumlake, executive chef of Braemar Country Club in Tarzana, pauses during a quiet moment.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer