This week's Q & A is with David Johnson, 31, chef at McEwen's on Monroe.

First cooking job: A neighborhood restaurant named Gadwall's Grill in North Little Rock.

Best original dish: Probably my favorite dish is a soy sesame black Thai rice, braised bok choy and Siracha lime butter that we have served here with a Hawaiian swordfish. This has now evolved into our Hawaiian ahi tuna dish on the McEwen's menu, with coconut black Thai rice, braised bok choy, and a soy pineapple butter.

Ben Fant/Special to the Commercial Appeal

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Worst original dish: We tried making a tasso redeye gravy to serve with a pan-seared redfish and a Cherokee purple tomato relish. All the ingredients, which sounded good individually, turned out pretty horrible together.

First food you remember eating: Veal parmesan at a tiny restaurant in Little Italy in Baltimore, Md. My oldest sister lived in Bel Air right outside of the city. Can't remember my age but will never forget the meal.

Your favorite meal: Anything my mother cooks.

Favorite junk food: Candy, specifically Skittles, a lot of Skittles. (Except for the red ones and the purple ones.)

Favorite ethnic food: Vietnamese, but that is really a tough one to answer. Chinese is wonderful too, and you can't beat dim sum. Sushi and Japanese dishes are great as well. More like a daily favorite.

What do you cook at home? Stuff my mom used to cook -- baked chicken, fried pork chops, meatloaf, greens, mac and cheese, cornbread, yeast rolls. You know, Southern stuff. That's my comfort food.

Best place in town to eat, besides your restaurant: I have a wife and four kids and I work most nights so needless to say a meal at a restaurant is hard to come by, but when I get the chance I walk over to Stella's or Felicia Suzanne's and grab a bite. They are both wonderful.

-- Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223