Posher Palate first encountered Chef Ted Dorsey at the 2023 Frogman Feast, where he stood out among more than 40 competing chefs vying for the coveted Crowd Favorite Chef Award. His winning dish — Key West Pink Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Corn Dogs with Pineapple Jicama Jalapeño Slaw, Passion Fruit Mustard and 3 Daughters Tropical Hefe & Pineapple Batter — was as memorable as the chef himself. In a sea of exceptional culinary talent, Dorsey’s passion, skill and genuine warmth set him apart, qualities that would define his remarkable career throughout the Tampa Bay dining scene.
When Posher Palate profiled Dorsey for the opening of Sonata, in the January 2024, issue, he was a chef at the peak of his craft, orchestrating flavors with the precision of a maestro at the Mahaffey Theater. His vision for elevated dining experiences and commitment to culinary excellence made that story a joy to tell.
Today, Posher Palate is telling a different kind of story, one that showcases the incredible strength of the culinary community when one of its own faces the unthinkable.
Dorsey, the beloved chef and restaurateur affectionately known as Chef Ted, is fighting advanced pancreatic cancer while caring for his two young children. After hurricanes devastated his St. Petersburg home last fall, Dorsey thought he had weathered life’s worst storms. Then, just a month after opening his dream restaurant, Sunshine City Tavern on 4th Street North, with business partner Teddy Skiadotis, a routine doctor’s visit for a stomachache revealed Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
The reality has been brutal, multiple hospitalizations between April and now, ongoing chemotherapy treatments and the heartbreaking decision to close Sunshine City Tavern after just four months. Dorsey shared that he could not run day-to-day operations of the restaurant and battle cancer at the same time.
The Tampa Bay culinary community, the same group of chefs who competed alongside Dorsey at the Frogman Feast, is now rallying around him with the same competitive spirit, but this time they are all on the same team.
On August 26, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., RSBP Events and Il Ritorno will host a special five-course dinner with wine pairings and signature cocktails. The lineup features an impressive collection of Tampa Bay’s culinary elite—friends, peers and fellow chefs who’ve watched Dorsey’s career flourish and now want to give back to someone who has contributed so much to the local dining scene. DJ Fresh will provide the evening’s soundtrack, ensuring this gathering celebrates Dorsey’s life and legacy while raising crucial funds.
All proceeds will go directly to a college fund for his children, because while Ted’s immediate focus is on his battle with cancer, his ultimate concern remains securing their future.
Dorsey’s sister has established a GoFundMe page to help with mounting expenses. He has shared that since opening the tavern, he took only one paycheck and that he and his children are struggling to make ends meet.
Closing that dream was devastating. Dorsey had said it was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do, as his legacy was to leave it to his children. Now, his focus is on how long he can be around for them.
But his legacy extends far beyond any single restaurant. It lives in every chef he has mentored, every dish that bears his influence and in this moment, when an entire culinary community drops everything to support one of their own.
True to form, Dorsey faces this challenge with the same determination that made him stand out among 40+ chefs at the Frogman Feast. He is planning to document his journey on a YouTube channel, ensuring transparency and connection with the community that has embraced him.
His immediate goal remains characteristically selfless: to make sure everybody else is taken care of; getting his vendors paid, his partner paid, and his landlord paid. That is the Ted Dorsey Posher Palate first met—the chef who stood out not just for his culinary skills, but for his integrity, his heart and his unwavering commitment to doing right by others.
Purchase tickets for the five-course dinner at Il Ritorno.
Support the GoFundMe.