June 25, 2024

Chef Darren Smith: Mastering the Restaurant Business

In this episode, I sit down with Chef Darren Smith, the chef and owner behind two successful restaurants, to talk about what it really takes to build a lasting career in the restaurant industry. Darren shares how his journey into cooking began unexpectedly while attending college to play soccer, and how the craft of cooking—along with the camaraderie and creativity of the kitchen—quickly became a lifelong passion. Over the years, that passion has grown into a career defined by mentorship, strong teams, and restaurants that have become staples in the Conway culinary scene.

We also talk about the philosophy that guides Darren’s restaurants—from building loyal teams with employees who have stayed for decades, to creating menus that balance creativity with consistency. Along the way, Darren shares stories from his early days in professional kitchens, lessons he’s learned about running a restaurant, and a behind-the-scenes look at competing on the television show Chef Swap. It’s a conversation about hard work, mentorship, and why great food always begins with great people.

Episode Highlights

[01:11] – Darren shares how long-term employees have helped shape the culture and success of his restaurants.

[04:01] – His path into the culinary world begins unexpectedly while attending college to play soccer.

[07:02] – Darren reflects on early kitchen experiences that shaped his approach to cooking and technique.

[10:37] – The core principles behind running a successful restaurant: great atmosphere, consistent food, and honest menus.

[18:51] – Why chefs get a “fresh start” every single day in the kitchen—and how that mindset shapes the work.

[25:58] – Advice for aspiring chefs on building a career, learning from mentors, and gaining real kitchen experience.

[34:02] – Darren reflects on how Conway and the surrounding community influenced his culinary style.

[43:59] – A behind-the-scenes story about competing on the television show Chef Swap.

Links & Resources

Rivertown Bistro
Bonfire- A Smokin' Taqueria

Special Thanks:
Visit Myrtle Beach

Follow Amelia

Instagram: @AmeliaOldOfficial

Website: https://AmeliaOld.com

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider following the show and leaving a rating or review wherever you listen. Your support helps more people discover these stories—and the inspiring people behind them.

Chapters

00:03 - Culinary Journey of Success

11:35 - Preparation and Flexibility in Culinary Excellence

27:42 - Cooking Memories and Family Traditions

34:40 - Expertise and Local Sourcing

40:35 - Culinary Spots and Chef Swap Experience"

52:55 - The Culinary Competition and Celebration

Transcript

WEBVTT

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories.

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My name is Amelia Old and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration.

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Join me as I share stories of friends, family and strangers from my everyday life and travels.

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You will laugh, possibly cry or walk away, feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs.

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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What's yours?

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So thank you so much for joining me today and taking time out of your crazy busy schedule and just to tell me a little bit about your story in the culinary world.

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I really appreciate you being with me today.

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I'm happy to be here.

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As usual, both restaurants are just full tilt.

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I've got great crews at both those, so they're handling things, which allows me to spend some time chatting with you things, which allows me to spend some time chatting with you.

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Now.

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Let's start with that, because you told me when I met you you have employees that have been with you a really long time, and I thought that was so impressive.

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Yeah, I've been real fortunate.

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I don't know what all the circumstances were that brought it together, but I've been real lucky to hire very good people.

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Of course, I like to think I treat them well, pay them as much as I can and make sure they get paid and give them a good working environment and therefore in this industry, which is known for really high turnover, I've had people working with me over two decades.

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At Rivertown Bistro.

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My general manager has been with me roughly 18 years, my chef roughly 20 years.

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Wow, he started off as a dishwasher and a prep cook and just moved up through the ranks, you know, and I'm fortunate to have solid people that were willing to learn, adapt and grow with me as I've grown on my culinary journey.

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I think that's really amazing.

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They must love what they do, and I think that's great to find people like that as well.

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Yeah, there's a true passion for them.

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My general manager, lee, is outstanding, service-oriented.

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It helps that she's a good cook, a foodie, she knows wines, she's just stellar.

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She gets along really well with my wife.

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My wife has backed off of the day-to-day operations.

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It used to be she and I daily at Rivertown when we opened 30 years ago.

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She did all the front of the house and the wine ordering and she's still integral in all that.

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My wife Cindy, and actually she's in the house on her computer.

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She's taking her Psalm course.

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So she's still got the passion too.

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And then Terry, my chef, once again started off dishing, moved slowly up the ranks through garbage, desserts, grill, saute.

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He can do everything in the kitchen that I can do.

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And he's younger and so that's a plus, because cooking is a young man's sport.

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I can still hang with the guys, I show them technique and new things all the time for eight hours, day in and day out.

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It's kind of grueling.

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So I let the young guys kind of do that on the daily, but I'm still around.

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I'm usually at either of the restaurants anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day.

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What inspired you to pursue a career in the culinary world?

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That's funny.

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I attended Winthrop University, which is right outside of Charlotte, purely to play soccer.

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It's Um, I I really didn't know.

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But then reality started to set in, like what if I can't play?

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Or what if something happened to my legs or something?

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And my brother at the time, uh, had graduated uh, culinary school up in Rhode Island.

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We're both from the Southeast, he was born in Tennessee, I was born in Charleston, but he sung the praises of cooking.

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And this is back before.

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It was cool to be a cook.

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There were no cooking shows.

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I mean, there was like the Galloping Gourmet which I started to get hooked on and it was this chef, uh, I forget what country it was from, but pasquale, I think it was italian, but I would watch both of them, um, and some other various shows.

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But he sung the praises of you know just cooking and how it makes you feel, and the camaraderie.

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And you know, if you surround yourself with good cooks and you're sending out good food, you're making people happy, the immediacy of a meal course after course, in the span of a couple of hours, people will come back into the kitchen oftentimes and say, hey, that was one of the best dishes I've ever had, or we're celebrating our anniversary and we're here because the food's so good.

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Um, and once I started cooking in that frame of mind, um, it just takes over all your senses.

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Uh, it gives you a good purpose.

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Um, pleasing other people, it's an honest trade.

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You'll always eat, I mean, there's just so many pluses about it.

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So, um, I love it as much as I did the first day I started doing it and it clicked with me, and I like to spread that out to all of my employees, just that you know, working in the kitchen or working serving tables isn't anything to be.

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I don't know.

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I think some people look at it as a stepping stone to get to a career.

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I think this is a career, and an important one, because I think not enough people gather around a dinner table and eat good, delicious, fresh food.

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Enough.

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Everyone's too frantic, everyone.

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Oh, let's just pick up, carry out.

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You know, don't get me wrong wrong I like carry out occasionally, but I just really enjoy the the meal aspect.

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I love that.

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Can you share a memorable experience from maybe your early days in the kitchen that sort of shaped your approach to cooking?

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um, I had, uh.

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I moved from Rock Hill, where Winthrop was, down to Mount Pleasant to live with my dad and my goal was to work at Johnson and Wales.

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So I toured the school and subsequently I had enough credits that would attribute to an associate's degree on an accelerated program.

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But I had to get some practical experience, which I'm very thankful for.

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I didn't just start culinary school, they wanted me in the field learning sort of the school of hard knocks and I worked at a few sort of dive restaurants.

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And then I walked into this restaurant that was on Shem Creek, coleman Boulevard, right beside Shem Creek.

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It was called Locklear's and everyone in the kitchen got along really well and there were some true Southern Geechee guys that had that thick Geechee accent and their grandmothers had taught them how to cook.

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My grandmothers had taught them how to cook.

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So these guys were my age to mid-20s and knew how to cook grits and okra and all this delicious stuff.

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But they could also saute snapper and make bernets restaurant, where we're making everything from scratch, and the mother sauces.

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And if you had an idea, the chef was very stubborn but he would come around and accept that you did want to learn.

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We would always have to do things his way, but it was such an important thing for me to see why butter, when it's clarified clarified emulsifies into egg yolks, because every day we're doing it and I just always wanted to know why and how much lemon juice and a little bit of salt and some tarragon reduction, and how it transforms this hollandaise into this delicious sauce.

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That's probably my first memory of me making something.

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And then we draped it over, how it was, on a filet.

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We also did it on a spiced chicken breast, with these roasted potatoes, with this delicate buttery sauce, and it just I remember we cooked it and we all ate it and I was just thrilled that I had prepared this dish.

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Um, that's probably my earliest memory of working in a professional kitchen and making something the first time.

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But then the repetitive aspect of making that dish as close as you can so that if three people at a six top get it, each plate looks the same, tastes the same.

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I found the importance in that as well.

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So there are a lot of things that you absorb, especially as a younger person.

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When you come into a professional environment like that.

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Some people are like, oh, 12 hours and it's hot and I could cut myself and there's flames and no, this isn't for me.

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I've seen it day in and day out.

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But some people like myself go bring it on.

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I love it.

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Let's get busy.

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Let's do 20 more people than we did last night, and last night we did 20 more than the previous night.

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It's that adrenaline rush.

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Now you've.

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Now you've run several successful restaurants and you have a couple of successful restaurants.

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Now, what values or principles guide your approach to running a successful restaurant?

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I think the nuts and bolts have to be from the ground up.

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You want a good atmosphere.

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You want good food served in a timely fashion.

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You want enough variety that people a mixed group of people can all find something that they like.

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You have to get the food to the table.

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When I moved to Conway I realized it's the county seat, so a lot of attorneys on schedules.

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We weren't on the coast with this four hour lunch that people could enjoy.

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They come in every now and then.

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You might sell a glass of wine, but people are wanting a sweet tea.

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Their lunch in about 15 minutes after being seated and then they're on their way.

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And once you could do that, we could pack the house.

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So we learned to um, cook really good food really quickly.

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Um, and prepare ourselves and do as much as we could to make it easier on ourselves.

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You know you can.

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You certainly can't boil pasta to order or make risottos, so you learn to part these things off.

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Go ahead and have your vegetables cut, or maybe the longer cooking root vegetables pre-roasted, doing all these touches that some people might consider sandbagging, but I consider it being smart.

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Um, lining your pantry with infused oils and spice blends and different garnishes, um, compound butters in your freezer, um, all of a sudden you can make these world-class dishes and people are like wow, and you just used your arsenal of stuff.

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Sudden, you can make these world-class dishes and people are like, wow, and you just used your arsenal of stuff that you've prepared.

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Yeah, I think it's important a good environment, good food and truth in menu.

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Um, you know, I've eaten in plenty of places where you read something on the menu and when it comes out it's like this is not grouper or they say these are local, whatever, and it doesn't appear to be that way.

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So I don't know why people would do that.

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It's so much easier to say what you're going to do and do what you're going to say, I guess.

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But I'm a big fan of you know, I was changing the menu very frequently, but I learned that I kind of need to keep a core menu in place and two or three times a year we change, because now I don't really want root vegetables and that kind of stuff, and asparagus is popping up, you know, and there's some hyper seasonal foods that I thoroughly enjoy, thoroughly enjoy, but I can't do fiddlehead ferns and ramps and these ingredients that I really enjoy getting um all throughout the summer.

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So I get a bunch in and I'll make the ramp uh, the green part of the ramp into tubs and tubs of pesto and stick them in the freezer and then pickle the whites and, um, you know, pickle morel mushrooms or whatever, just to elongate the season for myself and to let others enjoy it that way.

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You know, I think that that is really important to keep the menu, you know, somewhat the same, because it can be frustrating as someone dining in a restaurant and you're going there for a specific dish and then the menu has been changed and people like what they like, right, and so they're coming to you oftentimes because there's something specific on that menu that they just have a craving for, that they really want.

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So I do think that that is important.

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You know, as a diner that seeing a restaurant kind of stick to you know that core group of dishes.

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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 is it that you know I wrote a menu 30 years ago we opened June in 1994, and I had some pretty fun things on the menu and I'll describe a few of them.

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But I had just learned about tapenade and I loved to smear it on a meaty fish and roast it in the oven with panko breadcrumbs mixed with pine nuts as the crust and simply serve that over caramelized onions.

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It was simple, it was delicious, it was packed full of flavor and it was something that I could do, because I was basically the only cook and I could do that well and I could serve that and people really, really liked it.

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And at the same time, on the same menu, I had a black, a lightly blackened dolphin and I still black and stuff to this day.

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Um, one of the previous chefs that I worked with uh got Paul Prudhomme's cookbook and, um, we, we just devoured that book.

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Every recipe how to make rue, uh, gumbos, etouffees, you name it.

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Um, I got engrossed in that too, and that you know that was uh, early mid eighties.

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Uh, um, and that's when I started to get intrigued in that, probably about 87, 88.

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Um, I started to get intrigued in that probably about 87, 88.

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Um, I could be wrong, but I think so.

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But anyway, I would blacken this dolphin and I put it on a jalapeno grit cake.

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So there was a restaurant in Charleston that had just opened and I want to say they did the grit cake or maybe I saw it, I forget where I saw it.

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Um, but I thought I'll make it my own and I'll put diced up, pickled jalapenos in it to add to that heat and I'm going to blacken it and then I'm going to cool it all with a blue crab cream poured over the top and then I'll just do some seasonal vegetables or maybe zucchini and squash on the side.

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So those are two dishes.

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You know, I could flat top, I could drop the great cake, I would pre-make the sauce, the crab cream, and keep it up high.

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I could roast the fish in the oven.

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So I had these two dishes and then I had a steak, I had a couple of pastas and I just kind of learned to do these things that were fresh and good and very flavorful but not locked in.

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You know this was kind of low country, this is kind of Mediterranean, and I was pulling from all these different areas and foods that I had eaten at and liked and I took great joy in that.

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So I don't like to be pigeonholed.

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I call my restaurant Rivertown Bistro, not that it's a Brasserie or a French Bistro, even though I love Razzare's and bistros and that's one of my go-tos when I eat out of town.

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But I do want mussels with good crusty bread or French fries, and I have French onion soup on my menu.

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But we also have references to Jamaica.

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We have Jamaican jerk sauce on my menu, I've got risotto.

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I've got through and through low country and I think it's important to use local stuff.

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I'm so tired of the moniker farm to table, because if you're not doing that, what exactly are you doing?

00:17:56.324 --> 00:17:59.318
But I think people say that way too much.

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It's just like of course you should use local because it's local, and why wouldn't you?

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But that also doesn't stop me from getting salmon flown in, because people really like salmon and I can't get salmon here and I don't know.

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I just think submerging yourself into doing things, or at least try to do things the right way your hiring practices, the way you prep, the way you treat your ingredients, all the way down to recycling.

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I think it's important to try your best.

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Sometimes you don't make it all the way, sometimes it's maybe at the end of the day I'm like man, I feel like I only did 85%, you know.

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Well, that's okay.

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Sometimes, you know, you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and the next day you attempt it again.

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One of my favorite cookbook authors, charlie Trotter, you know he recently passed.

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I was lucky enough to eat at his restaurant, but he had wonderful quotes through his restaurant, through his cookbooks, and one of them was from another chef.

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But it basically said and I'll just paraphrase that unlike most other occupations, the chef starts new every single day.

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I mean, you're going into a hopefully a clean stove, empty pans, and here comes your product and you break down the fish and you chop your vegetables and you do that.

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You get a clean slate every day and you can say, okay, gosh, this is a lot of work.

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Or you can say I'm going to make this stuff delicious and I'm going to have fun prepping it and we're going to have a good night's service and before we know it, we're going to be mopping our stations down, and then we'll have a glass of wine and toast the night, and then we're going to do it all over again tomorrow.

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I love that.

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What has been, you think, one of the biggest challenges that you faced through your journey, and how did you overcome it?

00:19:56.193 --> 00:20:06.465
Even in a really good economy, with low food prices and abundant labor, what else?

00:20:06.465 --> 00:20:11.801
When everything's like hitting on all cylinders, a restaurant is very difficult to run profitably.

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So my wife and I have always tried to put everything under the magnifying glass, holding all of our purveyors to the task of yes, I want the best, I will pay top dollar for the best, but I don't want you to then think I want to pay top dollar for flour and salt and stuff that you can gouge me in other areas.

00:20:37.522 --> 00:20:44.856
So I think it's really important to build relationships, not only with my workers and we're a family there but my purveyors.

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When they come in and they bring people in reps, I want to buy their lunch.

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I'm not looking for freebies for them, I want to see their products and I want the purveyor and my local guy to know that they can come eat with me and I like them.

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I don't look at them as like.

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I've been in situations where I've seen other restaurant owners and chefs treat their salesmen and yell at them like they're underlings, like my fish didn't come in and it's your fault, you're going to have to do this.

00:21:16.511 --> 00:21:18.876
I mean, we're all trying to do the right thing.

00:21:18.876 --> 00:21:45.638
So, um, I think you know, keeping things in perspective, putting everything under the magnifying glass and holding yourself and everyone else to task is important.

00:21:45.638 --> 00:21:48.586
Sure, people look at me and go man, that guy has two restaurants and you know he can, you know, probably makes a lot of money.

00:21:48.586 --> 00:21:49.528
The profit margin is so small in what we do.

00:21:49.528 --> 00:22:06.144
Um, I do take advantage of eating really, really good food and drinking delicious wines and going on trips to food destinations, wine destinations, where the people that I purchased from take care of us and let us stay for free and give us private tours.

00:22:06.144 --> 00:22:10.161
Those aspects are invaluable to me.

00:22:10.161 --> 00:22:13.851
That's where I'm wealthy Monetarily.

00:22:14.873 --> 00:22:25.916
I think Mondavi said and I'll liken it to a restaurant, but he said you want to know how to make a small fortune in the wine industry, start with a large fortune.

00:22:25.916 --> 00:22:36.422
And that's probably my favorite quote, because at the end of it all, you have a small fortune but look what fun you've had and you've sold your stuff and you've made other people happy.

00:22:36.422 --> 00:22:44.958
You know, of course I want to save money and I have a daughter that's the light of my life and she's in college now.

00:22:44.958 --> 00:22:52.624
So putting her through school and I grew up, uh, not as fortunate as a lot of my contemporaries.

00:22:53.111 --> 00:23:02.580
Um, my, my family didn't make a lot of money, so I appreciated the smaller things in life and the fact that we would go out to dinner maybe every other month.

00:23:02.580 --> 00:23:11.744
My dad would save his money and we would go out to a nice place to get a steak and maybe learn the value of it.

00:23:11.744 --> 00:23:14.159
My parents never gave me a car or anything.

00:23:14.159 --> 00:23:39.346
I would work my butt off to have some of the nicer things in life and do good enough to buy my daughter a car and pay her way through school and not spoil her to the extent where she expects it, but teach her the value of life and what to do and take nothing for granted.

00:23:41.528 --> 00:23:44.169
I can relate to you in a lot of ways with that.

00:23:44.169 --> 00:23:48.411
You know I also didn't grow up, you know, wealthy I didn't.

00:23:48.411 --> 00:23:50.238
You know my family didn't have a lot.

00:23:50.238 --> 00:24:06.838
But one thing that is important to me, like yourself, are the experiences that we have along the way and growing from those and experiencing those with our loved ones, and even with our children two are who adults now and we still have one at home.

00:24:06.838 --> 00:24:28.651
One of our favorite things to do 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 to do but an experience where that they can create these memories and it's not something that they're just going to toss to the side in six months.

00:24:28.651 --> 00:24:32.138
So I think that those things are really incredible and important.

00:24:33.402 --> 00:24:35.192
I think that's just fantastic.

00:24:35.192 --> 00:24:37.455
That gave me goosebumps.

00:24:37.455 --> 00:24:40.580
I think that's so important.

00:24:40.580 --> 00:24:45.757
You know, like you say, around the holidays, you know what is the reason for the season.

00:24:45.757 --> 00:24:50.814
You know we all, we always uh, pause for the true reason.

00:24:50.814 --> 00:24:54.383
But then of course we want to rip into some fun gifts.

00:24:54.383 --> 00:24:56.634
But then we do the same thing too.

00:24:56.634 --> 00:25:05.914
We want to um plan a trip and um, sometimes we'll even skip the whole tradition.

00:25:05.914 --> 00:25:11.744
I will say we kind of miss the traditions when we do it, but we do.

00:25:11.744 --> 00:25:24.471
We'll book a trip to New York over the Christmas holiday and get a nice hotel room and bring a little Charlie Brown tree and candles that smell like pine, so we have that feeling like we're at home.

00:25:24.471 --> 00:25:36.704
But then we're walking the city and it's snowing and we're eating at Jean Georges or Per Se or a hot dog from the street cart, and man talk about some fun memories.

00:25:36.704 --> 00:25:41.099
So yeah, we're very similar in those respects.

00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:43.270
I think that's awesome, absolutely.

00:25:44.092 --> 00:25:52.986
So what advice would you give to aspiring chefs who want to build a career in the culinary industry?

00:25:57.590 --> 00:26:03.876
Read, collect cookbooks when you get out of culinary school.

00:26:03.876 --> 00:26:15.151
You are not a chef school.

00:26:15.151 --> 00:26:15.550
You are not a chef.

00:26:15.550 --> 00:26:17.114
Work under several good chefs, but spend time.

00:26:17.114 --> 00:26:20.259
Don't work for two months and think you've learned somebody's technique, work ethic.

00:26:20.259 --> 00:26:32.825
Work for somebody for a year, work for another place for a year or two and then start developing your situation, what you think you want to do.

00:26:32.825 --> 00:26:38.179
I just think I'm a mentor.

00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:50.525
I sit on the culinary board for the culinary school and I'm very good friends with all the chefs out there, and when they get an up and comer, that's really good.

00:26:50.525 --> 00:27:11.044
We're one of the places that they'll send, and that's my first thing to tell them is to just, you know, go in to my restaurant and be clean, be organized, listen and then slowly develop.

00:27:11.044 --> 00:27:40.253
I think that's the biggest thing, is to just take it all in, take every aspect in, watch how the service is, watch how um people move, um, when you're walking behind somebody and you say behind you and you know all the little, there's so many little jargon, whatever you want to call it, in the, the restaurant business, in the kitchen, um, that that's its whole language in itself.

00:27:40.253 --> 00:27:41.295
Um.

00:27:41.295 --> 00:27:57.142
So if you mesh, maybe um, a stage or a you or a cooking experience or some cooking with some good chefs, and you get some cookbooks and you look at them and you read them and you look at them.

00:27:57.142 --> 00:27:58.453
I get them more for the pictures.

00:27:58.453 --> 00:27:59.337
I collect cookbooks.

00:27:59.337 --> 00:27:59.940
I have hundreds.

00:27:59.940 --> 00:28:09.010
I don't get them to get somebody's recipe so that I can make their scone or something, even though maybe you know I would.

00:28:09.010 --> 00:28:22.991
But I get it because I want to see the chef's mentality, I want to read who the person was that wrote the foreword and I want to know that the grandma did this way and then I switched it up to make it this way.

00:28:22.991 --> 00:28:25.675
You know, there's always a good story in them.

00:28:25.675 --> 00:28:31.404
So young chefs should do that and look at your family and how your family ate.

00:28:31.829 --> 00:28:38.663
Like I said, I grew up with fish sticks and jarred applesauce and I had never had fresh fish.

00:28:38.663 --> 00:28:39.324
I didn't know.

00:28:39.324 --> 00:28:41.594
I thought barbecue came in a can.

00:28:41.594 --> 00:28:45.123
I'm not kidding Castleberry's barbecue.

00:28:45.123 --> 00:28:46.734
I'll eat it to this day.

00:28:46.734 --> 00:28:53.857
Chef Boyardee pizza that's what I thought pizza was.

00:28:53.857 --> 00:28:53.938
Um.

00:28:53.958 --> 00:28:55.200
I've got a box.

00:28:55.861 --> 00:28:57.463
Exactly, Exactly.

00:28:57.463 --> 00:29:13.832
And um, if I make the Chef Boyardee pizza with that stinky Pecorino Romano canned cheese that I love and it's baking in the oven Romano canned cheese that I love and it's baking in the oven I go all the way back to eighth grade watching six million dollar man and Logan's run.

00:29:13.832 --> 00:29:19.015
And I'm in the den and my mom and dad are in the kitchen and my brother's on the couch.

00:29:19.015 --> 00:29:22.140
I'm laying on the floor and that's the smell.

00:29:22.140 --> 00:29:24.136
That's like aromatherapy to me.

00:29:24.136 --> 00:29:29.278
Just things like that, like jarred ragu sauce.

00:29:29.278 --> 00:29:31.611
Do I serve that at my restaurants?

00:29:31.611 --> 00:29:33.253
No, but do I?

00:29:33.314 --> 00:29:37.602
eat that at home often it's just a childhood thing.

00:29:37.602 --> 00:29:45.519
I think I think it's just good to uh, I look at how each of my grandparents treated mealtime.

00:29:45.519 --> 00:30:06.119
My dad's mom very, very frugal, grew up through the depression, didn't have a lot of money, and then her, my dad's dad, was a fireman and ironically gotten a wreck with another fire truck and passed away when my dad was like 14.

00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:15.722
And subsequently his mom remarried about 10 years later to a guy that did have money, but that didn't stop them from being frugal.

00:30:15.722 --> 00:30:22.950
They would tear a bounty paper towel in half and that would be our dinner napkin, and when we would eat over there.

00:30:23.631 --> 00:30:41.055
She didn't necessarily cook, she would get the leftover stovetop stuffing from two nights ago and maybe one piece of personal pan pizza from five or six days ago and she would have the cooler clean out is what we would call it on our way over there to eat, and we loved it.

00:30:41.055 --> 00:30:58.804
My mom's parents had a garden and they didn't have a whole lot of money, but we would eat fresh silver queen corn and pick watermelon and we would always eat chicken, never any fish.

00:30:58.804 --> 00:31:06.378
But still I take away from those instances and I cherish them and I cherish them and.

00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:15.532
I like to do those kind of things for my wife, of course, my daughter and my daughter's friends.

00:31:15.532 --> 00:31:17.174
We've even started a tradition.

00:31:17.174 --> 00:31:24.804
Sophia has nine suite mates and when I met them on moving in day I said I think it'd be cool for me to cook for you girls.

00:31:24.804 --> 00:31:32.971
Of course I want you to come to the restaurants, but I would love to open up my home.

00:31:32.971 --> 00:31:34.355
We have a big dining table and I would like to cook for you girls.

00:31:34.355 --> 00:31:36.300
You know, of course I want you to come to the restaurants, but I would love to open up my home.

00:31:36.300 --> 00:31:38.326
We have a a a big dining table and I would like to cook for y'all and give you a home cooked meal.

00:31:38.326 --> 00:31:39.087
And they said can you do it tonight?

00:31:39.087 --> 00:31:39.288
And I did.

00:31:39.288 --> 00:31:40.932
And subsequently we do it once a month.

00:31:40.932 --> 00:31:41.932
They come over.

00:31:41.932 --> 00:31:44.257
If it's nice, they swim in the pool.

00:31:44.257 --> 00:31:49.684
If it's cold, we light a fire and I've cooked anything that.

00:31:49.684 --> 00:31:52.134
There's favorite dishes from their childhood.

00:31:52.134 --> 00:31:53.777
I'll recreate whether it's.

00:31:53.777 --> 00:31:57.663
They call it pasta with gravy.

00:31:57.683 --> 00:32:07.635
All these girls are from new england, like new hampshire, boston, none of them are from around here, so that's been cool too to hear where they come from lobster bakes and all this other stuff.

00:32:07.635 --> 00:32:09.940
So I learned a little bit from them.

00:32:09.940 --> 00:32:12.904
So it's like full circle.

00:32:14.371 --> 00:32:15.071
To go back to.

00:32:15.071 --> 00:32:22.231
You were talking about some of the meals that make you think of home and bring back these memories.

00:32:22.231 --> 00:32:25.738
It's funny how that works, I mean, even for me the same.

00:32:25.738 --> 00:32:31.675
There are times where, you know we grew up, a bowl of pinto beans would have been dinner.

00:32:31.675 --> 00:32:39.338
Or you know, my mother would make the have these little dinner rolls and put a slice of ham in it and that was dinner, you know.

00:32:39.338 --> 00:32:46.891
And so now sometimes I do find comfort in great Northern beans or pinto beans and okra and things like that.

00:32:46.931 --> 00:33:07.599
You know, I'm definitely very southern, but one of the treats and my kids always thought this was funny because you know, you couldn't just buy like whatever you wanted at the grocery store, and something as simple as a bag of ruffle potato chips and the French onion dip was only you had that for birthdays and that was it.

00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:16.702
And so I would still, when my kids were even little, we I would still buy that, and I'm, you know, of course I can buy it.

00:33:16.702 --> 00:33:19.034
You know what I want.

00:33:19.034 --> 00:33:36.051
Now I'm like this is a, this is a treat, this was like a special thing, and even now I find myself when I want like that treat or that snack, that's one of my go-tos, which is so funny, you know, looking back on that, and the same with my kids.

00:33:36.092 --> 00:33:41.462
They come home to visit Well, what would you like me to make for when you were younger?

00:33:41.462 --> 00:33:43.855
Or they just come home with their request.

00:33:43.855 --> 00:33:44.695
You know they're ready.

00:33:44.695 --> 00:33:57.750
They want this Monday, this Tuesday, this Wednesday, right, yeah, yeah.

00:33:57.750 --> 00:34:00.775
So how has Conway influenced your culinary style and the atmosphere of your restaurants?

00:34:01.736 --> 00:34:02.797
That's a good question.

00:34:02.797 --> 00:34:04.920
I came here from Charleston.

00:34:04.920 --> 00:34:12.518
When Charleston was just going through its sort of renaissance, I spoke to you about a restaurant that opened.

00:34:12.518 --> 00:34:15.539
It was Magnolia's Donald Barrackman.

00:34:15.539 --> 00:34:20.661
He ended up being not like a best friend, but I knew him.

00:34:20.661 --> 00:34:28.989
Some of his line cooks I became friends with just because they would like date the server of the kitchen that I was working at.

00:34:28.989 --> 00:34:35.179
But he he opened up and then um, peninsula grill.

00:34:35.179 --> 00:34:40.809
So now it's like blown up, it's, it's crazy.

00:34:40.809 --> 00:34:45.432
So when I came up here, I had a backbone of being a good cook.

00:34:45.432 --> 00:34:47.153
I knew I was a good cook.

00:34:47.153 --> 00:34:48.255
A backbone of being a good cook.

00:34:48.255 --> 00:34:49.114
I knew I was a good cook.

00:34:49.114 --> 00:34:50.436
I wanted to be a good chef.

00:34:50.695 --> 00:35:06.905
Oh, back to that and this is parallel for the questions about being a chef To me, if you're going to be a chef, or call yourself a chef, you better know how to answer any question in your kitchen.

00:35:06.905 --> 00:35:10.688
Oh, this vinaigrette has shattered, why?

00:35:10.688 --> 00:35:13.010
How do I re-emulsify?

00:35:13.010 --> 00:35:19.422
All right, this snapper, or is this yellowtail or triple tail or golden tile?

00:35:19.422 --> 00:35:20.445
What is this fish?

00:35:20.445 --> 00:35:21.835
Here's four fish in the walk-in.

00:35:21.835 --> 00:35:25.039
You should be able to know where the pin bones are.

00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:35.172
You should be able to break down whatever it is on your menu, whatever it is you're serving.

00:35:35.172 --> 00:35:36.454
You know Thomas Keller has the Bible of cookbooks.

00:35:36.474 --> 00:35:40.260
A lot of chefs think, and he goes through the importance of trusting a chicken.

00:35:40.260 --> 00:35:48.503
He went to one of his first restaurant jobs, thinking he was a chef, and the French chef said, here, trust these chickens.

00:35:48.503 --> 00:35:54.242
And he flipped it over and he looked at it and he took some twine and he tied the legs together.

00:35:54.242 --> 00:35:58.239
He said that chef got so mad at him he threw a knife at him.

00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:06.320
I don't know if he's like over embellishing, but it was a life lesson for him that you don't go around boasting I'm a chef.

00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:15.739
If you're not a chef you should be able to saute, grill, cook to temperature, um, just every aspect of it.

00:36:15.739 --> 00:36:18.625
That that's very important.

00:36:18.625 --> 00:36:20.793
And then back to your question about Conway.

00:36:20.793 --> 00:36:25.023
I've really grown since I've lived here.

00:36:25.023 --> 00:36:29.460
I guess the Conway aspect would be getting to know.

00:36:29.460 --> 00:36:46.536
I was very fortunate that my landlord when I first moved to town I assumed the lease of an existing restaurant and the landlord, uh, was George Jenkins, one of my best customers and ended up being a dear friend, but he was a gardener.

00:36:47.699 --> 00:37:02.239
His family had a lot of property, to the point that he owned a lot of property on 501, the main drag in Conway and he sold that property to Chick-fil-A and a bunch of these big companies.

00:37:02.239 --> 00:37:08.561
So George Jenkins the farmer really had a lot of money and you wouldn't really know it.

00:37:08.561 --> 00:37:15.103
I dressed nicely and drove a pickup truck, ate at my restaurant a whole lot with his wife and family.

00:37:15.103 --> 00:37:29.210
But as far as a farmer, I remember one of the first days after I was in there kind of renovating and doing stuff, he came to the back door with banana, peppers and asparagus and I'm like, oh my goodness, what is all this?

00:37:29.210 --> 00:37:30.833
Some tomatoes and some squash?

00:37:30.833 --> 00:37:39.817
He said, uh, out, six mile is my farm and, um, I'd like to supply you stuff when it's in season.

00:37:39.817 --> 00:37:42.483
And I'm like, oh my God.

00:37:42.483 --> 00:37:44.856
He said I brought you this just to say welcome.

00:37:44.856 --> 00:37:49.590
I want you to do your best, but I want you to know that you can come out there.

00:37:50.092 --> 00:37:55.552
And you know I I had seen a little bit of gardening growing up at my grandfather's but I didn't know it.

00:37:55.552 --> 00:38:01.952
Well, I would spend hours out there with George learning and picking and bringing stuff back.

00:38:01.952 --> 00:38:11.193
Um, that's probably where I've learned the most, and then subsequently that's probably where I've learned the most.

00:38:11.193 --> 00:38:13.500
And then subsequently, um other farmers caught wind that I might like local stuff.

00:38:13.500 --> 00:38:15.284
Beekeepers started bringing me honey.

00:38:15.284 --> 00:38:18.117
Uh, people that had chickens are bringing me eggs.

00:38:18.117 --> 00:38:31.315
And, um, now we have a farmer's market on Saturday mornings and I go through there and it's like there's probably 10 of them, that I'm close to little booths and we just talk.

00:38:31.315 --> 00:38:32.498
You know, how's your kids?

00:38:32.498 --> 00:38:34.101
How's Sophia?

00:38:34.101 --> 00:38:36.153
Okay, I'll take, you know, a loaf of bread.

00:38:36.153 --> 00:38:38.159
And then the next one oh, these strawberries are beautiful.

00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:42.197
Um, I kept building those relationships.

00:38:42.358 --> 00:38:46.896
And the fishmongers over at the beach I got some really good guys that know.

00:38:46.896 --> 00:38:50.579
You know, if triggerfish hits the dock I'll buy every piece that they have.

00:38:50.579 --> 00:38:51.804
It's one of my favorite fish.

00:38:51.804 --> 00:38:57.036
I used to love it because I thought it was better than grouper and one-eighth of the price.

00:38:57.036 --> 00:39:01.692
Now everything's 24 a pound, so you just got to get it.

00:39:01.692 --> 00:39:09.565
But you know, softshell crabs, uh, those guys just know that I'll pay whatever the fair price is.

00:39:09.565 --> 00:39:25.606
And you know, reading books and then traveling and seeing other really good restaurants and how they plate food and almost the vibe of the restaurant is what I'm looking for when I travel and eat out.

00:39:25.606 --> 00:39:26.932
And my daughter.

00:39:26.932 --> 00:39:28.579
You know she's 19.

00:39:28.579 --> 00:39:38.161
She loves Chick-fil-A nuggets and waffle fries, but she also likes a tasting menu at a Michelin starred restaurant, and so we thrive on that.

00:39:38.369 --> 00:39:47.300
Can you talk about some hidden gems or local favorites in Conway or the surrounding area that you would recommend visitors explore?

00:40:11.521 --> 00:40:12.902
Oh, delicious.

00:40:12.902 --> 00:40:20.306
The salsa verdes, the salsas, their queso fresca cotija.

00:40:20.306 --> 00:40:32.146
You know I buy a lot of that stuff because my one restaurant is a barbecue place and I do tacos, but for some reason their stuff tastes a little better to me, I don't know.

00:40:32.146 --> 00:40:34.829
So those are two really, really good ones.

00:40:34.829 --> 00:40:42.295
My fishmonger right now I'm using Mr Fish and he had a restaurant beside his cut shop.

00:40:42.295 --> 00:40:49.539
He subsequently sold that, but in his cut shop they have everything available, right Snapper, barramundi.

00:40:49.539 --> 00:40:54.268
They have a lobster tank scallops anything you want and I get a lot of my stuff from him.

00:40:54.268 --> 00:40:54.911
But you can also go in therei.

00:40:54.911 --> 00:40:56.978
They have a lobster tank scallops, anything you want, you know, and I get a lot of my stuff from him.

00:40:56.978 --> 00:40:58.003
But you can also go in there and they have a menu.

00:40:58.003 --> 00:41:06.280
You get a fish sandwich or whatever, or you can just go hey, I want those four of those u10 scallops blackened.

00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:11.422
I'm going to start with that and they'll inadvertently be like we just made this killer crab bisque.

00:41:11.422 --> 00:41:24.853
I'm like, all right, we'll get a cup of that, we'll eat that, and then we'll have a glass of wine and then I'll go okay, we want a steamed lobster and whatever, and we'll order a bottle of wine and it'll come out in an oyster bucket with ice.

00:41:24.853 --> 00:41:31.161
An oyster bucket is a plastic bucket that we get select oysters in to fry.

00:41:31.161 --> 00:41:33.172
Anyway, they reuse them.

00:41:33.172 --> 00:41:35.347
And the first time I ate there it's been years.

00:41:35.347 --> 00:41:39.596
But I just love that and it's inexpensive.

00:41:39.596 --> 00:41:41.965
And I tell everyone I know to go there.

00:41:41.965 --> 00:41:50.610
Don't go to the places like down in Merle's Inlet where it's a two hour wait and you're eating fish from China.

00:41:50.610 --> 00:41:56.050
Go to Mr Fish and it's right there raw in front of you and eat that delicious stuff.

00:41:56.050 --> 00:41:59.159
So that's one of my go-tos.

00:41:59.860 --> 00:42:08.728
And then I have really good culinary friends that have restaurants that I think my restaurant is as good as theirs or maybe theirs is as good as mine.

00:42:08.728 --> 00:42:10.251
I don't know how to say that.

00:42:10.251 --> 00:42:13.458
We all strive creatively to do our best.

00:42:13.458 --> 00:42:17.731
So there's Tyler at Fire and Smoke.

00:42:17.731 --> 00:42:22.300
It's sort of this high end gastropub.

00:42:22.300 --> 00:42:35.686
I don't even know what he calls himself, but he and I have a big affinity for tequilas and we have a lot of fun together behind the scenes, cooking together after dinner, behind the scenes, cooking together after dinner.

00:42:35.686 --> 00:42:42.500
If I have a wine dinner, he's first on the list If he has a wine dinner, whether it's, you know, raymond or Lytton Springs Ridge or whatever.

00:42:42.500 --> 00:42:46.750
I'm the first, it is so Fire and Smoke.

00:42:47.130 --> 00:42:51.996
And then down south in Pawleys, which is further than Merle's Inlet from Conway.

00:42:51.996 --> 00:42:59.936
Polly's is a well-heeled sort of resort community with some stellar restaurants.

00:42:59.936 --> 00:43:04.106
My two favorites are probably Chive Blossom.

00:43:04.106 --> 00:43:07.733
Pk is a great friend of mine.

00:43:07.733 --> 00:43:13.213
He's the chef and owner, and he was actually the chef of Frank's, which is another good one down there.

00:43:13.213 --> 00:43:24.454
When I moved to town he and I are about the same age, um, very similar cooking styles, um, so that's a delight down in the Pauley's area.

00:43:24.454 --> 00:43:27.525
And then Adam Kirby is another great buddy of mine.

00:43:27.525 --> 00:43:31.532
He has Bistro 217 and Rustic Table.

00:43:31.532 --> 00:43:34.597
Rustic Table is one of my daughter's favorites.

00:43:34.597 --> 00:43:41.865
We actually had a daddy-daughter date last week and went down there shopping and knocking around and had some good grub.

00:43:42.427 --> 00:43:44.891
There's a lot of options in the area.

00:43:44.891 --> 00:43:45.813
It sounds like.

00:43:46.835 --> 00:43:48.559
Yeah, yeah, and I mean well, there's.

00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:51.849
I think somebody said like 2,000 restaurants now.

00:43:52.451 --> 00:43:56.235
Can you talk about your experience on Chef Swap?

00:43:58.599 --> 00:44:03.193
Yeah, amanda Freytag was the host.

00:44:03.193 --> 00:44:15.186

Chef Darren Smith: Mastering the Restaurant Business

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