Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Mitchell.
Hi Nick, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in South Georgia and South Carolina, I realized at a young age that despite the social inequalities and complexities that we faced as a nation, we all have two things in common: food and music. No matter who you are and where you live, you will most likely enjoy the company of family and friends over a nice lunch or dinner. This reminds me of the countless holidays spent with grandparents, parents, aunties, uncles, and cousins all gathered around the dining room table. Some would be in other rooms of the hosts house watching some sporting event or listening to artists like Sam Cook, Ella Fitzgerald, Prince, Nas, and even the Wu Tang Clan. Even though we may have been in different rooms, we all had a big paper plate of some of the best food I have tasted until this day. As human beings, we must feed our hearts, minds, and stomachs to be healthy. Food and music are medicines that have many healing properties. No matter who you are and where you live, you most likely enjoy tapping your feet or bobbing your head to a banging beat. Music and food are often paired together to create an intoxicating vibe of sounds and flavors. This is art at its finest if you ask me. As a kid, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by family members who helped me develop my palate and my ear. The nostalgia of the flavors and sounds that shaped my childhood have molded me into the culinary artist I am today. The Coolest Chef. You can find me consulting restaurant owners on menu development and profitability or catering all over the DFW. My place of refuge is my home kitchen on a Sunday whipping up the same dishes I grew up with for my beautiful wife and children but incorporating classical cooking techniques to enhance what was already golden. The satisfying looks on the faces of those who indulge in that first bite of deliciousness I create is the icing on the cake.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Where I come from there is no road that is smooth. I had to be able to adapt to change and propel myself out of any situation because my survival depended on it. The issues that we faced as African Americans over 100 years ago persist today, and it is magnified for all to see on social media. Cooking and music always take me to a space where I can just be me and create the dishes and sounds that make me happy. In my opinion, being an African American Chef from the south means that I must represent my culture and my heritage through the dishes that I create. That means keeping it classic but remixing it with scratches and samples.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have been in the culinary and hospitality world my entire professional career. I am known for being not only a teacher but a lifelong student of the art of cooking. I even think in terms of melody and flavor. I am a restaurant consultant, and a supper foodie!! On a day-to-day basis, I train restaurant owner-operators to be profitable by executing amazing menu items and running excellent operations by utilizing system driven blueprints.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up I was a very fun-loving, hospitable person. I think the southern hospitality aspect of the south also shaped me to a huge degree. I know I received these traits from my mother Vicky and grandmother Bobbie Hopps as well. Their houses were always filled with hungry stomachs. Not only were they great cooks but very hospitable entertainers. I inherited these traits because I am still the life of the party in a nerdy way. My friends knew me as an awesome high school and college basketball player, but they also knew me as the person to ask what the lyrics to any song were, and I could quote it word for word. Now I fill their timelines with food centric pics and snippets of verses from my favorite artists, which will inspire you, make you laugh, or allow you to time travel through your memories of smells and flavors and sounds.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoolestchef/
- Facebook: htpps://www.facebook.com/ChefNMitchell
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoodTangClan_36
