Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo
Tony Oliveira, sous chef, Restaurant Iris.
Title: Sous chef, Restaurant Iris.
Age: 28
Hometown: Memphis
Who or what was your first cooking influence? My dad ... Cody Oliveira. He ran the (chili cooking) contest at the Mid-South Fair. I always cooked out there when they had the junior competition. Anywhere from 11 up ... . He's been in the food business for his entire life, and he's brought me around whenever he cooked. And I started picking up on it.
Photo by Michael Donahue
Tony Oliveira, sous chef, Restaurant Iris.
What made you decide to become a chef, and when was that? I went to John Folse Culinary Institute ... (at) Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. ... I always wanted to go to culinary school, and I always wanted to be a chef. ... I like being creative, and that was my way of being creative. ... Sauces could be paint. There could be some music on the plate if you look at it. I like to do decorative types of food.
What was your first food-related job? My first real experience besides bussing tables was at Three Oaks Grill.
What was something important that a fellow chef taught you? Chef Randy Cheramie at John Folse Culinary Institute. ... "You respect the food and then you can do whatever you want with it."
Where are some places you worked before Restaurant Iris? I did two apprenticeships. One, I worked up in (Rye) New York at the Westchester Country Club. ... Second, I went to Paul Bocuse Institute over in Lyon, France. (Chef de cuisine at) La Tour Restaurant in Vail, Col. That was the first job I got out of college.
What is the Tony Oliveira style? Southern American French food. New American, but use your Southern background to do it.
Describe a dish you created. I took sweet potato flour -- it's dehydrated sweet potatoes -- and I made the pasta out of the flour and then filled it with Colorado goat cheese and sweet potatoes. And ... pickled red onions, braised turnip greens and duck confit over it.
What do you cook or bake at home, if anything? Scallops. Short ribs. We (he and his dad) hunt, so I do a lot of deer.
What's your least favorite ingredient? Anchovies. I think they're real fishy and salty. ... Then sardines. ... They smell nasty.
Restaurant Iris is at 2146 Monroe; 590-2828
Contact Michael Donahue at 529-2797, or e-mail donahue@commercialappeal.com.
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Comments » 1
annamcfarland writes:
This is great! I'm so proud of you, Tony! You're such an awesome chef. I wouldn't have made it through college without your awesome food :)
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