Harvest on Main’s new chef is bringing fresh energy, seasonal flavors, and plenty of heart to the prepared foods kitchen.
Harvest on Main’s kitchen has a new chef behind the counter — but for Blakely Gove, the work already feels deeply familiar.
Blakely recently joined the team at Harvest on Main after years spent cooking in and around the neighborhood, including 10 seasons as Executive Chef at Luke and Mike’s Frontporch in Aspinwall and eight years at Café on Main in Sharpsburg. Her interest in cooking started much earlier — at home, experimenting in the kitchen while watching early Food Network cooking shows.
“My mom was not the biggest cook,” Blakely says with a laugh. “So I started trying things myself to spice it up at home.”
Now, just weeks into her role at Harvest on Main, she’s stepped into the fast-moving rhythm of a brand-new market kitchen — balancing daily prepared foods production while beginning to shape the future of the menu.
“It’s been really fun,” she says. “I’m getting a better understanding of the volume of food that needs to be made, while also trying some new things. People have really been noticing the variety.”
For Blakely, though, what stands out most isn’t just the food — it’s the people behind it.
“The volunteers have surprised me the most,” she says. “Their culinary skills are amazing. I’ve worked with people in restaurants my whole career, and they were not half as talented as these volunteers.”
Each day, volunteers gather in the kitchen chopping vegetables, rolling meatballs, tasting soups, and packaging meals together. Some are retirees who return every week with recipes and routines already in hand. Others are high school students helping package meals after school, excited simply to be part of the energy of the space.
“We taste everything together and make sure it’s the best it can be,” Blakely says. “And we have so much fun together.”
One dish especially close to her heart is Grandma Flo’s Meatballs — a longtime family recipe connected to Second Harvest Founder & Executive Director, Bonnie DeMotte. For Blakely, what stands out isn’t just the recipe itself, but the sense of repetition and care behind it — the idea that the same process has been followed again and again over generations.
“In my family, we don’t have food we made together, or family recipes,” Blakely says. “This is Bonnie’s family’s meatballs. It’s just a process, and shows the importance of following the recipe. The reason they’re so good is because you’re following the recipe to a T.”
As the seasons change, Blakely is excited to continue bringing new energy and variety to the prepared foods case while keeping favorite staples in rotation. She’s already thinking ahead to tomato season, fresh peaches, lighter summer meals, and recipes that let simple ingredients shine.
“I’m a fan of minimal ingredients and bright flavors,” she says. “I’m excited for people to taste all the fresh seasonal food that’s coming.”
Above all, Blakely hopes every meal that leaves the market carries something more than convenience.
“I want people to feel like it was made with love,” she says. “From the conception of this market to the execution of the food, everything here has been done with such intention. I want people to know it was made for them.”