June 25, 2024 • 54 mins
Join us as we dive deep into the world of culinary excellence with Chef Darren Smith, a renowned restaurateur and culinary maestro. In this episode, Darren shares his inspiring journey from his early days in the kitchen to becoming a successful restaurant owner. Discover the secrets behind running a thriving restaurant, including the importance of hiring great talent and fostering a positive work environment.
Darren reveals the core values that guide his restaurant's success: creating an inviting atmosphere, serving exceptional food promptly, and maintaining menu integrity. Aspiring chefs will gain valuable insights as Darren offers advice on learning from seasoned professionals, exploring cookbooks, and embracing family food traditions.
We also explore Darren's personal life, from cherished memories of his grandparents' frugal yet delicious meals to his own tradition of cooking for family and friends. Learn about his passion for local ingredients and the strong relationships he's built with farmers and fishmongers.
Darren takes us behind the scenes of his experience on ChefSwap and the thrill of competing on a cooking show. Plus, get insider tips on hidden culinary gems in Conway and the surrounding area.
Don't miss this captivating episode filled with culinary wisdom, personal anecdotes, and invaluable advice for food enthusiasts and aspiring chefs alike.
Rivertown Bistro
Bonfire- A Smokin' Taqueria
Special Thanks:
Visit Myrtle Beach
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Everyone has a story to tell.
We connect and relate to oneanother when we share our
stories.
My name is Amelia Old and I amyour host of Voices of
Inspiration.
Join me as I share stories offriends, family and strangers
from my everyday life andtravels.
You will laugh, possibly cry orwalk away, feeling connected
more than ever to those aroundyou and ready to be the change
(00:24):
our world needs.
Everyone has a story to tell.
What's yours?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So thank you so much for joining me today and taking
time out of your crazy busyschedule and just to tell me a
little bit about your story inthe culinary world.
I really appreciate you beingwith me today.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm happy to be here.
As usual, both restaurants arejust full tilt.
I've got great crews at boththose, so they're handling
things, which allows me to spendsome time chatting with you
things, which allows me to spendsome time chatting with you.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now.
Let's start with that, becauseyou told me when I met you you
have employees that have beenwith you a really long time, and
I thought that was soimpressive.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, I've been real fortunate.
I don't know what all thecircumstances were that brought
it together, but I've been reallucky to hire very good people.
Of course, I like to think Itreat them well, pay them as
much as I can and make sure theyget paid and give them a good
(01:37):
working environment andtherefore in this industry,
which is known for really highturnover, I've had people
working with me over two decades.
At Rivertown Bistro.
My general manager has beenwith me roughly 18 years, my
chef roughly 20 years.
(02:00):
Wow, he started off as adishwasher and a prep cook and
just moved up through the ranks,you know, and I'm fortunate to
have solid people that werewilling to learn, adapt and grow
with me as I've grown on myculinary journey.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I think that's really amazing.
They must love what they do,and I think that's great to find
people like that as well.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, there's a true passion for them.
My general manager, lee, isoutstanding, service-oriented.
It helps that she's a good cook, a foodie, she knows wines,
she's just stellar.
She gets along really well withmy wife.
My wife has backed off of theday-to-day operations.
(02:47):
It used to be she and I dailyat Rivertown when we opened 30
years ago.
She did all the front of thehouse and the wine ordering and
she's still integral in all that.
My wife Cindy, and actuallyshe's in the house on her
computer.
She's taking her Psalm course.
So she's still got the passiontoo.
(03:09):
And then Terry, my chef, onceagain started off dishing, moved
slowly up the ranks throughgarbage, desserts, grill, saute.
He can do everything in thekitchen that I can do.
And he's younger and so that'sa plus, because cooking is a
young man's sport.
(03:29):
I can still hang with the guys,I show them technique and new
things all the time for eighthours, day in and day out.
It's kind of grueling.
So I let the young guys kind ofdo that on the daily, but I'm
(03:49):
still around.
I'm usually at either of therestaurants anywhere from 10 to
12 hours a day.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
What inspired you to pursue a career in the culinary
world?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
That's funny.
I attended Winthrop University,which is right outside of
Charlotte, purely to play soccer.
It's Um, I I really didn't know.
But then reality started to setin, like what if I can't play?
(04:32):
Or what if something happenedto my legs or something?
And my brother at the time, uh,had graduated uh, culinary
school up in Rhode Island.
We're both from the Southeast,he was born in Tennessee, I was
born in Charleston, but he sungthe praises of cooking.
And this is back before.
It was cool to be a cook.
(04:53):
There were no cooking shows.
I mean, there was like theGalloping Gourmet which I
started to get hooked on and itwas this chef, uh, I forget what
country it was from, butpasquale, I think it was italian
, but I would watch both of them, um, and some other various
shows.
But he sung the praises of youknow just cooking and how it
(05:18):
makes you feel, and thecamaraderie.
And you know, if you surroundyourself with good cooks and
you're sending out good food,you're making people happy, the
immediacy of a meal course aftercourse, in the span of a couple
of hours, people will come backinto the kitchen oftentimes and
say, hey, that was one of thebest dishes I've ever had, or
(05:39):
we're celebrating ouranniversary and we're here
because the food's so good.
Um, and once I started cookingin that frame of mind, um, it
just takes over all your senses.
Uh, it gives you a good purpose.
Um, pleasing other people, it'san honest trade.
You'll always eat, I mean,there's just so many pluses
about it.
(05:59):
So, um, I love it as much as Idid the first day I started
doing it and it clicked with me,and I like to spread that out
to all of my employees, justthat you know, working in the
kitchen or working servingtables isn't anything to be.
I don't know.
(06:21):
I think some people look at itas a stepping stone to get to a
career.
I think this is a career, andan important one, because I
think not enough people gatheraround a dinner table and eat
good, delicious, fresh food.
Enough.
Everyone's too frantic,everyone.
Oh, let's just pick up, carryout.
(06:42):
You know, don't get me wrongwrong I like carry out
occasionally, but I just reallyenjoy the the meal aspect.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I love that.
Can you share a memorableexperience from maybe your early
days in the kitchen that sortof shaped your approach to
cooking?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
um, I had, uh.
I moved from Rock Hill, whereWinthrop was, down to Mount
Pleasant to live with my dad andmy goal was to work at Johnson
and Wales.
So I toured the school andsubsequently I had enough
credits that would attribute toan associate's degree on an
(07:23):
accelerated program.
But I had to get some practicalexperience, which I'm very
thankful for.
I didn't just start culinaryschool, they wanted me in the
field learning sort of theschool of hard knocks and I
worked at a few sort of diverestaurants.
And then I walked into thisrestaurant that was on Shem
Creek, coleman Boulevard, rightbeside Shem Creek.
(07:45):
It was called Locklear's andeveryone in the kitchen got
along really well and there weresome true Southern Geechee guys
that had that thick Geecheeaccent and their grandmothers
had taught them how to cook.
My grandmothers had taught themhow to cook.
(08:16):
So these guys were my age tomid-20s and knew how to cook
grits and okra and all thisdelicious stuff.
But they could also sautesnapper and make bernets
restaurant, where we're makingeverything from scratch, and the
mother sauces.
And if you had an idea, thechef was very stubborn but he
would come around and acceptthat you did want to learn.
We would always have to dothings his way, but it was such
(08:39):
an important thing for me to seewhy butter, when it's clarified
clarified emulsifies into eggyolks, because every day we're
doing it and I just alwayswanted to know why and how much
lemon juice and a little bit ofsalt and some tarragon reduction
, and how it transforms thishollandaise into this delicious
(09:02):
sauce.
That's probably my first memoryof me making something.
And then we draped it over, howit was, on a filet.
We also did it on a spicedchicken breast, with these
roasted potatoes, with thisdelicate buttery sauce, and it
just I remember we cooked it andwe all ate it and I was just
thrilled that I had preparedthis dish.
(09:25):
Um, that's probably my earliestmemory of working in a
professional kitchen and makingsomething the first time.
But then the repetitive aspectof making that dish as close as
you can so that if three peopleat a six top get it, each plate
looks the same, tastes the same.
I found the importance in thatas well.
(09:47):
So there are a lot of thingsthat you absorb, especially as a
younger person.
When you come into aprofessional environment like
that.
Some people are like, oh, 12hours and it's hot and I could
cut myself and there's flamesand no, this isn't for me.
I've seen it day in and day out.
(10:14):
But some people like myself gobring it on.
I love it.
Let's get busy.
Let's do 20 more people than wedid last night, and last night
we did 20 more than the previousnight.
It's that adrenaline rush.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Now you've.
Now you've run severalsuccessful restaurants and you
have a couple of successfulrestaurants.
Now, what values or principlesguide your approach to running a
successful restaurant?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
I think the nuts and bolts have to be from the ground
up.
You want a good atmosphere.
You want good food served in atimely fashion.
You want enough variety thatpeople a mixed group of people
can all find something that theylike.
You have to get the food to thetable.
(11:00):
When I moved to Conway Irealized it's the county seat,
so a lot of attorneys onschedules.
We weren't on the coast withthis four hour lunch that people
could enjoy.
They come in every now and then.
You might sell a glass of wine,but people are wanting a sweet
tea.
(11:20):
Their lunch in about 15 minutesafter being seated and then
they're on their way.
And once you could do that, wecould pack the house.
So we learned to um, cook reallygood food really quickly.
Um, and prepare ourselves anddo as much as we could to make
it easier on ourselves.
(11:42):
You know you can.
You certainly can't boil pastato order or make risottos, so
you learn to part these thingsoff.
Go ahead and have yourvegetables cut, or maybe the
longer cooking root vegetablespre-roasted, doing all these
touches that some people mightconsider sandbagging, but I
(12:02):
consider it being smart.
Um, lining your pantry withinfused oils and spice blends
and different garnishes, um,compound butters in your freezer
, um, all of a sudden you canmake these world-class dishes
and people are like wow, and youjust used your arsenal of stuff
.
Sudden, you can make theseworld-class dishes and people
are like, wow, and you just usedyour arsenal of stuff that
(12:24):
you've prepared.
Yeah, I think it's important agood environment, good food and
truth in menu.
Um, you know, I've eaten inplenty of places where you read
something on the menu and whenit comes out it's like this is
not grouper or they say theseare local, whatever, and it
doesn't appear to be that way.
(12:44):
So I don't know why peoplewould do that.
It's so much easier to say whatyou're going to do and do what
you're going to say, I guess.
But I'm a big fan of you know, Iwas changing the menu very
frequently, but I learned that Ikind of need to keep a core
menu in place and two or threetimes a year we change, because
(13:07):
now I don't really want rootvegetables and that kind of
stuff, and asparagus is poppingup, you know, and there's some
hyper seasonal foods that Ithoroughly enjoy, thoroughly
enjoy, but I can't do fiddleheadferns and ramps and these
ingredients that I really enjoygetting um all throughout the
summer.
So I get a bunch in and I'llmake the ramp uh, the green part
(13:31):
of the ramp into tubs and tubsof pesto and stick them in the
freezer and then pickle thewhites and, um, you know, pickle
morel mushrooms or whatever,just to elongate the season for
myself and to let others enjoyit that way.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
You know, I think that that is really important to
keep the menu, you know,somewhat the same, because it
can be frustrating as someonedining in a restaurant and
you're going there for aspecific dish and then the menu
has been changed and people likewhat they like, right, and so
they're coming to you oftentimesbecause there's something
(14:09):
specific on that menu that theyjust have a craving for, that
they really want.
So I do think that that isimportant.
You know, as a diner thatseeing a restaurant kind of
stick to you know that coregroup of dishes.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Well, and yeah, for sure, and I purposely rotate
dishes from 30 years ago, um,and it's funny for me to do that
, and I think to myself how isit that you know I wrote a menu
30 years ago we opened June in1994, and I had some pretty fun
(14:46):
things on the menu and I'lldescribe a few of them.
But I had just learned abouttapenade and I loved to smear it
on a meaty fish and roast it inthe oven with panko breadcrumbs
mixed with pine nuts as thecrust and simply serve that over
caramelized onions.
It was simple, it was delicious, it was packed full of flavor
(15:12):
and it was something that Icould do, because I was
basically the only cook and Icould do that well and I could
serve that and people really,really liked it.
And at the same time, on thesame menu, I had a black, a
lightly blackened dolphin and Istill black and stuff to this
day.
Um, one of the previous chefsthat I worked with uh got Paul
(15:35):
Prudhomme's cookbook and, um, we, we just devoured that book.
Every recipe how to make rue,uh, gumbos, etouffees, you name
it.
Um, I got engrossed in that too,and that you know that was uh,
early mid eighties.
Uh, um, and that's when Istarted to get intrigued in that
(15:58):
, probably about 87, 88.
Um, I started to get intriguedin that probably about 87, 88.
Um, I could be wrong, but Ithink so.
But anyway, I would blackenthis dolphin and I put it on a
jalapeno grit cake.
So there was a restaurant inCharleston that had just opened
and I want to say they did thegrit cake or maybe I saw it, I
forget where I saw it.
Um, but I thought I'll make itmy own and I'll put diced up,
(16:21):
pickled jalapenos in it to addto that heat and I'm going to
blacken it and then I'm going tocool it all with a blue crab
cream poured over the top andthen I'll just do some seasonal
vegetables or maybe zucchini andsquash on the side.
So those are two dishes.
You know, I could flat top, Icould drop the great cake, I
would pre-make the sauce, thecrab cream, and keep it up high.
(16:44):
I could roast the fish in theoven.
So I had these two dishes andthen I had a steak, I had a
couple of pastas and I just kindof learned to do these things
that were fresh and good andvery flavorful but not locked in
.
You know this was kind of lowcountry, this is kind of
Mediterranean, and I was pullingfrom all these different areas
(17:05):
and foods that I had eaten atand liked and I took great joy
in that.
So I don't like to bepigeonholed.
I call my restaurant RivertownBistro, not that it's a
Brasserie or a French Bistro,even though I love Razzare's and
bistros and that's one of mygo-tos when I eat out of town.
But I do want mussels with goodcrusty bread or French fries,
(17:30):
and I have French onion soup onmy menu.
But we also have references toJamaica.
We have Jamaican jerk sauce onmy menu, I've got risotto.
I've got through and through lowcountry and I think it's
important to use local stuff.
I'm so tired of the monikerfarm to table, because if you're
(17:54):
not doing that, what exactlyare you doing?
But I think people say that waytoo much.
It's just like of course youshould use local because it's
local, and why wouldn't you?
But that also doesn't stop mefrom getting salmon flown in,
because people really likesalmon and I can't get salmon
here and I don't know.
(18:15):
I just think submergingyourself into doing things, or
at least try to do things theright way your hiring practices,
the way you prep, the way youtreat your ingredients, all the
way down to recycling.
I think it's important to tryyour best.
Sometimes you don't make it allthe way, sometimes it's maybe
(18:40):
at the end of the day I'm likeman, I feel like I only did 85%,
you know.
Well, that's okay.
Sometimes, you know, you justpick yourself up, dust yourself
off and the next day you attemptit again.
One of my favorite cookbookauthors, charlie Trotter, you
know he recently passed.
I was lucky enough to eat athis restaurant, but he had
(19:00):
wonderful quotes through hisrestaurant, through his
cookbooks, and one of them wasfrom another chef.
But it basically said and I'lljust paraphrase that unlike most
other occupations, the chefstarts new every single day.
I mean, you're going into ahopefully a clean stove, empty
pans, and here comes yourproduct and you break down the
(19:23):
fish and you chop yourvegetables and you do that.
You get a clean slate every dayand you can say, okay, gosh,
this is a lot of work.
Or you can say I'm going tomake this stuff delicious and
I'm going to have fun preppingit and we're going to have a
good night's service and beforewe know it, we're going to be
mopping our stations down, andthen we'll have a glass of wine
and toast the night, and thenwe're going to do it all over
(19:43):
again tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I love that.
What has been, you think, oneof the biggest challenges that
you faced through your journey,and how did you overcome it?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Even in a really good economy, with low food prices
and abundant labor, what else?
When everything's like hittingon all cylinders, a restaurant
is very difficult to runprofitably.
So my wife and I have alwaystried to put everything under
(20:20):
the magnifying glass, holdingall of our purveyors to the task
of yes, I want the best, I willpay top dollar for the best,
but I don't want you to thenthink I want to pay top dollar
for flour and salt and stuffthat you can gouge me in other
areas.
So I think it's reallyimportant to build relationships
(20:40):
, not only with my workers andwe're a family there but my
purveyors.
When they come in and theybring people in reps, I want to
buy their lunch.
I'm not looking for freebiesfor them, I want to see their
products and I want the purveyorand my local guy to know that
they can come eat with me and Ilike them.
(21:01):
I don't look at them as like.
I've been in situations whereI've seen other restaurant
owners and chefs treat theirsalesmen and yell at them like
they're underlings, like my fishdidn't come in and it's your
fault, you're going to have todo this.
I mean, we're all trying to dothe right thing.
So, um, I think you know,keeping things in perspective,
(21:42):
putting everything under themagnifying glass and holding
yourself and everyone else totask is important.
Sure, people look at me and goman, that guy has two
restaurants and you know he can,you know, probably makes a lot
of money.
The profit margin is so smallin what we do.
Um, I do take advantage ofeating really, really good food
and drinking delicious wines andgoing on trips to food
destinations, wine destinations,where the people that I
purchased from take care of usand let us stay for free and
(22:05):
give us private tours.
Those aspects are invaluable tome.
That's where I'm wealthyMonetarily.
I think Mondavi said and I'llliken it to a restaurant, but he
said you want to know how tomake a small fortune in the wine
industry, start with a largefortune.
(22:25):
And that's probably my favoritequote, because at the end of it
all, you have a small fortunebut look what fun you've had and
you've sold your stuff andyou've made other people happy.
You know, of course I want tosave money and I have a daughter
that's the light of my life andshe's in college now.
So putting her through schooland I grew up, uh, not as
(22:50):
fortunate as a lot of mycontemporaries.
Um, my, my family didn't make alot of money, so I appreciated
the smaller things in life andthe fact that we would go out to
dinner maybe every other month.
My dad would save his money andwe would go out to a nice place
to get a steak and maybe learnthe value of it.
(23:11):
My parents never gave me a caror anything.
I would work my butt off tohave some of the nicer things in
life and do good enough to buymy daughter a car and pay her
way through school and not spoilher to the extent where she
expects it, but teach her thevalue of life and what to do and
(23:36):
take nothing for granted.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I can relate to you in a lot of ways with that.
You know I also didn't grow up,you know, wealthy I didn't.
You know my family didn't havea lot.
But one thing that is importantto me, like yourself, are the
experiences that we have alongthe way and growing from those
and experiencing those with ourloved ones, and even with our
(24:03):
children two are who adults nowand we still have one at home.
One of our favorite things todo with the holidays is give
them a gift of an experience,whether that's a trip with us,
you know, one-on-one time,concert tickets, you know, an
activity they really wanted todo but an experience where that
(24:23):
they can create these memoriesand it's not something that
they're just going to toss tothe side in six months.
So I think that those thingsare really incredible and
important.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
I think that's just fantastic.
That gave me goosebumps.
I think that's so important.
You know, like you say, aroundthe holidays, you know what is
the reason for the season.
You know we all, we always uh,pause for the true reason.
But then of course we want torip into some fun gifts.
(24:54):
But then we do the same thingtoo.
We want to um plan a trip andum, sometimes we'll even skip
the whole tradition.
I will say we kind of miss thetraditions when we do it, but we
do.
We'll book a trip to New Yorkover the Christmas holiday and
(25:16):
get a nice hotel room and bringa little Charlie Brown tree and
candles that smell like pine, sowe have that feeling like we're
at home.
But then we're walking the cityand it's snowing and we're
eating at Jean Georges or Per Seor a hot dog from the street
cart, and man talk about somefun memories.
(25:36):
So yeah, we're very similar inthose respects.
I think that's awesome,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
So what advice would you give to aspiring chefs who
want to build a career in theculinary industry?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Read, collect cookbooks when you get out of
culinary school.
You are not a chef school.
You are not a chef.
Work under several good chefs,but spend time.
Don't work for two months andthink you've learned somebody's
(26:18):
technique, work ethic.
Work for somebody for a year,work for another place for a
year or two and then startdeveloping your situation, what
you think you want to do.
I just think I'm a mentor.
(26:39):
I sit on the culinary board forthe culinary school and I'm very
good friends with all the chefsout there, and when they get an
up and comer, that's reallygood.
We're one of the places thatthey'll send, and that's my
first thing to tell them is tojust, you know, go in to my
(27:01):
restaurant and be clean, beorganized, listen and then
slowly develop.
I think that's the biggestthing, is to just take it all in
, take every aspect in, watchhow the service is, watch how um
people move, um, when you'rewalking behind somebody and you
(27:24):
say behind you and you know allthe little, there's so many
little jargon, whatever you wantto call it, in the, the
restaurant business, in thekitchen, um, that that's its
whole language in itself.
Um.
So if you mesh, maybe um, astage or a you or a cooking
(27:48):
experience or some cooking withsome good chefs, and you get
some cookbooks and you look atthem and you read them and you
look at them.
I get them more for thepictures.
I collect cookbooks.
I have hundreds.
I don't get them to getsomebody's recipe so that I can
make their scone or something,even though maybe you know I
(28:08):
would.
But I get it because I want tosee the chef's mentality, I want
to read who the person was thatwrote the foreword and I want
to know that the grandma didthis way and then I switched it
up to make it this way.
You know, there's always a goodstory in them.
So young chefs should do thatand look at your family and how
(28:30):
your family ate.
Like I said, I grew up with fishsticks and jarred applesauce
and I had never had fresh fish.
I didn't know.
I thought barbecue came in acan.
I'm not kidding Castleberry'sbarbecue.
I'll eat it to this day.
Chef Boyardee pizza that's whatI thought pizza was.
(28:53):
Um.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I've got a box.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Exactly, Exactly.
And um, if I make the ChefBoyardee pizza with that stinky
Pecorino Romano canned cheesethat I love and it's baking in
the oven Romano canned cheesethat I love and it's baking in
the oven I go all the way backto eighth grade watching six
million dollar man and Logan'srun.
And I'm in the den and my momand dad are in the kitchen and
(29:17):
my brother's on the couch.
I'm laying on the floor andthat's the smell.
That's like aromatherapy to me.
Just things like that, likejarred ragu sauce.
Do I serve that at myrestaurants?
No, but do I?
eat that at home often it's justa childhood thing.
I think I think it's just goodto uh, I look at how each of my
(29:42):
grandparents treated mealtime.
My dad's mom very, very frugal,grew up through the depression,
didn't have a lot of money, andthen her, my dad's dad, was a
fireman and ironically gotten awreck with another fire truck
(30:03):
and passed away when my dad waslike 14.
And subsequently his momremarried about 10 years later
to a guy that did have money,but that didn't stop them from
being frugal.
They would tear a bounty papertowel in half and that would be
our dinner napkin, and when wewould eat over there.
(30:23):
She didn't necessarily cook, shewould get the leftover stovetop
stuffing from two nights agoand maybe one piece of personal
pan pizza from five or six daysago and she would have the
cooler clean out is what wewould call it on our way over
there to eat, and we loved it.
My mom's parents had a gardenand they didn't have a whole lot
(30:47):
of money, but we would eatfresh silver queen corn and pick
watermelon and we would alwayseat chicken, never any fish.
But still I take away fromthose instances and I cherish
them and I cherish them and.
I like to do those kind ofthings for my wife, of course,
(31:13):
my daughter and my daughter'sfriends.
We've even started a tradition.
Sophia has nine suite mates andwhen I met them on moving in
day I said I think it'd be coolfor me to cook for you girls.
Of course I want you to come tothe restaurants, but I would
love to open up my home.
We have a big dining table andI would like to cook for you
(31:34):
girls.
You know, of course I want youto come to the restaurants, but
I would love to open up my home.
We have a a a big dining tableand I would like to cook for
y'all and give you a home cookedmeal.
And they said can you do ittonight?
And I did.
And subsequently we do it oncea month.
They come over.
If it's nice, they swim in thepool.
If it's cold, we light a fireand I've cooked anything that.
There's favorite dishes fromtheir childhood.
I'll recreate whether it's.
They call it pasta with gravy.
(31:57):
All these girls are from newengland, like new hampshire,
boston, none of them are fromaround here, so that's been cool
too to hear where they comefrom lobster bakes and all this
other stuff.
So I learned a little bit fromthem.
So it's like full circle.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
To go back to.
You were talking about some ofthe meals that make you think of
home and bring back thesememories.
It's funny how that works, Imean, even for me the same.
There are times where, you knowwe grew up, a bowl of pinto
beans would have been dinner.
Or you know, my mother wouldmake the have these little
(32:35):
dinner rolls and put a slice ofham in it and that was dinner,
you know.
And so now sometimes I do findcomfort in great Northern beans
or pinto beans and okra andthings like that.
You know, I'm definitely verysouthern, but one of the treats
and my kids always thought thiswas funny because you know, you
couldn't just buy like whateveryou wanted at the grocery store,
(32:58):
and something as simple as abag of ruffle potato chips and
the French onion dip was onlyyou had that for birthdays and
that was it.
And so I would still, when mykids were even little, we I
would still buy that, and I'm,you know, of course I can buy it
.
You know what I want.
(33:19):
Now I'm like this is a, this isa treat, this was like a
special thing, and even now Ifind myself when I want like
that treat or that snack, that'sone of my go-tos, which is so
funny, you know, looking back onthat, and the same with my kids
.
They come home to visit Well,what would you like me to make
(33:40):
for when you were younger?
Or they just come home withtheir request.
You know they're ready.
They want this Monday, thisTuesday, this Wednesday, right,
yeah, yeah.
So how has Conway influencedyour culinary style and the
atmosphere of your restaurants?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
That's a good question.
I came here from Charleston.
When Charleston was just goingthrough its sort of renaissance,
I spoke to you about arestaurant that opened.
It was Magnolia's DonaldBarrackman.
He ended up being not like abest friend, but I knew him.
Some of his line cooks I becamefriends with just because they
(34:25):
would like date the server ofthe kitchen that I was working
at.
But he he opened up and then um, peninsula grill.
So now it's like blown up, it's, it's crazy.
So when I came up here, I had abackbone of being a good cook.
I knew I was a good cook.
(34:47):
A backbone of being a good cook.
I knew I was a good cook.
I wanted to be a good chef.
Oh, back to that and this isparallel for the questions about
being a chef To me, if you'regoing to be a chef, or call
yourself a chef, you better knowhow to answer any question in
your kitchen.
Oh, this vinaigrette hasshattered, why?
(35:10):
How do I re-emulsify?
All right, this snapper, or isthis yellowtail or triple tail
or golden tile?
What is this fish?
Here's four fish in the walk-in.
You should be able to knowwhere the pin bones are.
You should be able to breakdown whatever it is on your menu
, whatever it is you're serving.
(35:35):
You know Thomas Keller has theBible of cookbooks.
A lot of chefs think, and hegoes through the importance of
trusting a chicken.
He went to one of his firstrestaurant jobs, thinking he was
a chef, and the French chefsaid, here, trust these chickens
.
And he flipped it over and helooked at it and he took some
twine and he tied the legstogether.
He said that chef got so mad athim he threw a knife at him.
(35:58):
I don't know if he's like overembellishing, but it was a life
lesson for him that you don't goaround boasting I'm a chef.
If you're not a chef you shouldbe able to saute, grill, cook
to temperature, um, just everyaspect of it.
That that's very important.
(36:18):
And then back to your questionabout Conway.
I've really grown since I'velived here.
I guess the Conway aspect wouldbe getting to know.
I was very fortunate that mylandlord when I first moved to
town I assumed the lease of anexisting restaurant and the
landlord, uh, was George Jenkins, one of my best customers and
(36:42):
ended up being a dear friend,but he was a gardener.
His family had a lot of property, to the point that he owned a
lot of property on 501, the maindrag in Conway and he sold that
property to Chick-fil-A and abunch of these big companies.
So George Jenkins the farmerreally had a lot of money and
(37:07):
you wouldn't really know it.
I dressed nicely and drove apickup truck, ate at my
restaurant a whole lot with hiswife and family.
But as far as a farmer, Iremember one of the first days
after I was in there kind ofrenovating and doing stuff, he
came to the back door withbanana, peppers and asparagus
and I'm like, oh my goodness,what is all this?
(37:29):
Some tomatoes and some squash?
He said, uh, out, six mile ismy farm and, um, I'd like to
supply you stuff when it's inseason.
And I'm like, oh my God.
He said I brought you this justto say welcome.
I want you to do your best, butI want you to know that you can
come out there.
(37:50):
And you know I I had seen alittle bit of gardening growing
up at my grandfather's but Ididn't know it.
Well, I would spend hours outthere with George learning and
picking and bringing stuff back.
Um, that's probably where I'velearned the most, and then
subsequently that's probablywhere I've learned the most.
(38:11):
And then subsequently, um otherfarmers caught wind that I
might like local stuff.
Beekeepers started bringing mehoney.
Uh, people that had chickensare bringing me eggs.
And, um, now we have a farmer'smarket on Saturday mornings and
I go through there and it'slike there's probably 10 of them
, that I'm close to littlebooths and we just talk.
(38:31):
You know, how's your kids?
How's Sophia?
Okay, I'll take, you know, aloaf of bread.
And then the next one oh, thesestrawberries are beautiful.
Um, I kept building thoserelationships.
And the fishmongers over at thebeach I got some really good
guys that know.
You know, if triggerfish hitsthe dock I'll buy every piece
that they have.
It's one of my favorite fish.
(38:51):
I used to love it because Ithought it was better than
grouper and one-eighth of theprice.
Now everything's 24 a pound, soyou just got to get it.
But you know, softshell crabs,uh, those guys just know that
I'll pay whatever the fair priceis.
And you know, reading books andthen traveling and seeing other
(39:17):
really good restaurants and howthey plate food and almost the
vibe of the restaurant is whatI'm looking for when I travel
and eat out.
And my daughter.
You know she's 19.
She loves Chick-fil-A nuggetsand waffle fries, but she also
likes a tasting menu at aMichelin starred restaurant, and
so we thrive on that.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Can you talk about some hidden gems or local
favorites in Conway or thesurrounding area that you would
recommend visitors explore?
Speaker 3 (40:11):
Oh, delicious.
The salsa verdes, the salsas,their queso fresca cotija.
You know I buy a lot of thatstuff because my one restaurant
is a barbecue place and I dotacos, but for some reason their
stuff tastes a little better tome, I don't know.
(40:32):
So those are two really, reallygood ones.
My fishmonger right now I'musing Mr Fish and he had a
restaurant beside his cut shop.
He subsequently sold that, butin his cut shop they have
everything available, rightSnapper, barramundi.
They have a lobster tankscallops anything you want and I
(40:53):
get a lot of my stuff from him.
But you can also go in therei.
They have a lobster tankscallops, anything you want, you
know, and I get a lot of mystuff from him.
But you can also go in thereand they have a menu.
You get a fish sandwich orwhatever, or you can just go hey
, I want those four of those u10scallops blackened.
I'm going to start with thatand they'll inadvertently be
like we just made this killercrab bisque.
I'm like, all right, we'll geta cup of that, we'll eat that,
(41:14):
and then we'll have a glass ofwine and then I'll go okay, we
want a steamed lobster andwhatever, and we'll order a
bottle of wine and it'll comeout in an oyster bucket with ice
.
An oyster bucket is a plasticbucket that we get select
oysters in to fry.
Anyway, they reuse them.
And the first time I ate thereit's been years.
(41:35):
But I just love that and it'sinexpensive.
And I tell everyone I know togo there.
Don't go to the places likedown in Merle's Inlet where it's
a two hour wait and you'reeating fish from China.
Go to Mr Fish and it's rightthere raw in front of you and
eat that delicious stuff.
(41:56):
So that's one of my go-tos.
And then I have really goodculinary friends that have
restaurants that I think myrestaurant is as good as theirs
or maybe theirs is as good asmine.
I don't know how to say that.
We all strive creatively to doour best.
So there's Tyler at Fire andSmoke.
(42:17):
It's sort of this high endgastropub.
I don't even know what he callshimself, but he and I have a
big affinity for tequilas and wehave a lot of fun together
behind the scenes, cookingtogether after dinner, behind
the scenes, cooking togetherafter dinner.
If I have a wine dinner, he'sfirst on the list If he has a
wine dinner, whether it's, youknow, raymond or Lytton Springs
(42:40):
Ridge or whatever.
I'm the first, it is so Fireand Smoke.
And then down south in Pawleys,which is further than Merle's
Inlet from Conway.
Polly's is a well-heeled sortof resort community with some
stellar restaurants.
My two favorites are probablyChive Blossom.
(43:04):
Pk is a great friend of mine.
He's the chef and owner, and hewas actually the chef of
Frank's, which is another goodone down there.
When I moved to town he and Iare about the same age, um, very
similar cooking styles, um, sothat's a delight down in the
Pauley's area.
(43:24):
And then Adam Kirby is anothergreat buddy of mine.
He has Bistro 217 and RusticTable.
Rustic Table is one of mydaughter's favorites.
We actually had adaddy-daughter date last week
and went down there shopping andknocking around and had some
good grub.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
There's a lot of options in the area.
It sounds like.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Yeah, yeah, and I mean well, there's.
I think somebody said like2,000 restaurants now.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Can you talk about your experience on Chef Swap?
Speaker 3 (43:58):
Yeah, amanda Freytag was the host.
They came to the area andheadhunted 10 or 16 restaurants
and I ended up lucky enough tobe one of them.
I was a little confused becausethey called to say that they
(44:20):
were interested for me, for acooking, about me, and we had
had some really good press andsand lapper magazine and the
local newspaper, um.
But I couldn't leave, Icouldn't go.
That was one of those things.
Can you come compete insomething?
And I'm like there's no way.
(44:41):
So, anyway, this soundedintriguing.
So we started talking.
I'm like, yeah, I'm veryinterested, I'll do it.
Um.
But then she said, yeah, wewant you to represent Bonfire.
You know that's my smokehouse.
It's a smoking taqueria.
I'm very proud of it.
I made up all the recipes.
I taught my smokehouse dude andmy pit master how to smoke.
(45:03):
I think our food's wonderful.
But I thought, you know, I'vebeen for 30 years cultivating
Rivertown Bistro into what Ithink is a stellar restaurant.
It's not crazy off the chainfood even though sometimes I am,
but it's solid food and I amcreative, like when I do a wine
dinner.
It's off the charts.
(45:24):
But she said, no, it's Bonfire.
And I'm like, well, okay, I'lldo Bonfire.
So I went up against anotherrestaurant, tidal Creek Brew Pub
(45:50):
, that I actually buy beer from,and really nice people.
And also for 30 years I've beensmoking tomatoes and pureeing
them and putting them into aranch dressing for a salad.
So I thought I'm going to bringsmoked tomatoes Now.
If I get a dessert, that'll beinteresting, but I'll be able to
do something.
But anything savory, addingsmoked tomato, whether it's a
(46:12):
sauce, a beurre blanc into likea chiron, like a hollandaise,
with tomato or ranch, I figuredI could do something.
Well, you show up at his kitchen.
You've never been in there.
You got about 20 minutes to mapout the kitchen, look at the
plates, ask.
You get a sous chef in thereand you know you're asking what
(46:35):
are the hotspots of the grill,where's your coldest fridge,
where's the pantry?
And then Amanda comes in andshe's like all right, your
competition is burger.
And you're like okay, and youhave an hour and you're
immediately the walls areclosing in.
It's 20 degrees hotter than itwas when you walked in there, or
(46:56):
at least it was for me.
I'm sweating and you know I'mlike burger, okay.
So I'm opening drawers and I'mlooking.
I looked at the menu and they'vegot shrimp and they've got
scallops and they've got porkbelly, they've got ground beef.
My, I'm gonna do a surf andturf burger.
I'll make like a chunky seafood, almost like mousse shrimp and
(47:18):
scallops and I'll use the porkbelly and burger and I ground it
and I'll use this ranch andthen I'll make us with the
smoked tomatoes and I'm gonnaput smoked tomato into a hot
sauce as a sidecar.
And they had quinoa and fruit.
I'm like I'll do my surf andsurf burger but instead of doing
(47:41):
fries, I'll do a quinoa andfruit salad.
I'll put the smoked tomato init.
So I'm rolling, but I'm a hotmess.
I want to do a quick pickle.
So I'm pickling onions withsome of the smoked tomato liquid
in it and I, you know, I gotpans going, food processors
going, I'm sweating.
And Amanda comes back and she'slike okay, chef, you're 15
(48:03):
minutes in and I can see thelook on her face.
She's just like oh, maybe wepicked the wrong guy is what I
think she was feeling.
And she's like can you use it?
Is there anything else you need?
I'm like I could really use ashot of tequila.
And we laughed, you know, andshe walked out of the kitchen
when the next 10 minutes or so.
I got my shit together.
(48:24):
You know, my onions were done,I done my salad, I've made my
both of my patties, I'm pickingmy bread.
And she comes in and she's like, oh, you've got some stuff.
So she tried an onion and shetried the ranch and she's like
this is good, I'll be right back.
And she went and she got me ashot of tequila.
It wasn't chilled but it was ashot.
So I ripped that and thatreally helped me and it got my
(48:49):
creative juices flowing a littlemore, because I was done,
completely done.
I had like five minutes left andI'm thinking what else can I do
?
You know, I've got this surfand turf burger.
I've got the.
I'm using some of their productbut I made it my own and all
these different ways.
I've made a pickle, I made thissauce.
You know what else can I do?
I've been here an hour.
(49:10):
I'm like this is a brew pub andI don't drink them, but I've
seen these Mexican guys pourtomato juice in a beer.
I'm going to take the rest ofmy smoked tomato puree and put
it into one of their lagers.
So I did that and I was likeone minute left and I finished
and, um, you don't know howyou're going to do and nobody.
(49:37):
And um, you don't know howyou're gonna do and nobody tells
you.
They eat it.
And then they tell you to leaveand it's, you know, he does in
my kitchen.
So I'm like asking my well, itwas one of my sous chefs will
helped him.
He's like, yeah, the guy didpretty good, his stuff was
pretty good, darren, I ain'tgoing to lie.
And I'm like man, it'scompetition burger.
So we go to the award ceremonyand it's chef swapped at the
(50:02):
beach.
We're at the culinary schooland the table in between us is a
surfboard and we're holding thesurfboard.
You know, we're six, it's abouta six foot long board and he's
at one end, I'm at the other andthere's Amanda and the judges
with her and we don't know who'sgoing to win.
And I'm on national TV and I'mgripping that surfboard so hard
(50:23):
I thought I was going to likebreak the foam with my thumbs.
She gave the accolades to mefirst and then she was talking
to him.
How I felt like even betterthan she was talking to me.
I'm like this dude is going tobeat me.
And then she looked back at meand she's like there can only be
(50:44):
one winner.
And she, as she's saying that,she's looking at me, and then
she looks at him, and then shepicks up the knife and she says,
darren Smith, and I'm like, Iabout faint, I'm about collapse.
I mean, you know big deal If Iwould have lost you know
whatever.
But I didn't.
And I'm like, and then Sophiacomes running over to me and I'm
(51:05):
like crying and I'm huggingAmanda and she's whispering you
know, your food was, it was thatgood, it was like incredible.
But I don't want to sayanything more.
I want to talk to you aboutthat later.
So that's exactly what we did.
So it was Hollywood.
Um, you know, there's all thebig cameras that come into
(51:28):
bonfire.
Um, I didn't, you know, I wassuch tunnel vision in his
kitchen.
I I didn't realize because I'dnever been in his kitchen before
.
but at Bonfire they allowed meto stay as they set up, but then
I had to be off the premises,but there's like 20 people, you
(51:50):
know, putting up all these boomsand lights and screens, and
they got all these cameras andguys with backpacks and cameras
chasing you around and for somereason I felt like there was one
guy videotaping me, like on hiscell phone.
For my thing, I don't know,obviously it wasn't that way,
but it was incredible.
(52:10):
Subsequently, I became prettygood friends with all those
people ron um hanks no relationto tom hanks.
Um was a producer and, uh, he'sdone some shows that I've been
a part of too, on um pbs.
Uh, joseph rezendo stepping out, um, there.
(52:33):
There's another thing that isin the mix.
This past year, chef Swap cameback and they wanted Rivertown
Bistro.
Finally, bad news, darren, wedon't want you, you're already
on TV.
We want your sous chef.
So here again, terry steps in.
We're going against fire andsmoke.
(52:53):
And I said there's no way.
Tyler is my contemporary.
He and I are chefs.
Terry is a wonderful chef, buthe's not going to go against
Tyler.
Tyler has too many tricks uphis sleeve.
Well, tyler didn't want to doit.
So we pitted sous chefs againsteach other and Terry won.
Pitted sous chefs against eachother and Terry won.
(53:15):
And it was like watching mylittle brother, best buddy son.
I couldn't be at thecompetition.
But I was at the award ceremonyand me and my daughter are
sitting with his daughter, Quinn, and uh, we're just talking and
Terry's up there and we didn'tknow who was going to win.
And they announced it was Terryand we were all jumping and
Terry's up there and we didn'tknow who was going to win and
they announced it was Terry andwe were all jumping up and down
(53:36):
and crying and his daughter runsover, just like my daughter had
done the previous year, andthat's an experience you know.
You just can't take that away.
So now we have two chef swapknives, this national show, and
Ron says they're coming backnext year and I'm like, are we
going to be a part of it?
He's like I can't tell you, sowe'll see.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
So we'll see.
Well, I'm excited to stay tuned.
I really appreciate you takingtime to chat with me today.
It's been so great Justlearning more about your journey
, of your career, and I can'twait to come back and eat at
your restaurant again, becauseit was so good.
Everyone has a story to tell.
We connect and relate to oneanother when we share our
stories.
My name is Amelia Old and I amyour host of Voices of
Inspiration.
Join me as I share stories offriends, family and strangers
from my everyday life andtravels.
You will laugh, possibly cry orwalk away, feeling connected
more than ever to those aroundyou and ready to be the change
(00:24):
our world needs.
Everyone has a story to tell.
What's yours?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So thank you so much for joining me today and taking
time out of your crazy busyschedule and just to tell me a
little bit about your story inthe culinary world.
I really appreciate you beingwith me today.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm happy to be here.
As usual, both restaurants arejust full tilt.
I've got great crews at boththose, so they're handling
things, which allows me to spendsome time chatting with you
things, which allows me to spendsome time chatting with you.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now.
Let's start with that, becauseyou told me when I met you you
have employees that have beenwith you a really long time, and
I thought that was soimpressive.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, I've been real fortunate.
I don't know what all thecircumstances were that brought
it together, but I've been reallucky to hire very good people.
Of course, I like to think Itreat them well, pay them as
much as I can and make sure theyget paid and give them a good
(01:37):
working environment andtherefore in this industry,
which is known for really highturnover, I've had people
working with me over two decades.
At Rivertown Bistro.
My general manager has beenwith me roughly 18 years, my
chef roughly 20 years.
(02:00):
Wow, he started off as adishwasher and a prep cook and
just moved up through the ranks,you know, and I'm fortunate to
have solid people that werewilling to learn, adapt and grow
with me as I've grown on myculinary journey.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I think that's really amazing.
They must love what they do,and I think that's great to find
people like that as well.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, there's a true passion for them.
My general manager, lee, isoutstanding, service-oriented.
It helps that she's a good cook, a foodie, she knows wines,
she's just stellar.
She gets along really well withmy wife.
My wife has backed off of theday-to-day operations.
(02:47):
It used to be she and I dailyat Rivertown when we opened 30
years ago.
She did all the front of thehouse and the wine ordering and
she's still integral in all that.
My wife Cindy, and actuallyshe's in the house on her
computer.
She's taking her Psalm course.
So she's still got the passiontoo.
(03:09):
And then Terry, my chef, onceagain started off dishing, moved
slowly up the ranks throughgarbage, desserts, grill, saute.
He can do everything in thekitchen that I can do.
And he's younger and so that'sa plus, because cooking is a
young man's sport.
(03:29):
I can still hang with the guys,I show them technique and new
things all the time for eighthours, day in and day out.
It's kind of grueling.
So I let the young guys kind ofdo that on the daily, but I'm
(03:49):
still around.
I'm usually at either of therestaurants anywhere from 10 to
12 hours a day.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
What inspired you to pursue a career in the culinary
world?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
That's funny.
I attended Winthrop University,which is right outside of
Charlotte, purely to play soccer.
It's Um, I I really didn't know.
But then reality started to setin, like what if I can't play?
(04:32):
Or what if something happenedto my legs or something?
And my brother at the time, uh,had graduated uh, culinary
school up in Rhode Island.
We're both from the Southeast,he was born in Tennessee, I was
born in Charleston, but he sungthe praises of cooking.
And this is back before.
It was cool to be a cook.
(04:53):
There were no cooking shows.
I mean, there was like theGalloping Gourmet which I
started to get hooked on and itwas this chef, uh, I forget what
country it was from, butpasquale, I think it was italian
, but I would watch both of them, um, and some other various
shows.
But he sung the praises of youknow just cooking and how it
(05:18):
makes you feel, and thecamaraderie.
And you know, if you surroundyourself with good cooks and
you're sending out good food,you're making people happy, the
immediacy of a meal course aftercourse, in the span of a couple
of hours, people will come backinto the kitchen oftentimes and
say, hey, that was one of thebest dishes I've ever had, or
(05:39):
we're celebrating ouranniversary and we're here
because the food's so good.
Um, and once I started cookingin that frame of mind, um, it
just takes over all your senses.
Uh, it gives you a good purpose.
Um, pleasing other people, it'san honest trade.
You'll always eat, I mean,there's just so many pluses
about it.
(05:59):
So, um, I love it as much as Idid the first day I started
doing it and it clicked with me,and I like to spread that out
to all of my employees, justthat you know, working in the
kitchen or working servingtables isn't anything to be.
I don't know.
(06:21):
I think some people look at itas a stepping stone to get to a
career.
I think this is a career, andan important one, because I
think not enough people gatheraround a dinner table and eat
good, delicious, fresh food.
Enough.
Everyone's too frantic,everyone.
Oh, let's just pick up, carryout.
(06:42):
You know, don't get me wrongwrong I like carry out
occasionally, but I just reallyenjoy the the meal aspect.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I love that.
Can you share a memorableexperience from maybe your early
days in the kitchen that sortof shaped your approach to
cooking?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
um, I had, uh.
I moved from Rock Hill, whereWinthrop was, down to Mount
Pleasant to live with my dad andmy goal was to work at Johnson
and Wales.
So I toured the school andsubsequently I had enough
credits that would attribute toan associate's degree on an
(07:23):
accelerated program.
But I had to get some practicalexperience, which I'm very
thankful for.
I didn't just start culinaryschool, they wanted me in the
field learning sort of theschool of hard knocks and I
worked at a few sort of diverestaurants.
And then I walked into thisrestaurant that was on Shem
Creek, coleman Boulevard, rightbeside Shem Creek.
(07:45):
It was called Locklear's andeveryone in the kitchen got
along really well and there weresome true Southern Geechee guys
that had that thick Geecheeaccent and their grandmothers
had taught them how to cook.
My grandmothers had taught themhow to cook.
(08:16):
So these guys were my age tomid-20s and knew how to cook
grits and okra and all thisdelicious stuff.
But they could also sautesnapper and make bernets
restaurant, where we're makingeverything from scratch, and the
mother sauces.
And if you had an idea, thechef was very stubborn but he
would come around and acceptthat you did want to learn.
We would always have to dothings his way, but it was such
(08:39):
an important thing for me to seewhy butter, when it's clarified
clarified emulsifies into eggyolks, because every day we're
doing it and I just alwayswanted to know why and how much
lemon juice and a little bit ofsalt and some tarragon reduction
, and how it transforms thishollandaise into this delicious
(09:02):
sauce.
That's probably my first memoryof me making something.
And then we draped it over, howit was, on a filet.
We also did it on a spicedchicken breast, with these
roasted potatoes, with thisdelicate buttery sauce, and it
just I remember we cooked it andwe all ate it and I was just
thrilled that I had preparedthis dish.
(09:25):
Um, that's probably my earliestmemory of working in a
professional kitchen and makingsomething the first time.
But then the repetitive aspectof making that dish as close as
you can so that if three peopleat a six top get it, each plate
looks the same, tastes the same.
I found the importance in thatas well.
(09:47):
So there are a lot of thingsthat you absorb, especially as a
younger person.
When you come into aprofessional environment like
that.
Some people are like, oh, 12hours and it's hot and I could
cut myself and there's flamesand no, this isn't for me.
I've seen it day in and day out.
(10:14):
But some people like myself gobring it on.
I love it.
Let's get busy.
Let's do 20 more people than wedid last night, and last night
we did 20 more than the previousnight.
It's that adrenaline rush.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Now you've.
Now you've run severalsuccessful restaurants and you
have a couple of successfulrestaurants.
Now, what values or principlesguide your approach to running a
successful restaurant?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
I think the nuts and bolts have to be from the ground
up.
You want a good atmosphere.
You want good food served in atimely fashion.
You want enough variety thatpeople a mixed group of people
can all find something that theylike.
You have to get the food to thetable.
(11:00):
When I moved to Conway Irealized it's the county seat,
so a lot of attorneys onschedules.
We weren't on the coast withthis four hour lunch that people
could enjoy.
They come in every now and then.
You might sell a glass of wine,but people are wanting a sweet
tea.
(11:20):
Their lunch in about 15 minutesafter being seated and then
they're on their way.
And once you could do that, wecould pack the house.
So we learned to um, cook reallygood food really quickly.
Um, and prepare ourselves anddo as much as we could to make
it easier on ourselves.
(11:42):
You know you can.
You certainly can't boil pastato order or make risottos, so
you learn to part these thingsoff.
Go ahead and have yourvegetables cut, or maybe the
longer cooking root vegetablespre-roasted, doing all these
touches that some people mightconsider sandbagging, but I
(12:02):
consider it being smart.
Um, lining your pantry withinfused oils and spice blends
and different garnishes, um,compound butters in your freezer
, um, all of a sudden you canmake these world-class dishes
and people are like wow, and youjust used your arsenal of stuff
.
Sudden, you can make theseworld-class dishes and people
are like, wow, and you just usedyour arsenal of stuff that
(12:24):
you've prepared.
Yeah, I think it's important agood environment, good food and
truth in menu.
Um, you know, I've eaten inplenty of places where you read
something on the menu and whenit comes out it's like this is
not grouper or they say theseare local, whatever, and it
doesn't appear to be that way.
(12:44):
So I don't know why peoplewould do that.
It's so much easier to say whatyou're going to do and do what
you're going to say, I guess.
But I'm a big fan of you know, Iwas changing the menu very
frequently, but I learned that Ikind of need to keep a core
menu in place and two or threetimes a year we change, because
(13:07):
now I don't really want rootvegetables and that kind of
stuff, and asparagus is poppingup, you know, and there's some
hyper seasonal foods that Ithoroughly enjoy, thoroughly
enjoy, but I can't do fiddleheadferns and ramps and these
ingredients that I really enjoygetting um all throughout the
summer.
So I get a bunch in and I'llmake the ramp uh, the green part
(13:31):
of the ramp into tubs and tubsof pesto and stick them in the
freezer and then pickle thewhites and, um, you know, pickle
morel mushrooms or whatever,just to elongate the season for
myself and to let others enjoyit that way.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
You know, I think that that is really important to
keep the menu, you know,somewhat the same, because it
can be frustrating as someonedining in a restaurant and
you're going there for aspecific dish and then the menu
has been changed and people likewhat they like, right, and so
they're coming to you oftentimesbecause there's something
(14:09):
specific on that menu that theyjust have a craving for, that
they really want.
So I do think that that isimportant.
You know, as a diner thatseeing a restaurant kind of
stick to you know that coregroup of dishes.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Well, and yeah, for sure, and I purposely rotate
dishes from 30 years ago, um,and it's funny for me to do that
, and I think to myself how isit that you know I wrote a menu
30 years ago we opened June in1994, and I had some pretty fun
(14:46):
things on the menu and I'lldescribe a few of them.
But I had just learned abouttapenade and I loved to smear it
on a meaty fish and roast it inthe oven with panko breadcrumbs
mixed with pine nuts as thecrust and simply serve that over
caramelized onions.
It was simple, it was delicious, it was packed full of flavor
(15:12):
and it was something that Icould do, because I was
basically the only cook and Icould do that well and I could
serve that and people really,really liked it.
And at the same time, on thesame menu, I had a black, a
lightly blackened dolphin and Istill black and stuff to this
day.
Um, one of the previous chefsthat I worked with uh got Paul
(15:35):
Prudhomme's cookbook and, um, we, we just devoured that book.
Every recipe how to make rue,uh, gumbos, etouffees, you name
it.
Um, I got engrossed in that too,and that you know that was uh,
early mid eighties.
Uh, um, and that's when Istarted to get intrigued in that
(15:58):
, probably about 87, 88.
Um, I started to get intriguedin that probably about 87, 88.
Um, I could be wrong, but Ithink so.
But anyway, I would blackenthis dolphin and I put it on a
jalapeno grit cake.
So there was a restaurant inCharleston that had just opened
and I want to say they did thegrit cake or maybe I saw it, I
forget where I saw it.
Um, but I thought I'll make itmy own and I'll put diced up,
(16:21):
pickled jalapenos in it to addto that heat and I'm going to
blacken it and then I'm going tocool it all with a blue crab
cream poured over the top andthen I'll just do some seasonal
vegetables or maybe zucchini andsquash on the side.
So those are two dishes.
You know, I could flat top, Icould drop the great cake, I
would pre-make the sauce, thecrab cream, and keep it up high.
(16:44):
I could roast the fish in theoven.
So I had these two dishes andthen I had a steak, I had a
couple of pastas and I just kindof learned to do these things
that were fresh and good andvery flavorful but not locked in
.
You know this was kind of lowcountry, this is kind of
Mediterranean, and I was pullingfrom all these different areas
(17:05):
and foods that I had eaten atand liked and I took great joy
in that.
So I don't like to bepigeonholed.
I call my restaurant RivertownBistro, not that it's a
Brasserie or a French Bistro,even though I love Razzare's and
bistros and that's one of mygo-tos when I eat out of town.
But I do want mussels with goodcrusty bread or French fries,
(17:30):
and I have French onion soup onmy menu.
But we also have references toJamaica.
We have Jamaican jerk sauce onmy menu, I've got risotto.
I've got through and through lowcountry and I think it's
important to use local stuff.
I'm so tired of the monikerfarm to table, because if you're
(17:54):
not doing that, what exactlyare you doing?
But I think people say that waytoo much.
It's just like of course youshould use local because it's
local, and why wouldn't you?
But that also doesn't stop mefrom getting salmon flown in,
because people really likesalmon and I can't get salmon
here and I don't know.
(18:15):
I just think submergingyourself into doing things, or
at least try to do things theright way your hiring practices,
the way you prep, the way youtreat your ingredients, all the
way down to recycling.
I think it's important to tryyour best.
Sometimes you don't make it allthe way, sometimes it's maybe
(18:40):
at the end of the day I'm likeman, I feel like I only did 85%,
you know.
Well, that's okay.
Sometimes, you know, you justpick yourself up, dust yourself
off and the next day you attemptit again.
One of my favorite cookbookauthors, charlie Trotter, you
know he recently passed.
I was lucky enough to eat athis restaurant, but he had
(19:00):
wonderful quotes through hisrestaurant, through his
cookbooks, and one of them wasfrom another chef.
But it basically said and I'lljust paraphrase that unlike most
other occupations, the chefstarts new every single day.
I mean, you're going into ahopefully a clean stove, empty
pans, and here comes yourproduct and you break down the
(19:23):
fish and you chop yourvegetables and you do that.
You get a clean slate every dayand you can say, okay, gosh,
this is a lot of work.
Or you can say I'm going tomake this stuff delicious and
I'm going to have fun preppingit and we're going to have a
good night's service and beforewe know it, we're going to be
mopping our stations down, andthen we'll have a glass of wine
and toast the night, and thenwe're going to do it all over
(19:43):
again tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I love that.
What has been, you think, oneof the biggest challenges that
you faced through your journey,and how did you overcome it?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Even in a really good economy, with low food prices
and abundant labor, what else?
When everything's like hittingon all cylinders, a restaurant
is very difficult to runprofitably.
So my wife and I have alwaystried to put everything under
(20:20):
the magnifying glass, holdingall of our purveyors to the task
of yes, I want the best, I willpay top dollar for the best,
but I don't want you to thenthink I want to pay top dollar
for flour and salt and stuffthat you can gouge me in other
areas.
So I think it's reallyimportant to build relationships
(20:40):
, not only with my workers andwe're a family there but my
purveyors.
When they come in and theybring people in reps, I want to
buy their lunch.
I'm not looking for freebiesfor them, I want to see their
products and I want the purveyorand my local guy to know that
they can come eat with me and Ilike them.
(21:01):
I don't look at them as like.
I've been in situations whereI've seen other restaurant
owners and chefs treat theirsalesmen and yell at them like
they're underlings, like my fishdidn't come in and it's your
fault, you're going to have todo this.
I mean, we're all trying to dothe right thing.
So, um, I think you know,keeping things in perspective,
(21:42):
putting everything under themagnifying glass and holding
yourself and everyone else totask is important.
Sure, people look at me and goman, that guy has two
restaurants and you know he can,you know, probably makes a lot
of money.
The profit margin is so smallin what we do.
Um, I do take advantage ofeating really, really good food
and drinking delicious wines andgoing on trips to food
destinations, wine destinations,where the people that I
purchased from take care of usand let us stay for free and
(22:05):
give us private tours.
Those aspects are invaluable tome.
That's where I'm wealthyMonetarily.
I think Mondavi said and I'llliken it to a restaurant, but he
said you want to know how tomake a small fortune in the wine
industry, start with a largefortune.
(22:25):
And that's probably my favoritequote, because at the end of it
all, you have a small fortunebut look what fun you've had and
you've sold your stuff andyou've made other people happy.
You know, of course I want tosave money and I have a daughter
that's the light of my life andshe's in college now.
So putting her through schooland I grew up, uh, not as
(22:50):
fortunate as a lot of mycontemporaries.
Um, my, my family didn't make alot of money, so I appreciated
the smaller things in life andthe fact that we would go out to
dinner maybe every other month.
My dad would save his money andwe would go out to a nice place
to get a steak and maybe learnthe value of it.
(23:11):
My parents never gave me a caror anything.
I would work my butt off tohave some of the nicer things in
life and do good enough to buymy daughter a car and pay her
way through school and not spoilher to the extent where she
expects it, but teach her thevalue of life and what to do and
(23:36):
take nothing for granted.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I can relate to you in a lot of ways with that.
You know I also didn't grow up,you know, wealthy I didn't.
You know my family didn't havea lot.
But one thing that is importantto me, like yourself, are the
experiences that we have alongthe way and growing from those
and experiencing those with ourloved ones, and even with our
(24:03):
children two are who adults nowand we still have one at home.
One of our favorite things todo with the holidays is give
them a gift of an experience,whether that's a trip with us,
you know, one-on-one time,concert tickets, you know, an
activity they really wanted todo but an experience where that
(24:23):
they can create these memoriesand it's not something that
they're just going to toss tothe side in six months.
So I think that those thingsare really incredible and
important.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
I think that's just fantastic.
That gave me goosebumps.
I think that's so important.
You know, like you say, aroundthe holidays, you know what is
the reason for the season.
You know we all, we always uh,pause for the true reason.
But then of course we want torip into some fun gifts.
(24:54):
But then we do the same thingtoo.
We want to um plan a trip andum, sometimes we'll even skip
the whole tradition.
I will say we kind of miss thetraditions when we do it, but we
do.
We'll book a trip to New Yorkover the Christmas holiday and
(25:16):
get a nice hotel room and bringa little Charlie Brown tree and
candles that smell like pine, sowe have that feeling like we're
at home.
But then we're walking the cityand it's snowing and we're
eating at Jean Georges or Per Seor a hot dog from the street
cart, and man talk about somefun memories.
(25:36):
So yeah, we're very similar inthose respects.
I think that's awesome,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
So what advice would you give to aspiring chefs who
want to build a career in theculinary industry?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Read, collect cookbooks when you get out of
culinary school.
You are not a chef school.
You are not a chef.
Work under several good chefs,but spend time.
Don't work for two months andthink you've learned somebody's
(26:18):
technique, work ethic.
Work for somebody for a year,work for another place for a
year or two and then startdeveloping your situation, what
you think you want to do.
I just think I'm a mentor.
(26:39):
I sit on the culinary board forthe culinary school and I'm very
good friends with all the chefsout there, and when they get an
up and comer, that's reallygood.
We're one of the places thatthey'll send, and that's my
first thing to tell them is tojust, you know, go in to my
(27:01):
restaurant and be clean, beorganized, listen and then
slowly develop.
I think that's the biggestthing, is to just take it all in
, take every aspect in, watchhow the service is, watch how um
people move, um, when you'rewalking behind somebody and you
(27:24):
say behind you and you know allthe little, there's so many
little jargon, whatever you wantto call it, in the, the
restaurant business, in thekitchen, um, that that's its
whole language in itself.
Um.
So if you mesh, maybe um, astage or a you or a cooking
(27:48):
experience or some cooking withsome good chefs, and you get
some cookbooks and you look atthem and you read them and you
look at them.
I get them more for thepictures.
I collect cookbooks.
I have hundreds.
I don't get them to getsomebody's recipe so that I can
make their scone or something,even though maybe you know I
(28:08):
would.
But I get it because I want tosee the chef's mentality, I want
to read who the person was thatwrote the foreword and I want
to know that the grandma didthis way and then I switched it
up to make it this way.
You know, there's always a goodstory in them.
So young chefs should do thatand look at your family and how
(28:30):
your family ate.
Like I said, I grew up with fishsticks and jarred applesauce
and I had never had fresh fish.
I didn't know.
I thought barbecue came in acan.
I'm not kidding Castleberry'sbarbecue.
I'll eat it to this day.
Chef Boyardee pizza that's whatI thought pizza was.
(28:53):
Um.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I've got a box.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Exactly, Exactly.
And um, if I make the ChefBoyardee pizza with that stinky
Pecorino Romano canned cheesethat I love and it's baking in
the oven Romano canned cheesethat I love and it's baking in
the oven I go all the way backto eighth grade watching six
million dollar man and Logan'srun.
And I'm in the den and my momand dad are in the kitchen and
(29:17):
my brother's on the couch.
I'm laying on the floor andthat's the smell.
That's like aromatherapy to me.
Just things like that, likejarred ragu sauce.
Do I serve that at myrestaurants?
No, but do I?
eat that at home often it's justa childhood thing.
I think I think it's just goodto uh, I look at how each of my
(29:42):
grandparents treated mealtime.
My dad's mom very, very frugal,grew up through the depression,
didn't have a lot of money, andthen her, my dad's dad, was a
fireman and ironically gotten awreck with another fire truck
(30:03):
and passed away when my dad waslike 14.
And subsequently his momremarried about 10 years later
to a guy that did have money,but that didn't stop them from
being frugal.
They would tear a bounty papertowel in half and that would be
our dinner napkin, and when wewould eat over there.
(30:23):
She didn't necessarily cook, shewould get the leftover stovetop
stuffing from two nights agoand maybe one piece of personal
pan pizza from five or six daysago and she would have the
cooler clean out is what wewould call it on our way over
there to eat, and we loved it.
My mom's parents had a gardenand they didn't have a whole lot
(30:47):
of money, but we would eatfresh silver queen corn and pick
watermelon and we would alwayseat chicken, never any fish.
But still I take away fromthose instances and I cherish
them and I cherish them and.
I like to do those kind ofthings for my wife, of course,
(31:13):
my daughter and my daughter'sfriends.
We've even started a tradition.
Sophia has nine suite mates andwhen I met them on moving in
day I said I think it'd be coolfor me to cook for you girls.
Of course I want you to come tothe restaurants, but I would
love to open up my home.
We have a big dining table andI would like to cook for you
(31:34):
girls.
You know, of course I want youto come to the restaurants, but
I would love to open up my home.
We have a a a big dining tableand I would like to cook for
y'all and give you a home cookedmeal.
And they said can you do ittonight?
And I did.
And subsequently we do it oncea month.
They come over.
If it's nice, they swim in thepool.
If it's cold, we light a fireand I've cooked anything that.
There's favorite dishes fromtheir childhood.
I'll recreate whether it's.
They call it pasta with gravy.
(31:57):
All these girls are from newengland, like new hampshire,
boston, none of them are fromaround here, so that's been cool
too to hear where they comefrom lobster bakes and all this
other stuff.
So I learned a little bit fromthem.
So it's like full circle.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
To go back to.
You were talking about some ofthe meals that make you think of
home and bring back thesememories.
It's funny how that works, Imean, even for me the same.
There are times where, you knowwe grew up, a bowl of pinto
beans would have been dinner.
Or you know, my mother wouldmake the have these little
(32:35):
dinner rolls and put a slice ofham in it and that was dinner,
you know.
And so now sometimes I do findcomfort in great Northern beans
or pinto beans and okra andthings like that.
You know, I'm definitely verysouthern, but one of the treats
and my kids always thought thiswas funny because you know, you
couldn't just buy like whateveryou wanted at the grocery store,
(32:58):
and something as simple as abag of ruffle potato chips and
the French onion dip was onlyyou had that for birthdays and
that was it.
And so I would still, when mykids were even little, we I
would still buy that, and I'm,you know, of course I can buy it
.
You know what I want.
(33:19):
Now I'm like this is a, this isa treat, this was like a
special thing, and even now Ifind myself when I want like
that treat or that snack, that'sone of my go-tos, which is so
funny, you know, looking back onthat, and the same with my kids
.
They come home to visit Well,what would you like me to make
(33:40):
for when you were younger?
Or they just come home withtheir request.
You know they're ready.
They want this Monday, thisTuesday, this Wednesday, right,
yeah, yeah.
So how has Conway influencedyour culinary style and the
atmosphere of your restaurants?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
That's a good question.
I came here from Charleston.
When Charleston was just goingthrough its sort of renaissance,
I spoke to you about arestaurant that opened.
It was Magnolia's DonaldBarrackman.
He ended up being not like abest friend, but I knew him.
Some of his line cooks I becamefriends with just because they
(34:25):
would like date the server ofthe kitchen that I was working
at.
But he he opened up and then um, peninsula grill.
So now it's like blown up, it's, it's crazy.
So when I came up here, I had abackbone of being a good cook.
I knew I was a good cook.
(34:47):
A backbone of being a good cook.
I knew I was a good cook.
I wanted to be a good chef.
Oh, back to that and this isparallel for the questions about
being a chef To me, if you'regoing to be a chef, or call
yourself a chef, you better knowhow to answer any question in
your kitchen.
Oh, this vinaigrette hasshattered, why?
(35:10):
How do I re-emulsify?
All right, this snapper, or isthis yellowtail or triple tail
or golden tile?
What is this fish?
Here's four fish in the walk-in.
You should be able to knowwhere the pin bones are.
You should be able to breakdown whatever it is on your menu
, whatever it is you're serving.
(35:35):
You know Thomas Keller has theBible of cookbooks.
A lot of chefs think, and hegoes through the importance of
trusting a chicken.
He went to one of his firstrestaurant jobs, thinking he was
a chef, and the French chefsaid, here, trust these chickens
.
And he flipped it over and helooked at it and he took some
twine and he tied the legstogether.
He said that chef got so mad athim he threw a knife at him.
(35:58):
I don't know if he's like overembellishing, but it was a life
lesson for him that you don't goaround boasting I'm a chef.
If you're not a chef you shouldbe able to saute, grill, cook
to temperature, um, just everyaspect of it.
That that's very important.
(36:18):
And then back to your questionabout Conway.
I've really grown since I'velived here.
I guess the Conway aspect wouldbe getting to know.
I was very fortunate that mylandlord when I first moved to
town I assumed the lease of anexisting restaurant and the
landlord, uh, was George Jenkins, one of my best customers and
(36:42):
ended up being a dear friend,but he was a gardener.
His family had a lot of property, to the point that he owned a
lot of property on 501, the maindrag in Conway and he sold that
property to Chick-fil-A and abunch of these big companies.
So George Jenkins the farmerreally had a lot of money and
(37:07):
you wouldn't really know it.
I dressed nicely and drove apickup truck, ate at my
restaurant a whole lot with hiswife and family.
But as far as a farmer, Iremember one of the first days
after I was in there kind ofrenovating and doing stuff, he
came to the back door withbanana, peppers and asparagus
and I'm like, oh my goodness,what is all this?
(37:29):
Some tomatoes and some squash?
He said, uh, out, six mile ismy farm and, um, I'd like to
supply you stuff when it's inseason.
And I'm like, oh my God.
He said I brought you this justto say welcome.
I want you to do your best, butI want you to know that you can
come out there.
(37:50):
And you know I I had seen alittle bit of gardening growing
up at my grandfather's but Ididn't know it.
Well, I would spend hours outthere with George learning and
picking and bringing stuff back.
Um, that's probably where I'velearned the most, and then
subsequently that's probablywhere I've learned the most.
(38:11):
And then subsequently, um otherfarmers caught wind that I
might like local stuff.
Beekeepers started bringing mehoney.
Uh, people that had chickensare bringing me eggs.
And, um, now we have a farmer'smarket on Saturday mornings and
I go through there and it'slike there's probably 10 of them
, that I'm close to littlebooths and we just talk.
(38:31):
You know, how's your kids?
How's Sophia?
Okay, I'll take, you know, aloaf of bread.
And then the next one oh, thesestrawberries are beautiful.
Um, I kept building thoserelationships.
And the fishmongers over at thebeach I got some really good
guys that know.
You know, if triggerfish hitsthe dock I'll buy every piece
that they have.
It's one of my favorite fish.
(38:51):
I used to love it because Ithought it was better than
grouper and one-eighth of theprice.
Now everything's 24 a pound, soyou just got to get it.
But you know, softshell crabs,uh, those guys just know that
I'll pay whatever the fair priceis.
And you know, reading books andthen traveling and seeing other
(39:17):
really good restaurants and howthey plate food and almost the
vibe of the restaurant is whatI'm looking for when I travel
and eat out.
And my daughter.
You know she's 19.
She loves Chick-fil-A nuggetsand waffle fries, but she also
likes a tasting menu at aMichelin starred restaurant, and
so we thrive on that.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Can you talk about some hidden gems or local
favorites in Conway or thesurrounding area that you would
recommend visitors explore?
Speaker 3 (40:11):
Oh, delicious.
The salsa verdes, the salsas,their queso fresca cotija.
You know I buy a lot of thatstuff because my one restaurant
is a barbecue place and I dotacos, but for some reason their
stuff tastes a little better tome, I don't know.
(40:32):
So those are two really, reallygood ones.
My fishmonger right now I'musing Mr Fish and he had a
restaurant beside his cut shop.
He subsequently sold that, butin his cut shop they have
everything available, rightSnapper, barramundi.
They have a lobster tankscallops anything you want and I
(40:53):
get a lot of my stuff from him.
But you can also go in therei.
They have a lobster tankscallops, anything you want, you
know, and I get a lot of mystuff from him.
But you can also go in thereand they have a menu.
You get a fish sandwich orwhatever, or you can just go hey
, I want those four of those u10scallops blackened.
I'm going to start with thatand they'll inadvertently be
like we just made this killercrab bisque.
I'm like, all right, we'll geta cup of that, we'll eat that,
(41:14):
and then we'll have a glass ofwine and then I'll go okay, we
want a steamed lobster andwhatever, and we'll order a
bottle of wine and it'll comeout in an oyster bucket with ice
.
An oyster bucket is a plasticbucket that we get select
oysters in to fry.
Anyway, they reuse them.
And the first time I ate thereit's been years.
(41:35):
But I just love that and it'sinexpensive.
And I tell everyone I know togo there.
Don't go to the places likedown in Merle's Inlet where it's
a two hour wait and you'reeating fish from China.
Go to Mr Fish and it's rightthere raw in front of you and
eat that delicious stuff.
(41:56):
So that's one of my go-tos.
And then I have really goodculinary friends that have
restaurants that I think myrestaurant is as good as theirs
or maybe theirs is as good asmine.
I don't know how to say that.
We all strive creatively to doour best.
So there's Tyler at Fire andSmoke.
(42:17):
It's sort of this high endgastropub.
I don't even know what he callshimself, but he and I have a
big affinity for tequilas and wehave a lot of fun together
behind the scenes, cookingtogether after dinner, behind
the scenes, cooking togetherafter dinner.
If I have a wine dinner, he'sfirst on the list If he has a
wine dinner, whether it's, youknow, raymond or Lytton Springs
(42:40):
Ridge or whatever.
I'm the first, it is so Fireand Smoke.
And then down south in Pawleys,which is further than Merle's
Inlet from Conway.
Polly's is a well-heeled sortof resort community with some
stellar restaurants.
My two favorites are probablyChive Blossom.
(43:04):
Pk is a great friend of mine.
He's the chef and owner, and hewas actually the chef of
Frank's, which is another goodone down there.
When I moved to town he and Iare about the same age, um, very
similar cooking styles, um, sothat's a delight down in the
Pauley's area.
(43:24):
And then Adam Kirby is anothergreat buddy of mine.
He has Bistro 217 and RusticTable.
Rustic Table is one of mydaughter's favorites.
We actually had adaddy-daughter date last week
and went down there shopping andknocking around and had some
good grub.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
There's a lot of options in the area.
It sounds like.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Yeah, yeah, and I mean well, there's.
I think somebody said like2,000 restaurants now.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Can you talk about your experience on Chef Swap?
Speaker 3 (43:58):
Yeah, amanda Freytag was the host.
They came to the area andheadhunted 10 or 16 restaurants
and I ended up lucky enough tobe one of them.
I was a little confused becausethey called to say that they
(44:20):
were interested for me, for acooking, about me, and we had
had some really good press andsand lapper magazine and the
local newspaper, um.
But I couldn't leave, Icouldn't go.
That was one of those things.
Can you come compete insomething?
And I'm like there's no way.
(44:41):
So, anyway, this soundedintriguing.
So we started talking.
I'm like, yeah, I'm veryinterested, I'll do it.
Um.
But then she said, yeah, wewant you to represent Bonfire.
You know that's my smokehouse.
It's a smoking taqueria.
I'm very proud of it.
I made up all the recipes.
I taught my smokehouse dude andmy pit master how to smoke.
(45:03):
I think our food's wonderful.
But I thought, you know, I'vebeen for 30 years cultivating
Rivertown Bistro into what Ithink is a stellar restaurant.
It's not crazy off the chainfood even though sometimes I am,
but it's solid food and I amcreative, like when I do a wine
dinner.
It's off the charts.
(45:24):
But she said, no, it's Bonfire.
And I'm like, well, okay, I'lldo Bonfire.
So I went up against anotherrestaurant, tidal Creek Brew Pub
(45:50):
, that I actually buy beer from,and really nice people.
And also for 30 years I've beensmoking tomatoes and pureeing
them and putting them into aranch dressing for a salad.
So I thought I'm going to bringsmoked tomatoes Now.
If I get a dessert, that'll beinteresting, but I'll be able to
do something.
But anything savory, addingsmoked tomato, whether it's a
(46:12):
sauce, a beurre blanc into likea chiron, like a hollandaise,
with tomato or ranch, I figuredI could do something.
Well, you show up at his kitchen.
You've never been in there.
You got about 20 minutes to mapout the kitchen, look at the
plates, ask.
You get a sous chef in thereand you know you're asking what
(46:35):
are the hotspots of the grill,where's your coldest fridge,
where's the pantry?
And then Amanda comes in andshe's like all right, your
competition is burger.
And you're like okay, and youhave an hour and you're
immediately the walls areclosing in.
It's 20 degrees hotter than itwas when you walked in there, or
(46:56):
at least it was for me.
I'm sweating and you know I'mlike burger, okay.
So I'm opening drawers and I'mlooking.
I looked at the menu and they'vegot shrimp and they've got
scallops and they've got porkbelly, they've got ground beef.
My, I'm gonna do a surf andturf burger.
I'll make like a chunky seafood, almost like mousse shrimp and
(47:18):
scallops and I'll use the porkbelly and burger and I ground it
and I'll use this ranch andthen I'll make us with the
smoked tomatoes and I'm gonnaput smoked tomato into a hot
sauce as a sidecar.
And they had quinoa and fruit.
I'm like I'll do my surf andsurf burger but instead of doing
(47:41):
fries, I'll do a quinoa andfruit salad.
I'll put the smoked tomato init.
So I'm rolling, but I'm a hotmess.
I want to do a quick pickle.
So I'm pickling onions withsome of the smoked tomato liquid
in it and I, you know, I gotpans going, food processors
going, I'm sweating.
And Amanda comes back and she'slike okay, chef, you're 15
(48:03):
minutes in and I can see thelook on her face.
She's just like oh, maybe wepicked the wrong guy is what I
think she was feeling.
And she's like can you use it?
Is there anything else you need?
I'm like I could really use ashot of tequila.
And we laughed, you know, andshe walked out of the kitchen
when the next 10 minutes or so.
I got my shit together.
(48:24):
You know, my onions were done,I done my salad, I've made my
both of my patties, I'm pickingmy bread.
And she comes in and she's like, oh, you've got some stuff.
So she tried an onion and shetried the ranch and she's like
this is good, I'll be right back.
And she went and she got me ashot of tequila.
It wasn't chilled but it was ashot.
So I ripped that and thatreally helped me and it got my
(48:49):
creative juices flowing a littlemore, because I was done,
completely done.
I had like five minutes left andI'm thinking what else can I do
?
You know, I've got this surfand turf burger.
I've got the.
I'm using some of their productbut I made it my own and all
these different ways.
I've made a pickle, I made thissauce.
You know what else can I do?
I've been here an hour.
(49:10):
I'm like this is a brew pub andI don't drink them, but I've
seen these Mexican guys pourtomato juice in a beer.
I'm going to take the rest ofmy smoked tomato puree and put
it into one of their lagers.
So I did that and I was likeone minute left and I finished
and, um, you don't know howyou're going to do and nobody.
(49:37):
And um, you don't know howyou're gonna do and nobody tells
you.
They eat it.
And then they tell you to leaveand it's, you know, he does in
my kitchen.
So I'm like asking my well, itwas one of my sous chefs will
helped him.
He's like, yeah, the guy didpretty good, his stuff was
pretty good, darren, I ain'tgoing to lie.
And I'm like man, it'scompetition burger.
So we go to the award ceremonyand it's chef swapped at the
(50:02):
beach.
We're at the culinary schooland the table in between us is a
surfboard and we're holding thesurfboard.
You know, we're six, it's abouta six foot long board and he's
at one end, I'm at the other andthere's Amanda and the judges
with her and we don't know who'sgoing to win.
And I'm on national TV and I'mgripping that surfboard so hard
(50:23):
I thought I was going to likebreak the foam with my thumbs.
She gave the accolades to mefirst and then she was talking
to him.
How I felt like even betterthan she was talking to me.
I'm like this dude is going tobeat me.
And then she looked back at meand she's like there can only be
(50:44):
one winner.
And she, as she's saying that,she's looking at me, and then
she looks at him, and then shepicks up the knife and she says,
darren Smith, and I'm like, Iabout faint, I'm about collapse.
I mean, you know big deal If Iwould have lost you know
whatever.
But I didn't.
And I'm like, and then Sophiacomes running over to me and I'm
(51:05):
like crying and I'm huggingAmanda and she's whispering you
know, your food was, it was thatgood, it was like incredible.
But I don't want to sayanything more.
I want to talk to you aboutthat later.
So that's exactly what we did.
So it was Hollywood.
Um, you know, there's all thebig cameras that come into
(51:28):
bonfire.
Um, I didn't, you know, I wassuch tunnel vision in his
kitchen.
I I didn't realize because I'dnever been in his kitchen before
.
but at Bonfire they allowed meto stay as they set up, but then
I had to be off the premises,but there's like 20 people, you
(51:50):
know, putting up all these boomsand lights and screens, and
they got all these cameras andguys with backpacks and cameras
chasing you around and for somereason I felt like there was one
guy videotaping me, like on hiscell phone.
For my thing, I don't know,obviously it wasn't that way,
but it was incredible.
(52:10):
Subsequently, I became prettygood friends with all those
people ron um hanks no relationto tom hanks.
Um was a producer and, uh, he'sdone some shows that I've been
a part of too, on um pbs.
Uh, joseph rezendo stepping out, um, there.
(52:33):
There's another thing that isin the mix.
This past year, chef Swap cameback and they wanted Rivertown
Bistro.
Finally, bad news, darren, wedon't want you, you're already
on TV.
We want your sous chef.
So here again, terry steps in.
We're going against fire andsmoke.
(52:53):
And I said there's no way.
Tyler is my contemporary.
He and I are chefs.
Terry is a wonderful chef, buthe's not going to go against
Tyler.
Tyler has too many tricks uphis sleeve.
Well, tyler didn't want to doit.
So we pitted sous chefs againsteach other and Terry won.
Pitted sous chefs against eachother and Terry won.
(53:15):
And it was like watching mylittle brother, best buddy son.
I couldn't be at thecompetition.
But I was at the award ceremonyand me and my daughter are
sitting with his daughter, Quinn, and uh, we're just talking and
Terry's up there and we didn'tknow who was going to win.
And they announced it was Terryand we were all jumping and
Terry's up there and we didn'tknow who was going to win and
they announced it was Terry andwe were all jumping up and down
(53:36):
and crying and his daughter runsover, just like my daughter had
done the previous year, andthat's an experience you know.
You just can't take that away.
So now we have two chef swapknives, this national show, and
Ron says they're coming backnext year and I'm like, are we
going to be a part of it?
He's like I can't tell you, sowe'll see.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
So we'll see.
Well, I'm excited to stay tuned.
I really appreciate you takingtime to chat with me today.
It's been so great Justlearning more about your journey
, of your career, and I can'twait to come back and eat at
your restaurant again, becauseit was so good.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.