Meet the Chef: Scott DeLarme
Scott DeLarme
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Age: 39
Title: Executive chef, Owen Brennan's
Who or what was your first cooking influence? Probably my mother, cooking in the kitchen.
What made you decide to become a chef, and when was that? I was running a kitchen down in Florida when I was 21. The Caterers of North Florida, which have the dog tracks down there. After I moved to Florida and got into some finer dining stuff, I think that's when I really liked it. I guess I had an itch for it. It came reasonably well to me. I liked the restaurant buzz. I liked the hours. That's before I had kids.
What was your first food-related job? Pizza Delight. They had me cooking and delivering pizzas when I was 15, in an old mail Jeep.
What was something important that a fellow chef taught you? The chef I had at the race tracks down there. He taught me the basic stuff -- the five mother sauces and how to make a good roux and how to make a good soup. And I think that's the foundation that a lot of people miss out on these days. I'm real adamant about making sure my cooks know how to do the basic stuff. Turn those five mother sauces into another 500.
What is the Scott DeLarme style? I like really good food, but I don't want to have to put on a suit and tie to have to eat (where it's served).
Describe one of your dishes on your current menu? Our take on a fried green tomato. It's a green tomato that's parmesan crusted, sautéed real quick so it's just crisp on the outside. Then we're doing a nice cold salad with jumbo lump crab meat, fresh vine ripe tomatoes and chives. And it's got a chive lemon white balsamic vinaigrette on it.
What do you cook or bake at home, if anything? Very little. I cook when we've got company coming over. Mostly, I'm just cooking for the kids. We eat very simply at home. The kids like making their own pizzas. That's a big deal at our house.
What's your least favorite ingredient? I hate anything that's too sweet. Pecan pie. Anything with Karo syrup. Cloyingly sweet, I guess.
-- Michael Donahue: 529-2797
Owen Brennan's is at 6150 Poplar; 761-0990.
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