The Recipe That Changed His Life: Food, Heritage & Purpose | Chef Don Bowie

Hey, one more thing before you go. Let me ask you something. What if the first person who taught you how to love something wasn't really teaching you at all?What if they were simply inviting you into a world that would eventually become part of who you are? For some of us, it happens around a kitchen table.A smell coming from the stove, a recipe that somebody wrote down, a grandmother who somehow knows exactly what to add without ever measuring it. And before we realize it, we aren't just being fed, we being given a piece of ourselves.Today, we're going into a kitchen where a passion that began with a grandmother eventually becomes a career, a restaurant, a culinary identity, and a mission to feed something much bigger than a plate. Because this conversation isn't simply about food. It's about memory. It's about culture. It's about purpose.Ultimately, it's about what we choose to give back. I'm your host, Michael Hurst. Welcome to one more thing before you go. My guest today of Chef Don Bowie.He's based in Houston, Texas, known as a celebrate celebrity chef, entrepreneur, and the founder of Taste Kitchen plus Bar.His culinary career spans more than two decades and is taking him through some of the country's most prestigious kitchens before ultimately leading him to create his own culinary vision. But Don's story didn't begin in the professional kitchen. Began much earlier in his grandmother's kitchen, which we're going to talk about.That early experience sparked a love of cooking that eventually became a career that built around the global flavors. Texas influences, hospitality, mentorship, and community.Through Big Chef Bowie Cares, Donna's taking a commitment even further, supporting education, hunger relief, disaster relief, second chance programs throughout the Houston community.So today, we're going to talk about food, but we're also going to talk about the people who feed us, the experiences that shape us, and what happens when your passion becomes a way of serving others. Chef, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

What an amazing, amazing journey. Your life has taken you in this direction. So, first of all, thank you for being in this world.

Oh, I'm lucky that this world has me in it.

No, it is. We all love food. You know, those of us. I can't think of anybody that would actually hate food. I think I grew up in an Italian environment.We had conversations and family and food and at the dinner table every night. And those memories kind of stick with me for the rest of my life, because that was like home, you know, back home.

Exactly.

Before we get started, though, before we talk about the restaurants, the career, and everything in between that you've accomplished, which is quite a bit, I would love to go back where your story really began. Can you take us back? Like thinking about your grandmother's kitchen and that very first picture that comes to.

Mind when you think about that, you know. Well, I come from a household. My dad's originally from Louisiana, my mom's here from Houston.So my mom was always a person that cooked literally four course meals every day that I can remember as a child. I remember sometimes I would go to friends house and see kind of how they dined and it would be not as extensive to what we did.And I'd be like, wow, everybody don't eat like we eat. You know, I took that for granted.I mean, it almost came to the point where I didn't even like going to other people's houses to eat because it just wasn't the same experience. So as a child, that's probably the thing that I remember the most is the, you know, the way that I ate growing up.And as I continued to get older, you know, my parents separated. So after a while my mom got to a point where she literally was just cooking for me.So it was like every day I get home and there's, you know, four or five course, I mean, five item situation going on every day. I mean, my mom even made cornbread every, every day. Like it was a daily.

Phenomenal. Yeah, that's phenomenal. They sound like little things, but in reality they're, they're their memory, their culture, their, their family, their love.You know, from that perspective, I think that, you know, cooking and number one, like I, I, I cook for my family and every time I cook that meal, it's me putting a little love into it, sometimes a lot of love into it to make sure that, you know, people get to enjoy it. What was it about watching, you know, your, your mom, your grandma like around and experience that kind of food with her?Did it make it when you get in the kitchen yourself?

Well, I always tell people that I didn't really grow up in a very affectionate household. Like there wasn't a lot of hugging and kissing and you know, that kind of stuff. So for me, the affection came from my mom cooking for me.That was how I received affection or received, like this lady really cares about us because she literally worked full time and still would come home every day and cook meals that I knew other families weren't getting every day. So it was like my example of love to a degree, and it kind of fostered the same thing in me.To when I first started cooking, it was more for me, cooking with people that I love, not because I wanted to be in the profession. So it immediately got instilled because of how I received it from her.

I can relate to that. I think that from that perspective, it gives us a better reality of my environment was similar to yours.I can work with that very easily because my mother grew up in the South. She was from the south, though her parents were from the south.And then they moved to West Virginia and, you know, that was the same type of an atmosphere and single parent. My father died at a very young age and it was the same thing.She worked full time and back then it's hard, harder on a woman to go work a full time job.And there was a lot of expectation from them as well, and she would still come home and make sure we had, you know, a nice dinner on the table and were taken care of. From that perspective, was there a particular dish or smell or meal that could take you back to any of those moments? Do you have a favorite?

Like I said, cornbread, definitely. Like, even to this day in the restaurant, I use my mom's cornbread recipe. Fried chicken was a big thing.I mean, those smells I would come in as I got older. I remember in high school, it got to the point where she was frying chicken. She would fry chicken for like my sister and my dad.And then she was fried separate chicken for me because I was playing football, doing a bunch of things. So she knew I needed my own source of protein and food that was a little extra.

So, yeah, that works. That's pretty cool, actually.

Exactly. I would appreciate it.

Oh, yeah. Give it a little extra love.

Yeah, I felt.

As a. How long have you been a chef, may I ask? Professionally, Officially?

I went to culinary school. Going to the Cordon Blue in 2010. I had been cooking previously before that, but up until that point, I was so anti being in the culinary industry.It was not. It was not, in my opinion. It was not my path. Both of my parents were cooked at one point in time or another.My dad had a soul food restaurant, but my mom used to cook professionally for hospitals and other things. It was never something that I was interested in doing.

Had you had another passion, is that another direction that you would have gone if you had not taken the one that you did?

Oddly enough, I had been in for two. I was in corporate finance for about three years at the latter years of college.And then I went from there and kind of got into entertainment and marketing. I was in the music business for almost a decade, working with a friend of mine who's a very known R B producer.So the 10 years before getting in the culinary. I was in the music business.

Music business. I appreciate the accounting. I stayed away from that.

Listen, that's exactly what happened. One day I just realized, this is not what I can do for the rest of my life. And I literally just left one day and didn't come back.

Yeah, I don't blame you. I don't blame you at all. You know, there's something interesting about food. We often think, like, we're remembering the meal, I think.But what we really remember, like we're talking about now, is, like, the person and the places and the feelings that surrounded it. Because you had walked away from that. You went to the music industry. You were in. You did that, and you did the music industry.When did you first realize that food could do. Do more than feed somebody? It could actually create an experience that you could give somebody.

So I was always known from friends and family as somebody who cooked. So I always enjoyed cooking for people.Like I said, cooking for people that I cared about, seeing them enjoy it, it was a way of me kind of, again, not being a super affectionate person at times. It was a way of me showing them that I cared about them, that I loved them, just the way my mom did for me. But it was always in a personal capacity.I think the one turning point when I thought, well, maybe this can go into a professional situations. When this was when the own network was getting ready to launch and Oprah was looking for content and people. So she ran a contest, and I.And I have some friends urged me to put in a cooking video just to see what happened. And the people, the way people responded to that video, the amount of likes and stuff that it received, it was in the opens of 300,000 likes.It just kind of clicked. The business person of me just told myself, okay, there's something about people willing to pay attention to me and food.So let me figure out if this is a lane. Let me figure out if there's something that I can do. And that's what inspired me to be like, you know what?I'm gonna go to culinary school to try to get a deeper understanding from that side versus what I've just grown and do, you know, from what I've learned from my parents and kind of see how that. How that goes. And from there, it just. Opportunities just started going, yeah, I think.

That's pretty cool, actually, Especially getting it started that way. The exposure gave you a kind of a spark and moved you forward with that. I mean, you already, apparently you already had a passion for it.I can hear that in what you say, because we all do. You know, my wife and I have been married 37 years. Come this September. We've been together for a little longer than that.And my first date was to cook meal. I cooked a meal for her and, and took her to a movie and she went, nobody's ever done that. So I think I'll marry you.

You get a lot of browning points. Being a man who knows how to cook.

It worked out really well. You eventually took that, that level cooking and turned it into a profession.And earlier you said that, that you kind of had, which I don't blame you.I think that there's, there's that fine line between going to a Michelin star restaurant where they give you a little taste of food and you have to make everything like millimeter perfect and being able to create a really good meal for somebody.So did you, I know you went to culinary school to get a deeper understanding of how food, I'm assuming in, in flavors, in mixing and sauces, in how, how food works together. Is it, is that what you want?

It was more, it was, it was a couple of reasons. One, it was to figure out how much I knew that I didn't realize I already knew because, you know, there's certain things.And I realized this going through culinary school.There were certain techniques and stuff that I was doing that I learned from my mom that were really French basic techniques like making a gravy, which, you know, you can make gravy, you can make any other mother salsa because it's pretty much the same principles. So it was understanding that kind of knowledge of the production part and kind of just earning.Understanding more of terminology and you know, a little bit of restaurant operations, kind of a real crash course on the professional side of it, you know, versus just doing stuff that I did naturally based on what I saw my family doing and not knowing why it was done that way. What, what makes it work that way. What is the Maynard reaction? Why does it work?So it was being able to take that, have a better understanding what I've already knew. And then it kind of helped me be able to expand on that.

I liked you said your was your mother or your father was from Louisiana? My father, your father from Louisiana. And your mother was also from the South.

From Houston. Yep, from Houston.

So that mixture there is, there is a huge difference when you think Louisiana, what you Think, at least for me, my own perspective and I have friends of mine that came from New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Is there a big difference in the. The type of food between there and Texas or do you see overlap?

It's a lot of overlap because you have a lot of people who moved from Louisiana to Texas, so you have a lot of heavy Cajun influence. And my mother actually learned a lot of her cooking sealing techniques. My father was a sibling of.There was 13 of them all together, kind of split in the middle, men and women. So she kind of grew up with them and they had been dating since she was. My father was 13, she was 11.So as an adult she grew up with my father's siblings and kind of learned a lot of cooking stuff from them and just had a knack for it. Like I said, she cooked professionally for 30 plus years. So a lot of it was the same. A lot of it was Cajun influence stuff.Gumbos, etouffees, like smothered dishes, fried dishes,.

Stuff to that degree, making me hungry. Memories, food again food. I think it goes back to all of my memories.My really, really good memories are all sitting at a dinner table and the different foods. My sister married an Italian, we have Italian in the family anyway.But my sister married a guy from Rome and then he brought all these friends over and they were from Naples and Sicily. And so every weekend we would all sit at the same table and we would get the influence we get.Cooking from Naples, cooking from Sicily, cooking from Rome. And it really changed my outlook on food, you know, as a kid because it just. As I grew up with that and got a better understanding.My first job was in and two guys from Italy pizzeria and they were two guys from really from Italy. Show me how to throw pizza the way it's supposed to be thrown. Show, you know, the.The MC pasta the way it's supposed to be made and you know, little things like that. Just little things.But going beyond that, everyone that had come over had brought their own unique voice to the table with that food, which I thought was really kind of cool. You were. What an amazing opportunity for you to have that well rounded from between. Between the Louisiana cooking and the. In the Texas cooking.Do you cook, if I can ask? Are you lean, lean more towards like Tex Mex or you kind of combine them now we.

I kind of combine them. I mean for taste is more built on Southern cuisine in general with a few influences here and there.But you know, I guess the latter part of my journey been in the music business for 10 years. It involved me doing a lot of traveling around the country. And during that span, I probably ate out more than I ate in.And what it did was when I finally had kind of hunkered down from being in the music business and kind of came off a long run, once upon a time, I got home and I was like, man, I don't really want to go out to eat for a very long time, because that's all I've done year after year. And I kind of hadn't really done a lot of cooking. So that's kind of what inspired me to start getting back into cooking.Right before I did the video for all, I, too, had just started dating a young lady. And the first thing I did was I cooked more.So I was able to kind of take all the things that I enjoyed eating while I was traveling, and then I start tinkering with them, seeing if I can redo them and make them at home. So from Italian dishes, Asian dishes, and this was all pre culinary school.It was me just cooking for fun and cooking because I wanted to be creative and recreate some things.

At what point do you think you really kind of realized that you were becoming the chef that you wanted to be?

Oh, man. You know, I think the first moment was when you really. When I really got into it from a professional standpoint.And that was probably the first restaurant that I took over.A friend of mine who I'd known for a very long time, a guy named Anthony Mackie, the actor, had a bar in Brooklyn that he had opened after we had already met for some time. And this was right after I got out of culinary school. And he was like, man, I'm either gonna close this bar or I need some help.And I kind of sent him a few of the things that I was doing. He was like, so if you wanna come out and help me with this thing, cool. If not, I'm probably gonna close it.And at that point, it was maybe a year after I'd been out of culinary school. I worked at a few places in Atlanta, and I had always loved New York. Been there plenty of times when I was working in the music business.And I was like, well, here's an opportunity for me to go and create something kind of on my own and see how people respond to it. And I think that project, seeing people respond to the food, see them respond to a menu I created, was like, okay, maybe this does work.Because the business got. Was turned around in less than probably 90 days once we kind of implemented the Food program.

That's pretty cool, actually. And they do it for really an amazing person, too.

Yeah, yeah, it was a. It was, it was. It was quite the experience. And that was.I think that was the first real step of me being like, this may be the path you're supposed to be on.

Isn't it nice when you're able to kind of really feel deep down inside, you know, that this is what I'm supposed to be doing? And kind of gives you purpose.

You found your purpose, you know, and it does.And I tell people all the time, it's like, when you get on that track for doing what God has meant for you to do, the doors kind of open a lot easier. You know, sometimes you find yourself trying to fight through something.It's like, man, why is this such a struggle for me to get from point A to B in this particular line of whatever it is that I'm doing? And it's like, man, maybe I'm just not working hard enough.But then when you kind of fall in purpose and align with your footsteps supposed to be that struggle, isn't there as much. It's just like. It just. Doors kept open and I just kept walking through them.

It kind of settles in, makes you feel good, works out really well.I know that we were talking a second ago about the difference between Texas and Louisiana cooking, for example, with the understanding that you also learn Asian cooking and Italian cooking and things like that. What does Texas taste like when it meets the rest of the world through your eyes? I mean, do you do anything special in Texas that you might.From this restaurant that you're operating down there? Do you bring something to the table that's kind of unique? It's you.

In regards to taste, I mean, absolutely. It's. It's. Like I said, it's. It's very heavy in Southern influences. I mean, from.Like I said, we do cornbread waffles that are made fresh from actual corn cornbread recipe. Again, my mom's, we do fresh, fresh waffle biscuits that are a biscuit mix that I usually make to bake biscuit, but we use it in a waffle machine.So a lot of those things that you would get Southern stuff, whether it's biscuits, cornbread, you know, fried catfish, you know, stuff to that degree. All that stuff's on the menu. We do cream style corn.A lot of things I grew up eating from my parents that I know that are kind of, you know, special to the Southern region. When you start thinking about it, the probably the only thing that I Don't have at taste. That, to me is really a representation of Texas is barbecue.Barbecue is probably one of the signatures that I think when people think about Texas cuisine that stick out in my mind. Number one.

Are you. May I ask, are your parents still around?

Oh, yes, they are.

They are there. Have they. Have they had the opportunity to compete in your restaurant?

Oh, all the time. Yeah. They come in, critique it, tell me what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, point out what they think I took from him. Like, it's a.

It's.

In six years, it's never stopped.

My mom always a parent.

My mom is probably my biggest critic.

Yeah, it kind of. It works. May I ask you, do you have kids? You have family?

I do. I have a son. He's 15. Just started his sophomore year in high school.

Is he interested on your path? Does he have other aspirations?

Well, you know, when he was younger, he would. He would always say that we're gonna open our restaurants together. We're gonna call it. He's named after me.So he said we're gonna call it Don and Don. Now he's kind of in his teenage years. I have no idea.I keep trying to guide him, but he's in that phase of figuring out who he is and who he really wants to be. So I'm giving him a little time.

Very cool. That works. That works. I had two daughters, you know, same thing. They each went their. Their. Their pathways.I'm grateful, actually, they didn't get into my old profession. Oh, man. You know, they got. Especially today's day and age. It's. It's too much going on. Oh, yeah, they are. The.They both got in the creative fields, and my daughter's oldest daughter's an actress, and my youngest daughter is a graphic designer marketing specialist. So they kind of went those directions. But, um, they used to love to cook with me when I was cooking, because my wife. My wife says, I. You. You know me.You married me. You know, I didn't cook. So, you know, it was my job. It. I'll tell you for real quick, 20 seconds. The. When I was working, I rotated shifts.So sometimes swing shift, sometimes day shift, sometimes night shift. When I was working night shift and gray and midnight shift, okay, I was home less because of that and. Or sleeping.When I worked day shift, I was home in the evening. So I would start cooking a meal, and my kids say, I'm not going to eat that. Why?Because mom takes us to Wendy's or Mom takes us to Burger King and It's like, no, no, no, you're going to eat this.

We need this. It's hard to fight fast food with those kids.

It is, it is. But they're better now. They are better now. I have to give credit. So when they're listening to this, they have to understand. Kudos. They.They have become better. Better at dining.

That I work on with my son.We go out to eat a lot, but growing up my family, we didn't really go out to restaurants a lot, which is kind of ironic to now be in the restaurant business. Like most of my food experiences. Not most, 99% of them were me eating at home with my family.

As. As a chef, do you have a hard time going to another restaurant and necessarily internally critiquing the meal?

I feel like I was like that beforehand.Again, coming from a cooking background, cooking, family, going, coming up, eating great food, I think I've always just been a very picky person when it comes to food.Now, once I kind of transitioned into being it professionally, my outlook just changed a bit on having more insight on why or what I would do different. But my favorite thing is being able to go somewhere and eat a meal and having no input that I want to put on it whatsoever. It's like, I love this.Exactly how it is.

Walk out with a smile on this full story. Can a smile don't.

I would change anything. That's. That's. That's eating bliss for me.

Let's talk about your creative process. When you're developing a dish, where does the idea begin? With an ingredient of memory? A place you traveled?Maybe something your mother, your grandmother, your father taught you?

Really, I mean, really a combination of all of it.Like I said, it would be if I was inspired by something that I saw, something that I had at a restaurant somewhere, and if it stuck with me that long, I would try to do my own rendition of it. And that's kind of where the taste menu came from. I had done some catering projects before I had done the restaurant in New York.And so when I created Taste, you know, the basis of it was, let's do a variation of chicken and waffle. Because I saw there was something that wasn't really done in the city of Houston.The rest of it was anything that I had ever created and cooked for somebody and I thought was good. I just put everything on one menu that's by the name. The simplest taste was. I was like, I just want to put everything on it.I know that tastes good and that I know people that fell in love with, and we'll see how it works. I literally came up with that menu probably in a day. And then after that day, I was like, we're ready to go.

Yeah, that's. That's awesome. I. I think that, you know, if. If you don't mind, can you share your thoughts on.We kind of have the same ideal or ideology in regard to the importance of culture and the importance of understanding food and how it plays a factor in family and friends and that connection, you know, can you help us as an audience kind of understand that importance? Do you think of culture and. And that kind of opportunity is something that we all should try to strive to practice?

Oh, absolutely.I mean, that's probably the one thing that's different in the culture now than say, you know, 20, 30 years ago when we were coming up missing that vulnerable moment, surrounded around food with your family, being able to discuss the activities of the day, the issues of the day with your kids, with your partner. They don't. That's not really done anymore.Everything's so instant and so fast or going out to eat or, you know, no, I don't think nobody really even sits around the dinner table anymore because there's so many other distractions with technology and TVs and stuff to that degree.And I think that affects the overall culture because you're taking the most important, in my opinion, the most important family meeting of the day, and you've kind of went away from it. And again, like you said, especially as a child, nobody. Everybody loves food.So I think once you sit down having that favorite meal, your guards are already kind of down because you're in a happy space to be able to have these conversations with your. With your family and loved ones. I think we should definitely be trying to push back to try to encourage families to do that more.

I agree with that. It's unfortunate. So you go into a restaurant, and then you look around and you see everybody with a phone in their face.

Everybody's on the phone.

You know, instead of having conversations, they're. Everybody's head's down.

Everybody's on the phone. You know, I mean, you know, here, my girlfriend, she has kids, and when we do that, we make them put the phone down. Like, we'll literally.We'll lock the phone so they can't even use them to be like, this just defeats the purpose. Like, we need to have conversations. You know, being two business owners, it's like, we need this time to interact with you guys.And, you know, once it gets going, it's Great because everybody gets to talking, and you get to hear all the stuff that's going on in their lives. But it's like, you got to break that barrier first. Like, disconnect for a second.

Well, plus gives you an opportunity to taste the food instead of just blindly shoving your mouth full of food and go back to watching your. I can't say that I'm not guilty of that. Occasionally I am. I'm a human. Like, you know.

Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Like, I said things where you swap. It's part of the culture now.

We're.

We're. We're all guilty of it.

People look at you like, what's the matter with you? You don't have a phone. Yeah, I just put it away, right?

Yep. Yep.

From a personal perspective, a chef's perspective, what do you. What do you want somebody to feel when they take their first bite of something you've created? Have you ever.Have you ever presented something to somebody and just kind of anticipated whether or not they liked it just by expression or.

Yeah, I mean, for me, because I. With everything we do, it tastes.I'm trying to recreate the feeling of the food that I had growing up and that feeling of home and feeling of comfort, just in a different setting, obviously, but. And that's been the thing when I know that when I've achieved it is when I hear people tell me, hey, this reminds me of home.This reminds me of something my grandmother used to cook. This reminds me of something my mom used to cook. Or, like, if I have. We've had.We have some other ladies come in, they'll tell me that my greens are number two behind theirs.I guess little comments like that, that lets me know that we're connecting the dots that we're trying to connect, because it's supposed to be a situation of, you know, feeling comfort. And that's what it is. And that's why, like I said, going to culinary school, I get all the fancy techniques. I get all the fancy things.I've done them. But that's not the direction of what I wanted to do.I want people to come because they're coming for that bite that just brings them comfort and takes them back to a place.

I appreciate that. Because you want the human connection with that. You don't want the technical connection to that. You want the human connection.And I think we, as we are all human beings, and human beings need that connection. Sometimes we forget that. I think we're moving farther and farther away from that. Like you said earlier, we need that Social connection.We need to be able to eat with people, we need to be able to enjoy things like that with people. We need to be able to connect with people like that, with that Taste kitchen and bar. What. How'd you come up with Taste kitchen and bar?And, and what was the inspiration for that? The spark?

Like I said, I was living before moving back to Houston. I've been living in LA for like three years. I was still kind of in a. I took a break from New York.I was dating a singer, she was in the music business. We'd kind of been dating for about three years and that kind of ended. And it was like, am I going to get back into doing music?Am I going to get, keep pushing, doing culinary? Am I going to stay in la? And ultimately I decided I was like, you know what, I need to go back home.I'd been out of Houston for 10 years and I was like, I need to create something that kind of helped leave, started to leave a mark for myself. So I came back to the city, bounce around for a little bit, did a few catering projects, you know, a few consulting situations.And it really was just like, what do I feel like the city's missing? And one thing that I had noticed was every weekend, mostly on Sundays, everywhere I went on Sunday, brunch was just a very busy dining period.I mean I'm like in Houston, brunch is extremely popular. So my mindset was if brunch are this popular every Sunday, why would it not be popular seven days a week?So like I'm gonna create a concept where we just basically do brunch every day from open to close. And this thing that people are waiting two, three hours for.On the weekends I'll just offer to em seven days a week and let me just take all the dishes that I've done and I know that have performed well, put it on the menu, create an environment that feels like home. And oddly enough, the first location that I chose, the original taste, was in an old two story house.So it literally was you walking into a 100 year old house, two stories dining room, felt like a small, little intimate living room. And that was the goal. That's what we went with. And it worked.

That's awesome.

Right off the back.

Yeah, that's awesome. Feel like coming home?

Yeah. Yeah. That house is special.

That's pretty cool actually. That's. Have you moved out of that or you still have something there?

No. Few issues with the landlord, but it was kind of God's way of telling me we needed A bigger space. This.The amount of business that we were having in that house, it was not settled for it. Like said. Right. We opened pre pandemic. In the pandemic hit, we had a really big patio. So we stayed extremely busy during.During the COVID area, and it just never stopped. So we needed more space.

One door closes, one door opens. And so the one that opened brought you more.

Yeah, that's exactly what happened. I mean, where we are now as a brand, as a restaurant, I'd be lying if I say that I saw it being this big and this impactful with the size that we.With the amount of people that we serve on a weekly basis was not what I had in mind whatsoever. This is probably five times more than what I ever envisioned.

Well, but I'm sure that's satisfying as well, because, like, as a cook, as an individual, as somebody that thinks food. Food is a loving action for people, to feed people. I mean, it's got to feel really good inside that this. I know I grew up in a restaurant.Not from your perspective, but my first job was a dishwasher. I worked all the way up to a cook, sous chef, line cook, fry cook. I ran a whole grill meat specialty. You know, that kind of a thing.I know it from that perspective. And it's hard. You know, it's hard to run a restaurant. It's hard to keep everybody working. It's hard to keep everything together.It's hard to please people all the time, and they continue bringing people in the door. So well done, Jeff.

Well, you know, I still.I mean, I like to say that I'm very humble, and this business continues to keep me humble, but anytime somebody tells me that Taste is their favorite restaurant, it always kind of just catches me off guard and blows me away. I never have a response like, yeah, it should be. It's like, really, Taste is your favorite restaurant? Like, are we talking about the same place?And, you know, numbers support it? Like I said, we do extremely well. But still, things like that. That when I hear it, I'm just like.I'm still kind of in disbelief that, you know, something that we've created. I've created is someone's favorite anything. And people.A lot of people said a lot, like, but still, I don't think I've ever just easily just accepted as being like, oh, yeah, of course it is. It's like, no, like, thank you.

I. That's got to reach your soul. When.When people come in and the feeling, they walk through the restaurant and then walk out of the restaurant with is that, yep, it's got to touch your soul. I think, you know, that it would to me at least, because you kind of.You're taking your passion, you're sharing your passion, and then these people walk away understanding that passion. They made a connection.

It was. And what's odd is since I've been on this journey and got into the professional side of it, I tell people this all the time too. The.My passion changed from being about the food to now being about people. Because that's really the. The focus of what it is that we're doing.And I'm meeting from the guest perspective and from my staff's perspective, because you really get into this business if you don't really understand and have a respect and have a passion for people, this business becomes extremely hard. If you make it all about this product that you're creating and what you think of it, and this is what all that matters.It's going to be a hard journey.Like, I really push more into the experiences of what my guests are experiencing, what my staff's experiencing, wanting them to be, you know, excited about coming to work, them building the community, which, you know, and I've seen it like, there's been, like, there's some people who are still with me from the original location. And I've seen friendship form. I've seen relationships form within side. The community of what we built in the restaurant. I have friends who. Who are.Who I've met through being at the restaurant, who met their significant others at the restaurant and now are married and all these different stories. So it's like all of those things, kind of the things that I get excited about the most more so than I do the food now, because I look at the food as.This is supposed to be good. This is supposed to be worth the money. Like, that's our job to do that. We don't really. We really.I'm not looking for a pat on the back for the food tasting good. You know, my goal is to make sure that you just enjoy the experience here. And it is something that's more than just about the food.

I like your word experience. You make it. It's not just going out to eat. It's an experience. You're not just walking into a restaurant. You know, it's ordering food.It's an experience. And I think that's important for us to.That's a distinction between a lot of other restaurants is the fact that you want it to be an experience at some point. I think your relationship with Food became bigger than the restaurant itself, which you show through creating an experience.

Yep. To me, that's part of the. The keys of being successful in this business. I mean, because people have so many options, you can go eat everywhere.I mean, although we have unique dishes on the menu, there's somebody down the street that does something similar.And if all we're doing is supplying food and not paying attention to the other experience and being appreciative of, again, not just the guests, but also the staff, it's a hard business, you know, and like you said, coming up, learning, working in the kitchen, like, these aren't easy jobs. Like, most. Most people don't get into culinary because they're in great financial situation. It's like one of those, I need a job. I know it's hard.I'll learn. I'm not really making that much money in the beginning, but it's something like, you get into it because normally it's a. It's a.It's a situation where you need to be somewhere, you need to learn something. So.And, you know, and being somebody who's worked in those different positions and, you know, when we have open spots, I make sure I understand every position. It's so that I can understand the. The plight of the person that has that job versus taking them for granted and being like, oh, that's an easy job.No, none of the jobs are easy. Like, I love my dishwashers. They're the most important person in my restaurant. Like, you have to get them as such.

You created a family, which I think you just create. You build a family.And when you build a family, and that includes not only the restaurant, from what I can see, you built a family in the community as well, which is very unique, actually. When you touch people like that, you've also got. And you have to help me with this. But Big Chef Bowie cares.

Oh, yeah. Mixed up, boy. Care is correct.

Yep. You became involved in educating hunger relief, disaster relief, programs of support, people looking for second chances and things like that.When did giving back become a part of you being a chef? And how's that kind of mean to you?

I think I've always been somebody who's giving back to the community, but I think once we got into the space of taste opening up and it being something, that it wouldn't be successful if the community didn't support it.I always feel like there's a reciprocation in that, where we, as business owners who survive off the community have to have a certain level of giving back. To the community, the same community that supports us.So, you know, so when it comes to disaster relief, when it comes to if it's a hurricane that happens in New Orleans, you know, yes, I've loaded up my truck and driven with friends of mine to go and, you know, give aid and to whatever ability that we can.We do annual fundraisers every year, one for Thanksgiving, where we're a part of this organization which is the largest feeding on Thanksgiving in the country, where basically we go to George R. Brown, I'll do a bowling event, raise money, and we'll buy, you know, 500 plus turkeys to help them feed, you know, upwards of 10,000 people or more on Thanksgiving day of going out there and serving people. And, you know, and I try to encourage other people to go because sometimes it's not what you think.It's not just homeless people, it's just people who are having trouble making ends meet. So, you know, it's the humbling experience of that.I'm also, in the last few years, have become an avid golfer, so, you know, understanding the plight of, you know, minorities in golf and how hard that struggle is. So I do another fundraiser where we raise money to try to support, you know, minorities in golf in the Houston area.Just, just things that I'm passionate about. Again, it all boils down to me being passionate about people more than anything.

Else, which is a wonderful opportunity.From that perspective, I think that, you know, there's a lot of individuals that, you know, we watch a lot of cooking shows and a lot of Michelin type. I know some Michelin chefs who frankly are, are. And when I say this, hopefully they're not listening to this. Sometimes they think they're better.I'm up here, you're down here. You know, this is what it says, this is how it goes. This is what it's supposed to be. You do what I say.Don't question, you know, this kind of a thing. And I've got two very good friends that are. And that arrogance, don't I get in trouble for that?

No, no, it's. It's not.There's an ego that comes with certain levels of culinary, but I think it just plays into the personality of the person already they were looking to validate. And they're doing it for more of a. From an egocentric standpoint versus what you're giving to the community and people in general.I've just never had that interest. Like, I'm just. It's just not part of how I'm designed so that whatever As a human.

Being, I'm grateful for that you take that opportunity. Because, you know, in my old profession, I saw people at their worst. I saw the best people at their worst. I walked into many homeless situations.People living down, literally living down by the river, living in caves, who were homeless and had no place else to go. And I understand how low people could get. I also saw people who. Who, like you said, needed help. It was just the circumstances.Put them in those circumstances, and sometimes they get forgotten. So I appreciate you from that perspective because, you know, they're people and they shouldn't be forgotten. And, you know, that's what I'm saying.

Like, I think for me, again, never thinking that the restaurant was going to be something that was going to be my vehicle, you know, it would just happen to be the vehicle that allowed me to pour into people and care for people and do things. And that's what I use it for. I don't use it as a self motivating thing for myself or for my own ego.Like, a lot of times my publicist, they'll tell you, it's like, it's. Sometimes it's hard to get me to do press and things where the attention's on me.Because even when I created taste, my goal was I want taste to have its own identity. I want people to fall in love with the restaurant, the experience, not with me. I want it to be about what we're creating.And that was a goal from the beginning. I have to make it about myself.

Y. That's profound. Do you encourage, like, the next generation of chefs? What do you. What do you see? Young people?Does anybody come to you and say, hey, can you mentor me? Can you teach me? Can. Can you help me get inspired? Because this is what I want to do.

I have. But again, another thing is you look at a majority of my staff.I mean, two of the guys, you know, we have two locations, and both of the chefs who run both of those locations started with me as hourly employees. They had never been chefs anywhere else. Smart guys, been in the business for a long period of time.But when the opportunity to present itself, instead of me being like, oh, I need to go find someone who has a particular resume and experience, I went with people who I know knew taste and knew the business of taste. And I was letting me pour into developing you guys and give you the opportunity to, you know, elevate in life.So that's one of the big things that I enjoy doing. I love seeing people grow, especially within our building. You know, somebody coming in from a dishwasher and making it to Lion.Could somebody coming in, you know, as a server and they're buying their first car kind of thing. Like, those are the things where it's like, okay, we're doing something right here because we're helping people mature and kind of grow in life.

Yeah, that's cool. Very. That's. That's.That just shows your persistence, your compassion, your humanity have all pushed you in a direction, and the universe puts you in a place where it allowed you all to have led you to have that, which. Yeah, I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful. I mean, you just met me, but I'm only. I'm only one opinion, but.

No, no, but people with hearts have the same kind of outlook.And like I said, coming from your previous profession, you've dealt with a lot of people who needed second chances, and a lot of time, they don't get a chance to do that. I feel like the restaurant industry and culinary gives people a lot of second chances.It gives up opportunity to find something, to be involved with, something they can be proud of, they can have pride in.I mean, I have a lot of guys who work in my kitchen that, you know, had trouble past troubled youth, and then you see them kind of get into a situation where they become a member on a team where they're counted on and they have to deliver, and people are depending on them.You see a sense of pride develop in them that they didn't have when they first walked in the door, and they take it with a badge of honor to be like, yeah, I come here every day because people are depending on me. I'm adding value to something. I had a kid one time who's back working for me now. I mean, he said something to me one day, and I was just like.He was like, man, I love coming to work because when I go home, I don't know what my survival chances are because there's so much stuff going on. He was like, but I know when I come to work, I'm safe.And I'm like, how do you not continue to pour into somebody like that and try to find opportunity for them? They're scared to go home because it's not a safe place. I'm like, you can't just hear that and ignore it and not put some energy and effort into it.

That's kudos, brother. Kudos. I think that what an amazing opportunity you were giving to people to move forward in a positive way.

Yeah, absolutely.

What do you wish someone had told you when you were that young person standing in the kitchen before you knew where your journey would take you.

You know, I ask myself this all the time. Had I started earlier, would have been a. Would I be the more successful and a better journey? And most times I'm like, I really don't know.Because all the things that I experienced before I got here I think were essential to me being able to do what I do now.Had I gotten to an early point, maybe I would have the ego because now I've looked at it from a more culinary standpoint versus being able to see the world the way that I've seen it. Maybe I am one of those guys who, you know, I want it to be more about me. I don't know. So I kind of.I'm appreciative of my journey being the way that it was. I don't think. I think if I change something, then the outcome changes.

I agree with that. I think that where we've been and who we were has allowed us to become who we are today.

Absolutely.

And you know, it's one of those. It's that old cliche. If I knew now, if I could go back in time with what I know now, would I change anything? Kind of a question.You have to really have to stop think what I wouldn't I. Because the person I am today is because of where I came from.

Exactly. Everything may change if you change one thing. And I kind of like where I'm at right now. So I don't know if I want to change much.

And we may have covered this earlier and forgive me if we have, but was there a version of your life where if you had never followed this path that you probably would be stuck in, do you think you would be with the music industry or with the accounting or the financial aspect of it?

You know, I think one thing that's been unique about my personality, even when I was younger, my mother would co sign this. I've always been somebody who's been open to exploring.It was never, I mean, when I was, you know how you ask kids these days, what do you want to be when you grow up? I never really had an answer for that. I just knew that whatever it was, I would always say, I just want to be great at whatever it is that I do.So it always just allowed me to be open to walking through doors that they open to figure out what was on the other side and why not me. So I don't even know if there is a, you know, a version where I would have Got stuck in because I would pivot in a heartbeat. I've had.There's probably three other careers that I've had that I haven't even. That's not in my bio, that I've shared just in spans of my life where I was. Let me see what this is about and, you know, see how it works.But again, at those times, it felt random.But now, with where I'm at now, everything that I've experienced in my past has come to play in being able to do what I do now because it all kind of came together to.

Make sense to make this. And obviously, we're all grateful for that to happen because you've created, again, you've created experience for people to come in.You've created compassion, humanity, and the opportunity to understand culture and food and human connection. And it all plays where it's supposed to play.

Absolutely. Yeah, it does. And that's the goal. You know, every. As time passes on, we just.I just keep looking in the ways on how do we continue to increase the experience and the connection. What more can we do? Like I said, I. I enjoy knowing that the. The amount of team members that we have on the team and how it continues to grow.You know, as a business owner, you know, I think most people aren't excited about paying payroll because it's a bill, but I always gauge it as the higher my payroll. That means the higher that.What I'm investing back into people and them being able to go up and, you know, survive and pay bills and take care of their children and stuff to that degree. So for me, it's a badge of honor. I want my payroll to be as high as it can be, you know, while the business is still successful.

That's a brilliant way of looking at that. And it's a brilliant. I never thought about that way, but yeah, that's a brilliant way of looking at that.

Oh, no, I was just saying that, you know, it's an expense to me, but it's income to others, and that's a valuable thing in today's society, being able to. You.

You allow people to continue to thrive in. You know, and. And here. Here's what. I appreciate that about that because I've worked in restaurants as I grew up where the top concern was food.How many people can we get in here? How many people can we get out of here? Make sure everybody's working like clockwork. Of course, but it wasn't. It wasn't a.It was a means to survive at the time, like you said earlier. I took the job because, you know, when you don't know what you're going to do, you come out of high school, you're still in high school.Most people's first job is in a restaurant. Whether it be fast food restaurant or regular restaurant. You are usually a server, a dishwasher, busboy, bus girl, whatever the case may be.And I think that, you know, it, we as human beings, everybody wants to be accepted and they want to be able to do a good job.They want to be able to feel like they have a place where they're at, that they belong where they're at, whether it's the dishwasher or whether it's the chef or anybody in between, you want to feel like you belong there.And I'm grateful because from what we've talked about, you've created that environment so that they feel that they belong there, from the dishwasher all the way up to the chef, which is kind of cool.

I think it's necessary. If not, that's a hard. It's a hard game to be successful in.

Everybody's rather.So speaking of successful, if we want people to experience your food, learn more about Taste Kitchen in the bar, or discover the work that you're doing through Big Chef Buoy Cares, where should they go, please?

They can visit us on the website that's www.tastehtx.com or the thing that people love the most, social media.They can either follow me at Big Chef buoy or at TasteKitchen Bar to find all the what's happenings and what's going on in the restaurants and in my world.

And the pictures we have up and out are like some amazing dishes that I and I was drooling over before we started.

So we got some really great dishes, man.Like, you know, oddly enough, although I created it as a brunch concept, we probably sell more lamb chops than the average steakhouse, which still blows my mind to this day, really. Amount of fire that we moved. Yeah, yeah. I'd. Once upon a time working on a project, I created a jerk lamb chop.Just I think I heard of it, I heard the idea once and I was like, oh, I'm going to try to make one. It literally has created something to where that's the thing we're known for the most.And I think when it comes like other urban southern style restaurants between from here to Atlanta now, restaurants in that arena can't have a menu if they don't have jerk lamb chopped on them. But I'm telling you, it Was not a thing before 2017.

See that? That's a badge of honor right there.

It's very well, but yeah, right from. It's the star of the show.

Well, sometimes the story behind the plates every bit as important as what's on it. We should take a moment and step into your world, your kitchen, your food, and the work that you're doing in your community.So I'll make sure that the link is in the show notes and everybody can find it very easily by clicking on it. That way they don't have to look for it too far. This is one more thing before we go, because we're. We're about out of time. I enjoyed this.So I could have cover up. Probably kept on talking.

No, it's been good.

But one more thing before you go. If you could leave the next generation with just one lesson about food, about life, and about what it means to feed other people, what would it be?

It wouldn't be that. Food is, to me, is a representation of a person's culture.If you really want to know about a person, where they're from, what, what makes them tick, the food from their culture will teach that to you. And it is a pathway for you to be able to experience that.I tell my staff all the time, being able to cook is one of those things where I can drop you off in any city in the world. You might not even know the language. But if you put you in the kitchen and you know the language of cooking, you'll be able to survive and thrive.Why? Because you'll be creating the one thing that everybody wants, and that's food.So it's an invaluable experience and an invaluable lesson, and it's a way to really experience culture like no other way possible.

Brilliant words of wisdom. Varying words of wisdom. Don, thank you very much for sharing your story, your journey with us.Thank you for taking us back to your mother's and your grandmother's kitchen, your father's kitchen, and for showing us how something that begins as simple love of food can become life's work and eventually a way of serving others. As I said earlier, and I mean this from my heart and my soul, I appreciate you being here in the world and thank you for what you give to it.

And thanks for having me. Michael.

Listening to Don's story, I kept thinking about how rarely our most important lessons don't show up as lessons. Sometimes they start with sitting beside us in the kitchen table. Sometimes they're stirring something in a pot.Sometimes they're handed to us by someone who doesn't realize they're giving us much more than food. Maybe that's why certain meals stay with us for decades.We aren't just remembering what we ate, we're remembering who we were with and how they made us feel. And that gave us what we carry forward. And perhaps that's the real gift of cooking. It's not simple about feeding people.It's about giving them something to remember and giving them an experience. And the greatest thing that we can do with anything, we can then pass it on to someone else. So that's a wrap for today's episode.I hope you found inspiration, a few new perspectives, and perhaps something that made you think about your own story a little bit differently. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to like subscribe and follow us. Drop a review.It helps us find you we are on Apple Spotify, your favorite listening platform and you can be head over to YouTube and watch the full video version. In the meantime, have a great day. Have a great weekend. Thank you for being part of One More Thing before you Go. Until next time, I'm Michael Hurst.Thanks for listening to this episode of.One More Thing before youe Go. Check out our website @ beforeyougopodcast.com you can find Us as well as subscribe to the Program and rate us on your favorite podcast listening platform