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Writer pursues passion for music, baking in his work

Writer Steven Gdula pursues whatever sparks his imagination.

"I built a whole career out of doing that," he said.

Discovering his passions for music and cooking at a young age, Beaverdale native Gdula combined his interests through writing articles and books. His music articles were published in magazines such as "Rolling Stone," "Details Magazine" and "The Advocate," while his cooking articles were featured in "Cooking Light."

He went on to publish "The Warmest Room in the House" in 2007, garnering reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and the New York Times. The Chicago Tribune also included it in their favorite books list of 2008.

In a two-book deal with Bloomsbury Publishing, Gdula released a gob cookbook three years later, "Gobba Gobba Hey," inspired by his own gob stand in San Francisco, where he sold different flavors of the cult-favorite treat during the early 2010s.

After closing the stand more than 10 years ago, he recently finished his first fiction novel, "The Cigarette I Left Moldering," loosely based on a southwestern Pennsylvania punk band during the 1970s.

While he has lived in Califor­nia for over 20 years, he attributes much of his creativity to his childhood home in Johnstown filled with music, cooking and family.

"I think so much of where I am is what my parents exposed us to, and I'm very fortunate in that regard," he said.

Musical influences

Gdula grew up hearing three languages in his home -- Hungarian, Slovak and Polish -- as his family has strong European roots. In a multicultural home, however, they communicated through cooking, baking and eating ethnic food.

"Sharing the food was probably one of the most important parts of the community that I grew up in," he said.

His parents, Peter and Helen, always had music playing in the house, which he said was his first love.

As the youngest boy to three sisters, Gdula inherited his sister's record collections, including 1970s hard rock, so his tastes were often a reflection of his sisters' tastes.

"Even at a young age, Steven was very creative and had a great imagination," his sister Terri Potchak said, mentioning that he also played the trumpet and the bass.

"He just has a knack for picking up an instrument and playing it," sister Judith McIntyre said. "He is a very talented bass player."

Attending Forest Hills School District, Gdula sang and played bass for his garage band made up of a few kids from Johnstown and Windber. Together, they played rock 'n' roll, new wave and a lot of music by the 1970s rock band The Ramones.

Before graduating high school, he auditioned for Penn State University's School of Music.

He didn't intend to study music because he was originally interested in journalism or film, but he eventually settled on the latter and studied on and off at PSU until 1985.

He then relocated to Baltimore for a marketing job without completing his bachelor's degree. After five years on the job, however, he decided the field wasn't for him and shifted to writing.

Working in a city sub shop to make ends meet, Gdula spent his spare time writing plays and poems, reading his work at cafes to see how his words affected people.

Taking the money he saved from quitting cigarette smoking, he started his first "free 'zine" called "ant" including stories focused on independent musicians, writers and artists. To get his circulation out, copies were distributed in music venues, coffee shops and record stores across Baltimore.

"It became fairly popular, and it gave me a byline for articles, interviews and reviews," he said.

His name in circulation caught the attention of larger publications such as Rolling Stone and CMJ New Music Monthly, which is how he became a self-employed journalist in 1997. He continued writing reviews for concert venues, dance clubs and LGBTQ+ bars for Sidewalk.com, a web arts guide owned by Microsoft.

It was love at first sight for Gdula when he met his now-husband, Lon Chapman, after reviewing a gay bar one night in 1997 on Capitol Hill.

"I knew I would spend the rest of my life with him," Gdula said. "That was 29 years ago."

After that, they moved to Washington, D.C., while Gdula continued music journalism until he partially lost his hearing from frequently covering venues with loud music. Gdula wanted to enjoy music again, and he said that Chapman suggested switching from music writing to food writing, as Gdula knows his way around a kitchen.

Chapman was honored that Gdula attributed the switch to Chapman's guidance, but he said that Gdula is already extremely talented.

"It was him," Chapman said. "He had it within him."

Whisking up success

Gdula remembers staying home from elementary school to create his own Jell-O desserts advertised in commercials during the 1970s. From that point on, he was at home in the kitchen.

Many of his cherished memories stem from the kitchen, whether it be baking eclairs from his mother's "Joy of Cooking" book or watching his mother and his sisters make Kiffles together. Inspired by the kitchen's influence, he wrote "The Warmest Room in the House," detailing how the room became the "heart of the 20th-century home." He analyzed food, design and socioeconomic trends to track this change throughout the decades.

McIntyre said their childhood kitchen was "absolutely the warmest room in the house."

"Everyone felt welcome," she said. "We laughed, we cried, it was everything in our kitchen."

Combining societal trends and personal stories, Gdula's book landed reviews in late 2007 and early 2008 from The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and the New York Times. It was also included on the Chicago Tribune's favorite books of 2008, beside "Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes."

"Gdula's more scholarly approach will have you amazed at just how far we have come in easing the drudgery of cooking," a past Chicago Tribune article states.

Meanwhile, Gdula was inspired by the growing street food craze in San Francisco after relocating in 2008, mentioning vendors who sold soup or creme brulee made from their home kitchens.

It wasn't long before he settled on selling Pennsylvania-inspired gobs in California.

"I had no idea that they were going to take off the way they did," he said.

Equipped with a clever Twitter handle -- "Gobba Gobba hey," which became the title of his gob cookbook -- Gdula broke the regional barrier with California customers, spreading the joy contained in the bite-sized Pennsylvania treat.

Baking soon took place inside a commercial kitchen, where Gdula would prepare about two flavors for regular weekday business or three flavors for events.

He sold gobs for events hosted by Levi's, the San Francisco Street Food Festival and Oakland's Eat Real Festival. Couples requested Gdula-made gobs for their Bay Area weddings.

Bloomsbury editor Kathy Belden was sold on a gob cookbook, so Gdula went to work.

In "Gobba Gobba Hey," he included 52 recipes, one for every week of the year, that range from original flavors to unheard-of mashups. He officially closed his location six months after the cookbook's publication.

Although he had a lot of fun running the business, he said it's a lot of work, balancing crazy baking schedules with book-writing.

"It was crazy, but it was some of the most exhilarating times of my life," he said.

Finding fiction writing

Shifting back into his full-time writing career, Gdula created "Dinosaur," a magazine geared toward people over 50 interested in the arts scene.

His first edition included an interview with singer and choreographer Toni Basil, but the magazine eventually folded, and he wrote for Chapman's clients at a marketing company until after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fiction writing wasn't necessarily on Gdula's radar until 2023, after reading "This Bird Has Flown" by The Bangles singer and guitarist Susanna Hoffs and "Parachute Women" by Elizabeth Winder, about the muses who inspired The Rolling Stones.

These works inspired Gdula to write his first fictional novel, "The Cigarette I Left Moldering," about a Southwestern Pennsylvania punk band during the 1970s. The title is a direct reference to one of the fictional songs in the story, songs Gdula wrote himself with his bass guitar.

Finishing his first draft about a year ago, he's currently agent shopping and remains hopeful about submitting it to prospective representatives in the fall.

Longtime friend Susan Smith proofread Gdula's copy and praised its contents, hoping that Gdula continues writing fiction.

"He's hysterical, and the story is fantastic," she said.

Potchak said her brother has maintained his Pennsylvania roots despite the distance.

"He's never lost sight of his roots," she said. "He's lived in California a number of years now, but he makes it a point to come home to visit family several times a year."

In his spare time, Gdula enjoys cooking and baking, notably hosting dinner parties for family and friends, as well as exercise, playing bass and gardening. And he always sets aside writing time.

Establish a writing habit, read your work in front of others and find a writing community, he said.

Regardless of the subject matter, Chapman said

Gdula's writing is intentional.

"You can tell he loves what he does, whether it's music journalism or writing about food and his works of fiction; it's all stuff he loves and it comes out of every word he writes," Chapman said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.