YOU KNOW them as masters of the kitchen in some of the area's most popular restaurants. But what do Lancaster County chefs cook on their days off?

Do they bring their restaurant skills home, or do they make nothing more complicated than a ham sandwich?

We asked some culinary wizards those very questions. And their responses?

"I was tempted to say ‘as little as pos- sible,' " said Paul Lombardo, 56, executive chef at Lombardo's Italian-American Restaurant, on Harrisburg Pike, when quizzed about what he likes to cook in his own kitchen.

"A lot of times, it's a chicken dish. We try to eat healthy," he said of himself and his girlfriend.

Whether it's chicken, lasagna or a good old-fashioned steak, here's what local cooks had to say about their day-off cuisine.

Cooking for the kids - six of them, in fact - keeps John Martin busy on his day off at his home near Marietta.

But that's OK, said the executive chef at the Cameron Estate Inn, Mount Joy.

"When I'm off, I definitely cook for the family," said Martin, 48. "Monday's our special day."

A Virginia native, he credits family talent for his own. "My grandmother was the greatest Southern cook I ever met!"

The Martin brood is made up of daughters Kia, 17, who helps Martin at the Cameron Estate kitchen in prep work; Gabrielle, 14, who helps in banquet serving at the inn; Caitlin, 9, and Mykala, 5.

Then there are sons Johnnie Jr., 16, a star on the Donegal High School football and track teams, and Tyler, 13, who plays midget football for Donegal Middle School.

Yes, that adds up to a lot of hungry.

Meatloaf and chicken fingers are two favorites in the Martin kitchen, "but don't get me wrong - they like lasagna!" Martin said.

Yet watching their father cook is a learning experience for the Martin children, especially the younger ones.

"I try to give my kids, as they're growing up, an ideal about food," the chef said. He's been known to wear his Cameron Estate white chef's coat around the house and will garnish meals, on occasion, "to show the little kids" in the family "that this is what we do."

Ingredients are kept simple, but flavorful. Even the humble macaroni and cheese will feature Jarlsberg, a cheese of Norwegian origin. Sometimes, something like Sockeye Salmon will show up on the home menu. And it's a big day in the household when Martin makes his Southern-influenced pineapple upside-down cake, which requires a sleight-of-hand - and a bang of the pan on the kitchen counter! - to unveil it just right.

"They know I like flavor!" said Martin, citing as an example his Jamaican Pepper Steak, which Johnnie Jr. says is his favorite.

DANIELLA WARD, executive chef at FENZ Restaurant, near Franklin & Marshall College, has a couple of secrets regarding home cooking.

"Personally, my favorite food group is sandwiches," she admitted. Plus, "my guilty pleasure is ordering sushi."

Ward, 26, has been with the restaurant since its opening in 2007. There, she creates such fare as Roasted Poussin Chicken and Grilled Ahi Tuna, but in her own city kitchen, it's "anything quick and easy."

Though she said that "it sounds sad that sandwiches are what I eat the most," there's an upside.

"I can turn anything into a sandwich!"

And not just ham and cheese on white. Her favorite creation: a sandwich made from "turkey, ham, hummus, sun-dried tomato, pesto, avocado and Swiss ... grilled like a grilled cheese."

Ward also enjoys getting together with food-minded friends; together they'll create multiple courses for a memorable meal. "If somebody wants to cook for me," however, she said, "absolutely!"

"I definitely cook at home. I love it," said Quinn Hacker, executive chef at Reflections. The 28-year-old Hacker, who has been at the longtime Leola restaurant for 1½ years, likes "comfort food - stews, baked pastas, things you put in [while you] just keep doing other things." He's also fond of pork and sauerkraut.

"There's no stress in making any of them," Hacker said, and that's the point - at Reflections he crafts such dishes as Pan Seared Day Boat Scallops with roasted garlic risotto. Nothing like that finds its way into Hacker's kitchen at home, where he cooks for his girlfriend.

"Just keep it simple," he advises would-be home cooks. "When you put too many ingredients in it, things get complicated."

Family - at home and extended - is what has Mark Wolownik cooking in not one but two family kitchens on his weekend.

When working, Wolownik, 40, helms the kitchen at Symposium, just off Centerville Road. At home, he lives in Manheim Township with his wife, Jennifer, 37, and their daughter, Molly, who just turned 5.

"My off-days," Wolownik, said, "are busy with family."

That means spending Sundays with his parents, Ray and Kathy, in their Willow Street home, where Wolownik joins his brother and sister and their families (and an aunt and uncle or two) for a traditional Sunday dinner. Wolownik mans the stove, but he has willing assistance.

"Usually, my father loves to cook," Wolownik said. "My mother gets us started, and we play around in the kitchen. We do the cooking, so we don't have to clean up!"

Generations past would smile at the Sunday menu: "a big roast beef [or] roast pork, mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables." All of that serves anywhere from "12 to 18 to 20" people, Wolownik said proudly.

At his own home with wife and daughter, things are simpler.

"We put our hands in the freezer" to see what's there, Wolownik said, but that often means Omaha steaks, a frequent holiday and anniversary gift from Jennifer's parents. That makes a good excuse to grill, year-round.

"My daughter loves it when we go outside and fire up the grill," Wolownik said.

AT HAYDN ZUG'S, in East Petersburg, it's not one but three guys who keep the restaurant kitchen going. At the home of Executive Chef Byron Kehr, 38, however, there's one caveat: "No fine-dining cooking on the day off. We order out. Pizza. My kids love pizza."

Sous Chef Dwayne Spencer, 36, likes grilling. "No dirty dishes," Spencer summed up. Plus, daughter Koryn, 12½, "loves when I cook for her. She likes it when I make breakfast food for dinner!"

For Chef de Cuisine Jason Black, 33, who shares his home with his wife, Karen, 37, time off is time to experiment "and get my wife to try things, to get her out of her comfort zone."

But the couple's 5-year-old doesn't get to enjoy that option. That's because she's a German Shepherd. "She does not eat table food," Black said.

"It's what I do to relax," said Steve Brown, 45, owner of Ephrata's Lily's on Main, of cooking at his own place.

"It's not as relaxing on the job!"

During the summer, he lives for his outdoor grill, where chicken, fish or steak are staples, "always with grilled vegetables" and always garnished with roasted peppers, which he gets from a local farmer's market.

In winter, Sunday family dinners are the order of the day, with wife Karen, 47, daughters, Lily, 12, and Olivia, 10, and son David, 6. Again simplicity is king of the kitchen: spaghetti with homemade meatballs "or chicken broccoli pesto pasta." Yes, Brown's children eat broccoli. "My kids are terrific eaters!" he enthused.

recipes from Chef John Martin follow:

JAMAICAN PEPPER STEAK

2 pounds sirloin beef, cubed

2 bell peppers, cut in half (see notes below)

2 onions, cut in half (see notes below)

2 tablespoons minced garlic, available in a jar

1 tablespoon jerk seasoning

1 dash hot sauce

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup vinegar

Salt and pepper, to taste

3 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons butter

Put all ingredients in pot except flour and butter. Let simmer 45 minutes over low-to-medium heat until all liquid is released.

Combine butter and flour to make a roux. Thicken stew and let simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Serve over rice or noodles.

Notes: For the peppers, Martin said it's OK to use "red, green, yellow - whatever you want for flavor." If hot peppers are preferred, that's fine, too, Martin said.

As for the onions, he likes Vidalias, but said cooks are welcome to use "any kind they want" when it comes to type and size.

CHEF JOHN'S MEATLOAF

5 pounds ground beef

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped peppers

1 cup stuffing mix

3 eggs

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon fresh garlic

1 tablespoon coriander

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup barbecue sauce

¼ cup ketchup

Mix all ingredients into a loaf.

Cook meatloaf for 1½ hours at 350 F. Top finished loaf with barbecue sauce and ketchup.

SEARED SOCKEYE SALMON WITH WHEAT BULGAR RICE, PESTO AND PINE NUTS

1 box Near East wheat pilaf

¼ cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons pesto

Salt, paprika, pepper and parsley, to taste

2 tablespoons oil

2 sockeye salmons filets

Follow box instructions for pilaf. Add pine nuts, pesto, salt, paprika, pepper, parsley and oil.

Heat pan until almost smoking. Sear salmon for two minutes each side. Serve with pilaf.

JARLSBERG & CHEDDAR MACARONI AND CHEESE

1 quart half-and-half

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk (Do not use sweetened condensed milk)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

5 ounces Jarlsberg cheese, grated

½ pounds Colby cheese, grated

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 box macaroni noodles

Mix together half-and-half, can of milk and eggs. Bring up slowly over low heat; stir. Mix flour and butter in a separate container; add to milk mixture. Add cheeses and all spices. Cook macaroni and let cool. Pour cheese sauce over pasta and bake at 350 F for 1 hour.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

¼ pounds butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 can crushed pineapple

1 box yellow cake mix

In a medium cast-iron skillet on stove top, melt butter and brown sugar, then add pineapple.

Follow box instructions for cake mix. Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour cake batter into skillet and bake in oven for 55 minutes. Remove from oven; turn out onto plate.

Stephen Kopfinger is a Sunday News staff writer.