Over the next few weeks, DNO wants to familiarize students with the faces who make our food. The first of these interviews features head chef Scott Brake.

The Dart: What inspired you to work in the food industry?

Chef Scott Brake: My grandma. We always had Sunday lunch after church with the whole family. She always told me I needed to be a chef.

D: What did you help her cook?

SB: We cooked “homeschool stuff,” like fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, roast ham, grilled steaks, chicken and dumplings.

D: Where did you grow up?

SB: [I grew up] thirty miles on the other side of Springfield, [Mo.], down in the Ozarks on a small farm.

D: Where did you do most of your practicing as a chef? Did you go to a culinary school?

SB: The first real restaurant I worked at was Jaspers, here in Kansas City at 103rd and State Line. Later, as I was finishing my undergraduate in biology, I worked at a small restaurant called Clarey’s in Springfield. From there, I took culinary classes at Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz. From there, I cooked in the Virgin Islands for 8 years. I was working with someone at the time whose dad lost a chef… so I worked on a ship up there and a couple other restaurants.

D: What job did you have to start out with? Did you have to work your way up to head-chef?

SB: I did a lot of work in the “front of the house,” what they call serving and bartending, and catering.

D: What’s your favorite food to cook and why?

SB: I’m definitely a barbecue guy. I like to take a big – what I call a “gnarly piece of meat” like brisket or a pork shoulder that’s really tough – and let it sit there and slow cook for a long time… and it turns into kind of a masterpiece, I guess you could say.

D: Who is your “foodspiration?”

SB: As far as what I’ve learned, mostly from reading, my two favorite chefs are Thomas Keller, the head chef of the restaurant “French Laundry” in Napa Valley. He’s considered one of the best chefs in the United States. And also Charlie Trotter, one of the best chefs in Chicago.

D: What are you most looking forward to making for STA with Bistro kids this fall/winter?

SB: The stuff that I like the most is recipes like the French dip sandwiches [Oct. 7]. That’s where we take that slow cooked inside round [(what they make roast beef out of)], two large pieces to slowly roast. And then we make au jus, which takes about eight hours to make correctly… I like to take big pieces of meat and make them into something that creates itself over time. So, the carnitas that I made [Sept. 30] are one of my favorite things to do. Those pork shoulders take about eight hours [and the] roast beef takes about five hours.