Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s Rebecca Halpern-directed ‘Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter’ is a gripping documentary that gives us a true insight into the titular late legendary culinarian. After all, it incorporates not just archival audio-video footage of the restaurateur himself but also exclusive interviews with those closest to him during his career before his 2013 passing. Amongst them was, of course, his son Dylan Trotter, yet he was merely heavily mentioned in the original production — he did not sit down feature to openly share his thoughts on his father.
Dylan Trotter Was 22 When He Lost His Father
It was May 24, 1991, when Charlie Trotter and his second wife Lynn Thomas welcomed his only child into this world, naming him Dylan after singer Bob Dylan since it was his 50th birthday. The truth is these parents sadly divorced when he was just 10 in late 2001, resulting in him spending a lot more time with his father at his namesake restaurant in Armitage Avenue, Chicago. However, this also led the father-son duo to build an unwavering connection despite the chef’s busy schedule, all the while the youngster and his mother strengthened their own unique bond.
Therefore, Dylan was well aware of his father’s various medical issues by the time the latter closed his establishment on its 25th anniversary in 2012, yet he never could have imagined what ensued. It was actually he who found Charlie lying unresponsive on his bed on that fateful November 5, 2013, just to later learn the 54-year-old he considered his hero had died in his sleep from a stroke. He had called the emergency services to have the chef rushed to a nearby hospital, but to no avail – he lost his dad at the tender age of 22, following which he admittedly did fall into a depression.
Dylan Trotter is Keeping His Father’s Legacy Alive
Even though Dylan’s grief was constant in those early days, weeks, months, as well as years, he knew almost immediately that he wanted his father’s memories and legacy to live on in his own way. So, he teamed up with his paternal grandmother to launch the Trotter Project in 2014, the initial base of which was the exact spot where the original Charlie Trotter’s restaurant had run for 25 years. This non-profit aims to provide various forms of culinary/nutritional education to communities and students in need while also hosting exclusive culinary events in the signature style of its namesake.
“I’m just excited to see what we can do. There’s a lot of potential, a lot of avenues we can go down,” Dylan had candidly said back then before adding, “I wanted to have the announcement around Father’s Day as a special way to pay tribute to my dad and grandfather [Bob Trotter; the restaurant’s behind the scenes partner) who started the restaurant together.”
Thus, today, even with more than a decade gone by, Dylan seemingly continues to be an active part of the Trotter Project, plus other philanthropic ventures affiliated with or started by his passionate father. He himself seems to have a passion for food too, but it is on a different level than Charlie’s, for whom he recently actually created an Instagram page to share old photos that highlight his work ethic, innovation, and precisely who he was for not just the food industry but also the people around him.
Dylan Trotter is a Proud Traveler, Partner, and Son
From what we can tell through Dylan’s online presence, he usually prefers to maintain his distance from the limelight — in other words, the information he shares is limited so as to protect his privacy. Nevertheless, it is evident he is doing his best to keep his father alive in his heart, all the while also pursuing his own individual interests of hiking, nature exploration, sports, as well as traveling. On a more personal front, he has even made it clear that he continues to share a great relationship with his mother, Lynn Thomas, and is currently involved in a happy, healthy romance with a woman named Aziza.
Read More: Charlie Trotter’s Wives: How Many Did He Have? Where Are They Now?
