“People eat with their eyes,” chef exclaims, as he carefully lines up rainbow peppers on a crawfish omelet, a dish that came from the fathoms of his imagination. In fact, Derek keeps track of when produce is in peak season and he finds some way to incorporate it into his cooking. Whether it be: heirloom tomatoes, swiss chard, purple asparagus, rainbow carrots, watermelon radish, golden beets – the more colorful, the more likely he is to incorporate into a dish (especially if it’s our restaurant’s colors)!
When asked what separates him from the pack, Derek will tell you that he approaches every dish that he creates with love. “Everything I make is to taste, and if you have to season one of my entrees, it’s an insult.” He says with a smile.
The culinary arts is a pursuit of passion, for one of the only African American Executive Chefs in all of Chicago. Let that sink in. Derek grew up in a kitchen, with his uncle being the Executive Chef for NBC, paving the way for him and instilling a passion in him to carry on the family legacy, a torch his son hopes to one day carry. Derek worked his way up from sous chef in his uncle’s kitchen to a truly respected Chef de Cuisine on the Chicago Brunch scene.