An Interview With Martita Mestey
Everyone loves you when you’re feeding them, when they leave your just another conversation.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Chef Michael Daniels.
Michael Daniels is considered a Master Chef and a culinary expert amongst food critics, the restaurant community, his friends, family, and fans. Chef Daniels also conducts highly sought-after cooking classes that typically have a waiting list attached due to them being in high demand. Chef Michael Daniels is also the founder of MD Creative Blends. He grew up eating exotic foods, including pheasant, quail, Red Snapper, Orange Roughy, Mahi Mahi and even Octopus. As a child he would rush home every day to see what his mother had cooked for supper. At a young age, this caused him to realize that food made people happy and brought them closer. From entrepreneurs closing a monumental deal to joyous proposals, food has always been an avenue of conversation and togetherness for him.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restauranteur or chef?
Growing up as a kid I loved seeing my family get together on the weekends. My parents worked hard all week but had big fun on the weekends. There was always some foods kicking off on the grill or on the stove. We had a lot of wild game and delicatessen foods. As I grew older I started to craft my skills in this thing called culinary arts.
Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?
I focus on every food from around the world. I just didn’t want to do one genre of foods, I wanted to take people around the world and explain to them what we are cooking and how and where it originated. I loved French Creole from the chef Justin Wilson, he always went outside the box and then in my later years came along chef Emeril Lagasse. Being a chef, everyone paid attention to what you were cooking, and you could capture people inner most attention.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that has happened to you since you became a chef? What was the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
People ask you a hundred question a day. They always want you to cook something for them. I can remember some of the stories people told me to get me to come and cook, some moments were embarrassing because people had other things they were after. What I took from that was how to be more professional and how to service between fun and work.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? How did you overcome this obstacle?
What was hard about starting off was the hours to be the best. I had a wife and young kids that I didn’t see until late at night. I had to always be available when others have the most fun eating. I was always in chef coat and cooking clothes. I didn’t get to let people see I could dress up too. I overcame the obstacle by sticking with it to the point everyone wanted to talk and meet the chef.
In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?
Finding a dish that customers love is by asking questions and finding out about their personality, and then explain to them what you are going to make for them. It makes them feel very special.
Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal for you’?
The perfect meal to prepare is the one that you have your hands on at the time. The ultimate meal is when somebody explain in passion what meal they really want.
Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?
My inspiration comes from looking at another chef prepare something and put my own culinary feel and twist to it. Every morning I get up and go the kitchen inspires me because I know I will be preparing something for someone or a group of people.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?
I am working on my book “ Bourne of a Living Blend” this tell the story of my culinary life and experiences. It will give me some balance of my life as a chef.
What advice would you give to other chefs or restaurateurs to thrive and avoid burnout?
I would tell other chefs to take some time for yourself because you too have a life.
Thank you for all that. Now we are ready for the main question of the interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Chef” and why?
The Five things I wish I knew.
1. Your only love will be the kitchen and food you work with,
2. Everyone loves you when you’re feeding them, when they leave your just another conversation.
3. Never look for love in the kitchen or the restaurant you work in.
4. Yes you will have drinks after work in your work clothes.
5.Never underestimate your full potential.
What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?
The seafood French Creole dishes.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Study the bible, remain honestly humble and never take anything for granted.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
Chef Michael Daniels: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a Chef was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.