Brother Luck: Healing Through Food & Hustle

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So, this is probably an annoying question, but what’s it like to beat Bobby Fle? Um, how did that whole thing come together?
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Me up and they were like, um, give us a signature dish. And I gave them a signature dish, which was my jalapeno dish. And they were like, nah, we already got that episode. What else do you have?
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So, I was like, oh, I got this cornbread I do. And they were like, nah, not feeling it. So, I flipped the question cuz I could feel the opportunity kind of slipping. So, I flipped the question.
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And I said, “Well, what episode do you want to film that you don’t have a contestant for?” He was like, “That’s a good question.”
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He’s like, “I really want to do barbecue with Bobby Fle, but you know, it’s hard to pull it off.” And I was like, “Done.” And he goes, “What do you mean?” I was
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like, “I’ll do it.” And he’s like, “How you going to make barbecue in 45 minutes?” I said, “I don’t know. I’ll call you back tomorrow. I got to go buy a pressure cooker for sure.” Yeah.
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Were you like like do you consider yourself a good barbecuer before this or you just a good chef? fast cook. Me too. Okay. Yeah. Cook everything.
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I’m not a cook.
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I I went to I went and bought a pork shoulder and and went to my restaurant and like jacked around and figured out a couple ways to pull it off. And I wrote this pul pork slider.
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And I figured out I could pull it off in 45 minutes. And I called him up. I was like, “I got it. Here’s a recipe. Here’s a picture.” And he was like, “All right,
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I’ll see you in in a few months.” And I went out there and I had intentionally written the dish to be the same flavor profile as Yep. Exactly. Southwest.
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Yep.
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Because I think even though it’s a blind judge, he’s so unique in his style, you know, his food. Yep.
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So, I want to clever from him. And then I plated my food like his food.
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So, I knew like like I used the big wood plank. I was like, if I was in Vegas at Mesa Grill, like it would look like
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this. So, I intentionally played it like he played it and um I walked away with a unanimous decision, which was really
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cool. They were convinced my food was his. They told me afterwards and uh yeah, man. I whooped that trick. It was awesome.
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That’s amazing. Did you feel like did you feel like like Okay, you know, I assume you make it. I I couldn’t be more outside the food business or like
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whatever restaurant stuff, so forgive me if this is dumb, but I assume you make it. you have a couple of people sample it, try to get a feel for if if it’s as
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good as you think it is. Is that true or or you just know?
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What I did is because it’s it’s such a like I made it in the restaurant and and let my team taste it and my sue chef and they were like, “Yeah, it’s good. It’s
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really good chef.” But then I started like bouncing around kitchens in my city and had them give me just kind of my
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ingredients and pull it off in their kitchen because I needed to work in an environment I didn’t know that you’re not familiar with. Yeah.
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Oh wow. I started I started kind of like just you but my background is competitive cooking like I started
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competitive cooking when I was 15 and I was on a circuit a high school circuit um and that’s how I actually got my scholarship money to go to college and
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then when I went to college I was on a a college circuit so I competed all across the country on a student team competition team um doing nationals and
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regionals and all those things. So, like competitive cooking is like my background and the the amount of planning and preparation my mind goes through. Um, it just it’s different.
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So, I walked in there with such a strong game plan. I knew all I had to do was execute.
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That’s [ __ ] fascinating to me actually that that um How did Bobby Fle react when you won?
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Because he doesn’t get beat often, right? I’m a lot bigger than him. Yeah. No, wait. Way bigger than Bobby. Bobby Bobby’s a little dude.
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I mean I mean did he look pissy or was he happy with it?
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He doesn’t Here’s the thing with He was cool but like he messed up his own stuff. He he got he got carried away
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with the chilies and his [ __ ] was too hot and and and that’s really what did him in. Like it’s not like he did a bad dish. He just he got heavy-handed.
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He did. Um so my guy Robbie Robbie Jester, he beat Bobby too. Um also uh uh
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and it’s for the same reasons. So, um, he he went like, “Okay, what will Bobby do?” And because you’re trying to fool
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the judges. You’re not trying to You just want to want them to think that, “Okay, this is this is Bobby’s dish.” And um, yeah, beat him in his own game.
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That [ __ ] makes me feel like an idiot.
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I had another thing that I caught while we because you’re in the same kitchen studio and you’re crossing a lot
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with stations because we have to use pantries and equipment. So, you’re constantly crossing each other. So every time I would catch him out the corner of
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my eye getting ready to bounce off his station or run to grab something, I would step in his path and he got
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flustered about it because I kept doing it cuz I’m I’m a lot bigger than him. He ain’t going to run through me, right?
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So it would throw him off and I could I could tell.
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Oh, you got him off his game. Yeah. He So then he started running his mouth and I started running my And it was funny cuz my wife was in the stands and she
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she from up in the stands. She’s like, “Brother, stop it.” Yeah. just, you know, kitchen talk. Yeah.
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And you know, it just you realize, oh [ __ ] I am on TV. I should shut up.
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Y know it takes a special track to do this. I’mma be a Q sauce. It’s just a fluid. It’s a chef. I’m here to remind
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y’all I’m sick with it. My name is ubiquitous, meaning it’s one of the same. Simple and plain. I’m all about my
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paper, the bacon, gender, and pain. I got these lanes running for the border.
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The talent to miss the border. Keep it flowing like it’s water. But here we go.
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There we go. Creeping to a low speed. Is it him and his friend sitting in the nose bleed playing cool? He ain’t special just cuz he’s on TV. Everybody’s hands up acting like they know we.
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Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Taste Music Here Food Podcast Show, the destination for all
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things food, music, and culture related and how they connect. Today, um, we have
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I have an amazing guest. um someone who is super duper inspirational uh to me and anybody who’s been in the industry
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uh just a allaround good dude. So I’m gonna do him justice with a proper intro to give him his flowers. So today’s
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guest is more than a chef. He’s a storyteller, a survivor, and a symphony of grit and grace in the kitchen. He
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found his voice through food, not just to feed others, but to heal himself.
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You’ve seen him command the screen on Top Chef, chopped and beat Bobby Fle.
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But behind the TV fame is a man who’s cooked through trauma, played it up purpose, and built a legacy one dish at a time. He’s the owner of the critically
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acclaimed Four by Brother Luck in Colorado Springs, a mental health advocate and the author of his memoir, No Luck’s Given. From Southern Roots to
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West Coast Hustle, he’s seasoning every plate with authenticity. Welcome to the table, Chef Brother Luck. Hey man, Sway
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Nory, y’all better watch out. This man got the intro game on live.
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Listen listen, bro. I I’m going to tell you I’m going to tell you like this. So, I I just I spend an exuberant amount of time putting together the intros because
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like I I always say, I cherry pick my guests. So, there’s no there’s nobody that I have on this show that I wouldn’t
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want to break bread with or have a drink with or just be in communion with. So, I have a great reverence for people that
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that are on the show and that it only the only way I can pay my respect is by doing my due diligence and and coming
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correct, man. So, I I you know, this it was it’s an honor to have you here, dude. Honestly, man. I I appreciate the love. That That was dope. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I feel like I’m I’m like hella important.
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No, you you are hella important. And here’s the thing. So, that’s recorded right now. So, that like you can play that whenever intro you need wherever
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you walk into a door. a threshold. You can have that at your beck and call for sure.
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Hey, I’m I’m I’m get the boom box like I’m gonna get you sucker every superhero. Love and hate.
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Absolutely. I think that’s one of the movies on this on this V test show I got. That’s crazy. Um all right, let’s you know, a lot of people know you from
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from TV and I always say as somebody who’s also been on TV, it’s the gift and the curse, right? because it’s sort of
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like like black history starting with slavery. It’s the same thing. Like there’s so much more to you as an individual, as a chef, how you became
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the chef you are, and the person that goes into all of those things. Give us a little background on on how
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you came to pass to be the man you are today, the chef you are today, the advocate you are today.
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you know, I I I’ve been able to experience life and and I’m always I’m an observer. I like to watch and my
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story is watching and surviving. So, being raised in the Bay Area, um coming up in in the Southwest in
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Phoenix, Arizona, and then being able to travel around the world, I I’ve really just kind of always picked up game. And
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I I think that foundation of understanding that people have the ability to give you knowledge and if you
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you catch what they’re they’re serving like you’re going to you’re going to walk away with a full plate. So um for
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me that was always a focal point was you know my my life is a a Donald Go book.
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That’s that’s real that’s real. That’s real.
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It’s a trip and I’m just very blessed to be here. But, you know, every day is a new page and you got to write a new story and and I love putting pen to paper.
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Yeah. You you hit on a couple of very key points and I think that most people don’t really take this in consideration.
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Like we very rarely are we a monolithic people, right? Right. So, we’re we’re we’re multifaceted in ways and and
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complicated and flawed. Right. And it’s those flaws. Like my grandfather used to always say this to me, but I had family
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members that talked to me like I was a 30-year-old man when I was seven. So like the [ __ ] hit me like years later.
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Like it’s a it’s a grenade. It’s a knowledge grenade. So he would say stuff like it’s not what you go through, it’s how you come out of it.
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And like everybody prepare to fail.
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You’re going to you are going to deal with adversity. And we in this business in this industry, we we deal with adversity on a daily a daily basis and
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are somewhat masochists in that realm to deal with those things and still have the to you know stick with itness to
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push forward and you know try to reach goals that are not sometimes easily seen by the average person. But uh I yeah
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your your story is one of those of of Yes. It’s not what you go through, it’s how you come out of it for real. That is that could be the the the subtitle to your to to the no luck given for sure.
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All right. So, really quick, I’d like to jump into a quick little game called One Got to Go. Um, really quick, I’m going to give you three options.
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You’re just going to give me one of the three that is off the list. It’s the Xna of the of the three of the bunch. Okay.
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Here’s the three options. Butter, garlic, or olive oil? One gotta go. Olive oil.
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Olive oil. Now, why?
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Yeah. I’m not g I’m not giving up a butter, man. Never giving up a butter. Never. Never. Fat. Never.
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You know, if if I could sub the butter for pig lard, I’d do that.
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I listen, when in doubt, a duck fat goes a long way. Creo, so we need fat in our life. You got to have it. You got to have it.
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Healthy stuff. Yeah.
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Great answer. Great answer. Great answer. Great answer. I love olive oil.
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I love olive oil. But yeah, give it up. And garlic is garlic. Garlic. Yeah, you got to have garlic.
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And as far as fats go, it’s an inferior to butter. I I would choose butter, too.
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Anybody ever try to put olive oil on toast? I I don’t I mean croutons. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
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Yeah. It just ain’t butter. Um Yeah. And you know, my my family’s creole, so like we always talk about the Trinity down there is like our base foundation for
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most cooking and seasoning. Uh but the the garlic is the post, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m in there.
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Yeah. So this this show, this platform, in my humble opinion, the reason why this whole thing exists is because I’m a
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chef that got into to food to pay for studio time. And my approach to food has always been through the lens of of not only a
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culinary artist, but as a musician. And I always thought I was an alien. I never I never I would never even tell anybody.
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So how I used to memorize recipes where I would make songs out of it, right? And then when I realized that there’s there’s so many different through lines
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between the building blocks of of a properly constructed recipe and a properly constructed song. I also know
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that you’re deeply rooted in music as well.
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speak to me a little bit about, you know, the importance of music and how you process food and and your deep
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connection with it and how the the emotions and memories of and you just posted up to today that uh in your reals
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that I was uh as I was actually driving to the studio, you were showing albums and that’s I have a deep rooted history
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with with vinyl. Like I I literally can chronalize my life on record covers. Like I remember
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vividly I would stare at album covers for hours and then read the inserts and I was amazed on how, you know, as a six-year-old kid, how are you getting
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all of this music on this piece of plastic? I it just baffled me forever.
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So speak to me about the importance of of of music, memories, your philosophy, and how it all ties to emotions.
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Yeah. You know, I think when you come, especially from a black household, you’re you’re raised on music. You’re raised on soul. You’re raised on jazz.
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You’re raised on funk. And that’s what’s playing in the house. That like when when you get the y’all get out of the
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kitchen, we play cards kind of conversation or they out there, you know, getting it in the backyard doing electric slide. Like everything is based
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around music. So the memory is rooted there, right? There’s a connection to our soul of that beat of a drum. And I I think that’s kind of where it begins.
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But for me, it transitions to there’s an escape from reality through my headphones.
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And I was able to escape and learn from so many different musicians, you know,
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mainly hip-hop artists at that time in my life. But, you know, listening to Me Against the World made me get my first
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fight. I heard that verse where he was like, you know, uh he was like, “A coward dies a thousand deaths, but a
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soldier dies but but once.” Like, man, we we fight we fight. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, uh so the escape from reality.
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Yeah. I love I love seeing a lot of hip-hop icons who I grew up on, especially in the Bay, who are foodies.
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Like, you know, E40 is a huge foodie and uh Maul is a huge foodie. I I love seeing these guys. um who I was raised on as a as a hip-hop Bay Area kid.
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Um being being in that world and and and the game they blessed us with, you know, it just they were the they were phenomenal
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storytellers and the lessons you learned you immediately got to apply as you saw things in your neighborhoods, you saw
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things in the streets. And um it’s it’s surreal how it just kind of continued for me because then it became more about uh what was coming out of uh of London.
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So it was a lot of drum and bass, a lot of jungle uh to where I was like what’s that? like there was something that just tapped my soul and and what I was
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hearing that in and a sound and you know hearing the history of house music and Chicago and Detroit and New York and you
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realize it’s actually a black culture thing like we created this and and that’s just so powerful to where all
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these years later as I I spin music and I listen to vinyl it’s a connection.
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Yeah. Speaking of that, I definitely enjoy it. Speaking of that gay play the track
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[Music]16:53
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[Music]17:03
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there’s there’s even that’s a connection. So I I spent I I lived in the bay for 11 years. So, I I left
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Minneapolis in ‘ 03 to go to the Bay and um I love the Bay. I would say, you
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know, as a as a Bronx boy, the Bay felt the Bay feels a lot like Well, let let
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me not say that cuz there’s different parts of the Bay feel differently, right? So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can’t we can’t do that. Yeah. They’re all different. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, I
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I know people compare San Francisco to Manhattan all the time.
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I that I don’t do. I don’t think I think they’re two completely separate beasts.
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But I will say that Oakland to me and the pride of Oakland in the history of of Oakland, uh people carry that like
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like people from Brooklyn. Like there’s no the the pride of when you talk to somebody from Brooklyn when they don’t say I’m from New York, they you know
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they I’m from Brooklyn. Same thing with Oakland. You know, Oakland is a is a very prideful and rightfully so um place, you know. And then as far as
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hip-hop goes, to me, in my humble opinion, hip-hop is the most diverse, most
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inclusive genre of music that probably will ever be. And the reason why I say that is there are through lines in DNA
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of every other genre of music from uh classical uh classical music to
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traditional Indian to jazz, funk, EDM, you name it. Yeah.
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It was all in there. And and this is the through lines I like to use as far as food is concerned because I believe that
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music and food are two of the most powerful forces on the planet. It’s the you’ll be hardressed to find a hip-hop
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enthusiast that has biases to certain cultures because there’s already a reverence for the art
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and for the music. So you you cannot separate the art from the artists. And so I think the only time where the most
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uh racist person is not thinking about segregation is when it comes to his stomach. Now, if he took and had put a
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face to the culture of that dish, it’d be hard to have those biases because now you
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have a reverence for the person. And so the I believe in my humble opinion the the vehicles that is going to break down
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the barriers for all of this crap is going to be food and music. And it’s also the and you travel like a like I travel. It’s the It’s the fastest way to
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immerse yourself in any culture is to go anywhere and eat the food and and and listen to the music.
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And for sure. Absolutely. And it just it’s a connection. Absolutely. We we all bond over it. We all know it.
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And I think any art has the ability to invoke emotion. Like it can stir something in you internally. And and
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when that happens and you have a response based on what you’re experiencing, whether that’s a painting, that’s a a piece of music, that’s a dish
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someone’s created, that to me, that’s what art is. And I think that’s why they’re all so parallel is because they
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do stir something in you internally that you know it triggers.
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Yeah. And it’s the one thing you can’t fake. You can’t fake emotion. Like uh it’s that that is one of those things that you cannot manufacture. And we
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talked about um your culture and speak to me how you know your Creole and and Cajun influences and then being
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extensively well traveled to Japan and in these places. How have you put those things into
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what it is you do on a daily basis? I know for me I I my approach and I say this all the time. I I was hip-hop raised me. Kitchens and hip-hop raised
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me. So my approach to food is very hip-hop. I I sample a lot and um I take the things that I love most
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based on knowledge. You have to have the reverence and based on the knowledge first to know, you know, how to to apply them. But speak to me how your travels,
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your your your ancestry and and just the knowledge of knowing who you are, how you make that make its
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way into to what it is you do and how you do it.
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Yeah. I I think that the discovery of who you are is is something that takes time because at least in my case, being
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biracial, being mixed, growing up and losing my father at such a young age and not having that presence and then
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not having that close relationship with my mother and being separated from a lot of our family, I didn’t know. I just,
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you know, I’m my family’s Cajun and Creo and they got all these Louisiana roots,
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but I’m in the Bay, which is extremely diverse, right?
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And living in, you know, Chinatown. So, I think, you know, that’s like a different different mindset in itself.
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And then, you know, for me, I moved to the I moved to Phoenix, Arizona as I get uh into being a teenager. And when I got
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to Phoenix, Arizona, I just I got immersed in the world out here, which is
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very, very Hispanic, black, and it’s hot. It’s very southwest. Yeah.
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And I I, you know, Phoenix is very special to me. It’s definitely my second home. Um, but but being out here for so long, I I
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really picked up like my cooking out here. Mhm.
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So my cooking is rooted here in the desert and I I go through my journey of
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you know culinary school out here and kind of working in resorts and hotels and restaurants and then I start traveling around and kind of figuring
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out where I want to be and I’m trying to discover my story which is what what I’m chasing. So, you know, I go to Japan
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because my parents were both exotic dancers and they danced in Japan and they always talked about it when I was a young kid.
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That is I know that’s okay. So, we’re not we’re not going to just glaze over that. So,
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I told you that’s not something that you just say in pass, you know. My my my parents were both exotic dancers,
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you know. Yeah. I tell you, that’s a hell of a shift.
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Somewhere on my That’s a hell of a shift.
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On my somewhere on my Instagram is my daddy in like 1979 with a turban on
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and his his show line says Mandingo like no,
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no, no. Can’t knock the hustle. So, um yeah, man. Uh I So, you know, I chased
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Japan and it’s so funny because I end up in Japan my first night. I ended up going on a on a scholarship experience
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um like a exchange program with Corin and the Gohan Society out of New York.
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So where would you travel with? Where in Japan would you go?
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Um we went to we started in Kanazawa and then we worked our way back to Tokyo and I went with like the chef from Boule,
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the chef from uh Untitled at the time, uh the chef from uh Leernaden. like
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there was there was four of us who all went. So, and it’s cool cuz you know Susie Cups is in New York. She’s she’s killing it right now. She was with me on that trip.
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Um Sarah Woodward was with us. She’s at Leveraden. She runs, you know, their banquet team. And uh we we just had an
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amazing experience. And the first night we’re there, we’re at this uh this traditional Japanese Rioon, this this
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amazing hotel. And we have this amazing kiaki meal. And then we go to the parlor and we have some whiskey. And then
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they’re like, “Let’s go to the onsen.” And I’m like, “Okay, what’s the onsen?” So the guys go to the guy’s side of the
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onsen. The the ladies go to the lady’s side. They’re separate. And essentially, it’s a hotring. And the custom everybody
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just starts getting naked. So like all the dudes start stripping down that we’re with and they get butt naked and they put a towel on their head and go
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red off and they’re like come on. So you know my first night in Japan I’m butt naked with a bunch of dudes and I’m like
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I’m definitely probably walking in my father’s footsteps right.
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Yeah that’s that’s mand that’s mandingo mandingo habitry right there. That’s for sure. So, you know, it was just I was chasing my story as I travel and as I
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work. And it wasn’t until recently that I’ve really kind of come to grip because
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when I think about how my food style is, it’s it’s got the heritage of Cajun Creole. Scott, being raised in the Bay
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Area and having a lot of of uh Japanese and Chinese influence in in my life um and and where we grew up out there.
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But then my whole career is really heavy in the Southwest.
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So, you know, as I kind of I kind of was trying to explore and say what I want, especially when I was on Top Chef, I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I I
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didn’t have a voice. I remember like I remember the first challenge they were like cook a signature dish and I was like cool I’mma cook this like
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carneasada kind of dish and then I looked at like Claudet who is this badass Mexican chef and she’s cooking
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carneasada and she’s cooking it like authentic and I felt like such a I’m not allowed to cook this you know cuz I’m not lat I’m not Latino but my whole
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story is rooted here and I I couldn’t I couldn’t express myself like even even I was doing a dinner with Suji and he’s like, “How come you don’t cook like this on the show?” I was like, “I don’t know.
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I’m thinking about it like that.” Right. Right.
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So, uh, recently I really just kind of understood like everything clicked. Yeah.
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And for me, especially being in Colorado, I’ve always tried to figure out what I’m trying to say. And a lot of
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my style is telling the story of the four corners. And I think that’s a unique story to tell because that’s my
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story of being in the four corners and essentially it’s a story of altitude.
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I’m on the top of the mountain where the water begins. And as the water trickles down and gets to the desert, the food changes.
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And that is a big part of of my story is is living in the top of the Rockies and
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coming down to the to the desert and the cultures of those people that have influenced it and shaped it. And you
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know that that that is the style of food that I like to cook with the connection of you know my family being from the
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south and being able to incorporate all the the things that have been brought to this country from you know that that
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culture. It just I think there’s there’s a lot more clarity in my cooking right now because I’m finally coming to terms with like who I am as a person.
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Right. And that’s that’s you hit on the probably One of the key aspects that is most most
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chefs, most cooks, most young culinarians, even seasoned culinarians,
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takes them decades to arrive at is it’s a difference between following a recipe and writing a recipe. And
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stylistically is a whole different thing. So when you have a voice, it’s the same thing with any artist. I don’t care if it’s music or if it’s food.
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Nine times. First off, we all start in in this industry is imitation, right?
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We’re doing what we’re doing what we saw being done and we’re then we learn the reasons why and how to manipulate those
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things. And then you once you have a baseline, now you get into storytelling, which is what this is all about. And if you don’t
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have it’s the you can’t fake it. If you don’t have a genuine story that people can connect with through emotion,
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then it’s just food, right? And and at that and and usually it’s not even executed properly because there’s not a
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reverence and a deep rooted connection with the items and then the final story line.
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And I believe the reason why you and it just clicks like that. I I it it happens for me is and it’s not
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something that you can chase it forever but if you don’t live enough life you’ll never be able to tell you won’t be able to write that book if you don’t live
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enough life the the the chapters will be incomplete and so it’s I mean can you imagine what Biggie and Pac would be writing oh my goodness oh my goodness
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you know like it would be a completely different story than what it was when they were 25 Yep. 25 and 26. Insane.
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My food at 25 versus my food in my mid-40s are two different stories. Absolutely.
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Completely stories. But the the biggest difference is is my job is to not [ __ ] up what the farmer did.
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Like that’s the So look that is the that’s so that is that’s us. That’s the also the baseline. So there should be a reverence
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for the raw ingredient, right? And then all we’re doing is trying to enhance or
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highlight what God created simply. And now now and I’mma hit you with this one too because since you you are a music
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person, you get this reference as a DJ, the beauty and the connection of that is it’s the same thing with music. The the producer is creating.
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Yep. And this the the DJ is just taking that that raw material and and putting some personality and some seasoning and
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putting some some some storytelling to entertain a crowd with. It’s the same thing. So when we cook, I think of my
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farmers almost as if as I listen to a track and think of a producer.
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So I I have that same mentality all the way through, whether it’s music or it’s food.
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Yeah. The the the producer versus the curator. So the DJ is just curating the the the ambiance of the of the evening
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with I didn’t raise that pig vegetables. Absolutely.
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But I can I can season the hell out of them and I can show them respect. Yeah.
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But I’m also going to tweak it. Like I I sat I was at a wine dinner on Tuesday night and it was this small farm here in
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Arizona um at my friend Mark Tarbell’s restaurant. He invited me down and he’s like, “Hey, I know you here so well. I’m going to sit you with the farmer family.” And they weren’t a big farm.
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They raised Wagyu beef. And I love sitting with three generations of farmer
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at this table and in this tight family and watching them see what a chef could do with their product.
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Yeah.
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Cuz they’ve never had their beef served to them like that. Right.
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You know, like they had this this langua kaco pepe that was dope and it was the tongue was braced. so slow and tender
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and theoki was money and the cheese sauce was right with the demi and it was like it blew their minds. You know,
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they’re eating smoked smoked beef carpacio. Like it was it was so cool to see
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the the appreciation for what we do right from their side as you know and they’re so humble about what they do because
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they’re we’re farmers, right? that that the equivalent of that is would be uh you know you see the award shows when they do tribute
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performances for artists and they’re doing their songs and renditions of them that’s the closest it’s the same equivalent um type of experience and
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that I think there’s no greater reverence I got to I meant to do this before I got to send you the link uh to to my film the food that fuels because
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it’s all and I did this in the u in the Sanwaqin Valley so it’s about all about you know the bread basket of the country and um
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but yeah, great reverence for it. So, speak to me about, you know, you’ve done you’ve been on TV a bunch of times,
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right? You’ve Top Chef and Chopped and beat Bobby Fle. By the way, I need that recipe for the the sliders. Um
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um how have what what did you learn about yourself from competing? Because I and we talked
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about this off camerara, but entertain the entertainment food world and the actual restaurant food world are two different complete universes.
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There’s something that you go through internally when you go through a when you’re putting under pressure in that in those
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types of situations and you either learn you learn something about yourself one way or another. What did you learn about
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brother Luck by competing in those manners that many times that that stuck with you?
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You know what what what I walked away with doing television was I learned that I was chasing validation.
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I was looking for these TV shows and these accolades to tell me that I was a good chef because I was so insecure with
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myself from, you know, my whole childhood. I was so insecure with myself. I was looking for a show and an accolade to
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actually validate my skill set that I’ve I’ve worked extremely hard to to learn.
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Like my trade is easily those 10,000 hours. So, I was thinking like these shows were going to do that and it broke
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me. It It broke me mentally. I wasn’t prepared for that piece of it. I think when you put yourself out there, it’s good. I think competition is is great
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and it’s going to challenge you and you’re going to learn a lot about yourself being put against especially other competitors who are just as good
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as you um if not better. But at the end of the day, I thought that I was lucky
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to be on these shows and I was I was so grateful to have the opportunity to be on these shows when now when I look back
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at it, I go, they were lucky to have me on the show to experience me as a person because I gave them my story. I gave
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them my skill. I gave them a piece of me and allow them to to to to put that out
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there. So, I think to any young chef who is trying to get on television or think that’s that’s going to make them great,
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you’re already great, man. You’re you’re a one-of-a-kind recipe and you’ve got to embrace that.
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Absolutely. And something I told all the cat, so I’ve always been the younger guy in the kitchen. So, when I did pressure
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cooker, I was the elder statesman. It completely flipped, right? And so what I what I told them, you know, cuz I I felt a sense of responsibility for that. What I told everybody on the show, like,
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listen, before we we we filmed, you know, a second of it, everybody that’s here, you’ve already won.
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Do you know how many people that we went through to get 11?
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There’s, you know, it’s it’s it’s there’s the only way to screw this up is to do something that would completely
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tarnish your personal brand. If you are your 100% authentic self, you won. This is the most expensive
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commercial you will never ever be a be able to afford. So just do you and you won. We’ve already won.
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And and those those opportunities that we have as people that have experience and and age, right?
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We’ve made mistakes. We’ve gone through a lot of stuff. We’re able to share a lot of that. that is so valuable to those younger people even if they don’t
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hear it. Like one of my really good friends is Chris Scott and I love Chris Scott. I think he’s one of the most amazing chefs and people on this earth
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and if you haven’t put him on the show, you should. Y’all are both in New York.
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Like you both got that connection, right? That that that man is he gets it.
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He is a storyteller. Like I want him to narrate my story, not Morgan Freeman.
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Um, but Chris was the older dude on our on our season and you know, we were roommates most of
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it and I would just peep game of like, you know, he would sit in his bunk and he would write letters like actual
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letters and I was like, dude, who does this? And then he would talk about his sobriety and how he didn’t drink and I just couldn’t understand that. And and
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here we are, I don’t know, it’s seven, eight years later, I’m sober. Mhm.
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Right. And he set an example for me that I couldn’t understand at that time, but eight years later, I’m preaching that
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same story that he kind of helped me with, even though I didn’t realize he was helping me with. Absolutely.
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He gave me a lot of of lessons about just the game in general and
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about, you know, how we travel through our journeys and become chefs and achieve all these great things but feel like we still don’t deserve it. Yeah.
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Or or we’re not being respected and and getting the opportunities that we should be getting, right?
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And I just I love when we have the opportunity to kind of share that game with the younger generation cuz I’ve had so many people do that for me over the years and I know you have as well.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. And you hit on You’re talking about Marcus, right? I mean, that’s a perfect Absolutely. I mean, listen, I I and I say this a lot. I I have I’ve been
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blessed with some amazing humans that were put in my path that had it not been for them, I wouldn’t be sitting here.
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Like I completely Marcus being one of them, uh Alexander Smalls being another.
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Um I got to sit with the illustrious Patrick Clark before he passed. I didn’t know how big of a deal all these things were then, but I do now. Um, you you
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touched on something and it’s a great segue into speaking about your memoir.
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So, nu lux given you. So it takes a complete
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act of bravery and and courage to be able to be as forthcoming
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and vulnerable as you have been about overcoming personal challenges in your
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life. And you know what motivated you to to be that vet to use your platform and
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and which is every day every day that you’re
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you’re basically shedding light that listen everybody goes through something everybody goes through things
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and this is my story this is what I went through and you know you too can persevere what what gave you what
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motivated you to be so openly honest and and 100% authentic about your experience
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with with people and and what do you hope that people will take from that?
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I I realized I was fronting like I realized that I was extremely depressed and I was very insecure and I had a lot of anxiety about it.
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But I portrayed to the world that I was in charge and I was cocky and I was confident.
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And when I broke in silence, I couldn’t control that no more. I I didn’t want to control that. And I needed help. And it led me to therapy.
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It led me to finding resources and tools out there to better understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling because I
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didn’t. I didn’t get it. I didn’t know what was going on with me. and to be, you know, having attempts of of suicide
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and just lost in everything that I could possibly numb myself with. Like that that that wasn’t a okay place to be.
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As I started sharing with people that were in my inner circle, I realized I wasn’t alone. And it made me com I found comfort in that.
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found comfort that I could actually talk about something that I I would never talk about out loud because I didn’t want to be judged or people would think
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I’m crazy. And when I started hearing other people felt that way, too, it gave me some like comfort big time. So, it
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led me to starting to talk about this more in our industry and on my platform because I feel like social media is so fake. Like, yeah, it’s super.
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You ain’t that happy. Your life’s not that cool. You ain’t really doing all that stuff. Like, it’s a highlight reel. It’s a literal
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It’s a virtual highlight. It’s your greatest hits. Yep. Every day it’s your greatest hits. And I just I got tired of doing that.
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So, when I came off the shows, everybody was doing cookbooks. Every chef was doing a cookbook. And I’ve always been against the grain.
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I’m not going to do If you going left, I’m definitely going right. Like, I’m not walking that way. I’m I’m just not that’s not how I’m built. So, I was
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like, I want to write a book about something more real. And I wrote the first chapter about my father passing away.
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And when I gave it to my wife, she read it. She just started crying. She was like, did it really happen like that? I was like, “Yeah.” She goes, “You should
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write this.” So, I lied to myself for three years that I was writing a book. I just couldn’t couldn’t put nothing down.
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And then, you know, God just put everything in motion right around the pandemic and the shutdown gave me the
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time and I I couldn’t get I couldn’t get a deal for it. Like, you know, I was shopping it to people and they were they weren’t feeling it. They want a cookbook. You’re a chef.
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And I was like, “No, I want to talk about suicide and God and, you know, mentorship.
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That’s not what they wanted.” So, um, I self-published it and I was able to figure out how the book industry worked.
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I was able to figure out how to put a product together, how to get a product to market, how to start sell. I mean, obviously, I’m sharing a little bit about my background and what I did before I cooked.
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Absolutely. Absolutely.
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Still a corner kid. Different kind of corner on a corner.
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Yeah. A whole different corner. Whole different corner.
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Whole different corner. Different muscle. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yeah, I just I figured out how to how to get my product
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out and and and start to to move it. And it’s it’s been amazing because what that’s done is that’s allowed me to get
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on stage. That’s allowed me to talk to organizations, businesses, nonprofits, schools. I’ve I’ve had the pleasure of
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starting to coach and mentor and consult that is far beyond just cooking. This is now we’re talking about you as a person.
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We’re talking about development. We’re talking about branding. We’re talking about insecurities. Like we’re talking about so much more now.
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And it’s because that book happens. So I’m so grateful for that book because I see the next 25 years of my career in a
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completely different light than I did when I was on a show like Top Chef or Be Bobby Play.
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Yeah. Yeah. you you basically put on a platter to the to the world
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your whole true self, right? And so there’s there’s a freedom and and honesty
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that that uh there’s a light that that you have seriously. And that just comes from being free
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and 100% honest about who you were, who you are, and who you want to be and and everything in between. The good,
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bad, and the ugly, right? And in those things, what you and like you said, what we notice a lot of times when we have these conversations that everybody has
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[ __ ] insecurities, bro. Like there’s there’s not a not a soul walking around that’s 100%, you know, think they got it
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together, you know? Uh and and the fact is it’s okay to not be okay.
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And do so so much and and there’s when it comes to insecurity, there’s power in claiming your presence.
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And when you can claim your presence in any room and not be worried about what someone else thinks or what someone else
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is is looking for because you’re comfortable with you. Like I’m the coolest person I know and I I like that
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person now. I like that. That person’s hella cool. Like I’m rocking with you. I want to man like you my dude. Like I am so good with the mirror now, right?
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And that there’s so much power in that.
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I think people need more of that message is stop chasing this validation from from these people that you’re seeing on
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social media, you’re seeing on these TV shows. You you got to start with the mirror. Yeah.
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Like Yeah. Cat Cat Cat Williams said it, man.
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You you can’t seek out outside influence for self-confidence. Like did you It’s
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an impossibility. And you spoke about this too. So, beyond the restaurants, beyond uh everything else that you’ve got going on, the TV appearances, you
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know, you’re an active active mentee mentor, sorry, to to to kids,
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youth, or whomever might need it and and an advocate for mental health and awareness. and more so
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more more than any other industry that I know of. This the the service industry
47:15
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is littered with, you know, tons and tons of untalked about cases of of abuse
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and uh whether that be substance or or or physical abuse itself because there’s
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it’s a very demanding industry. It’s a very unforgiving industry. It’s um it’s also a very
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much a hush- hush culture. So, it’s also, you know, you’ve been told just put your head down and and and push through. And
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it’s one of those industries the no matter what height you’re at, and we’ve seen this with people who you think, you know, outside looking in have have it
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all. and they’re in a very dark place enough to do, you know, self harm and all kinds of different things.
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What impact do you hope to cuz we’re talking about legacy now. What impact do
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you hope to have in not only in this the culinary community but beyond that?
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48 minutes, 18 seconds
Because as you said, this is it’s bigger than food, right? what you what putting that book out expanded
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48 minutes, 27 seconds
it made you human, right? And then it also put you into the pantheon of of people that are willing to share their
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48 minutes, 34 seconds
story to help others with their struggles. So, how do you how do you hope and what do
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you want your your your lasting legacy to be when it’s all said and done?
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I I hope that my courage and my vulnerability that I put out there on a regular basis and and trust me is hella uncomfortable.
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It’s so uncomfortable to do every time every time I get in front of a camera and talk about it. Every time I get on a
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49 minutes, 6 seconds
stage, it’s uncomfortable. But I hope that it gives someone else the courage to
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49 minutes, 13 seconds
find the help that they need or be confident to say, “I’m not alone in my struggle or I’m not crazy. I can talk
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49 minutes, 21 seconds
about it.” You know, there there’s so much shame that we have in looking weak.
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49 minutes, 26 seconds
And man, I’m I’m 62 230. Like, I’m not weak. I talk about my emotions all the time. I cry. Thugs cry. Yep.
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49 minutes, 35 seconds
It’s okay to cry, man. Like get it out. Say what you got to say. Yeah.
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49 minutes, 39 seconds
Like you don’t have to live this lifestyle of like you got to be hard.
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49 minutes, 43 seconds
But I think especially for those of us who grow up in an environment where you constantly have somebody trying to take what you got
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49 minutes, 50 seconds
because they don’t have it and you’re on a defense, you’re on a survival mindset, you know, you develop a mean mug, you
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49 minutes, 58 seconds
develop a hardness, you develop an edge because that’s how you protect yourself.
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Absolutely. And sadly, the world is not the best place when you hold all that in for years and years and years. You know,
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50 minutes, 11 seconds
all that trauma, all that violence, all that struggle, man, you need you need a circle around you. You need people with you. That’s why I don’t, you know, when
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50 minutes, 18 seconds
I walk, especially when I walk in these chef rooms. I don’t care if we friends or not. Like, I’m not here to make friends with y’all and and be part of
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50 minutes, 27 seconds
the click. I got my circle. I’ve got my 12.
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Right? Jesus had 12. I got 12. and I’m got my circle. I’m good. Like, I don’t need nothing. Right?
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If we click and we have a great conversation and you seem like a cool person and I’m a cool person to you, man, we going to vibe and we going to that’s it. I don’t need nothing though.
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50 minutes, 48 seconds
And I I like being in that kind of mindset when I walked into a lot of those rooms because I used to be in awe of some of these people, you know,
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50 minutes, 57 seconds
scared to talk. Sitting in some of those rooms where you’re like, “Oh my god, that’s Daniel Blue.” Right. Yeah. Like he ain’t he another dude too, man.
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Yeah. Yeah. With insecurities.
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51 minutes, 8 seconds
Yeah. Like he’s hella nice. He’s super nice. Like Yeah. I always appreciate chef every time I get the opportunity to talk to him. But it’s just one of those
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51 minutes, 17 seconds
like I’m good with me. And I hope that is the message that I give to other people is find find the confidence in
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51 minutes, 25 seconds
the mirror and and learn to appreciate the one-of-a-kind recipe that you are. You are the special season.
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51 minutes, 31 seconds
Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh before I let you go, we got to do this quick lightning round. So, I’m gonna I’m gonna ramble off a quick round of I’m ask you
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a series of rapid fire questions. The first thing that pops to your head and which I know you’re going to do anyway to shoot it out. All right.
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51 minutes, 50 seconds
So, favorite comfort food? Gumbo.
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Gumbo. Any specific gumbo? Seafood gumbo. Chicken gumbo. Momo’s gumbo. whatever she got.
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You know, Gumble’s one of those things that depending on whose house she goes to this. So, so my my my wife is Dewey like
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52 minutes, 10 seconds
Yeah. My wife’s family is is from Louisiana and she does something they do something as a family with Gumble that
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52 minutes, 17 seconds
I’ve never seen. So, they they this beef they put beef in it as well. So, chicken wings, beef, sausage of course, and then
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52 minutes, 24 seconds
all your crab and your shrimp and all those other usual suspects. But it’s uh and they’re making the rule with with with bacon fat, which
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52 minutes, 33 seconds
you know, but everybody has their thing, man.
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52 minutes, 36 seconds
Everybody has their thing, right? You just smell the Crisco jar and make sure it’s not the shrimp one. The Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz if I if I partake in that shrimp one, it’s
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52 minutes, 44 seconds
it’s nighty night. Yeah. I got a I got a serious allergy. It be It’ll be the last the last gumbo. Um go-to kitchen gadget.
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Microplaner. Me, too. So underutilized.
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I love that thing. Yeah, that’s my favorite tool.
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Yeah, by far. Most underrated ingredient.
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Oh, most underrated ingredient.
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53 minutes, 10 seconds
I would say that’s a tough one.
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53 minutes, 19 seconds
Cumin. Cumin. That’s That’s a tough one. Mine is time.
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I I love cumin. My a lot of mine is cubid. I will put cubin in everything. Yeah. Mine mine’s time.
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53 minutes, 30 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely underrated. Yeah. I think tomatoes.
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53 minutes, 35 seconds
Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Yeah. No. No. Not time to spice. Time is in Tik Tok.
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Time is it. Nothing good comes without time. Um. Yeah.
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53 minutes, 48 seconds
If you weren’t a chef, what would you be? I’d be in marketing.
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Are you doing it now?
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I can. I mean, I know how to promote. I I’m, you know, digitally I I just I find so much joy in that
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54 minutes, 3 seconds
world of being able to take a product and and take it to market and get people excited about it and promote it and find
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54 minutes, 11 seconds
unique creative ways to grill it. Um, I like I like thinking outside the box, but I think a lot of that comes from like flying cars as a kid, right?
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54 minutes, 21 seconds
Absolutely. Get this party lit, man. Flyers. Absolutely.
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One word of advice to give your younger self. You’re good enough.
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That’s a good one. That’s a good one. And finally, dream dinner guest.
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Dream dinner guest. Um, my father. Wow. Love to cook for him.
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Yeah, that’s how I feel about my grandmother for sure. For sure.
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54 minutes, 54 seconds
Well, listen, this has been an amazing uh it’s been amazing talking to you.
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55 minutes, 1 second
It’s been an amazing uh revelation for me just to uh to to hear more of your story. Um, of course, I’ve done my deep
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55 minutes, 7 seconds
dives and it’s uh you got one of those um one of those personalities that makes people feel like they know you uh without, you know, without knowing you.
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55 minutes, 18 seconds
And so I I I just have to to thank you for sharing more of your story and and your time of course with uh myself and
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55 minutes, 26 seconds
and everybody listening. Please tell everyone where they can follow you, find all your all the happenings that’s
55:34
55 minutes, 34 seconds
going on. Um your nearest your newest and latest things that you got because you’re doing so much all the time. Um in
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55 minutes, 41 seconds
specifically where they can get and read your book.
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55 minutes, 45 seconds
Yeah, man. You can get me uh get at me across the board at chef fortheluck every platform. Uh website chef fortheluck.com. That’s where you can
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55 minutes, 53 seconds
check out the book. The book’s on Audible. It’s on Spotify. If you’re a premium member is free, so you can just download it right there. Um man, if you see me in the street, say what’s up.
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56 minutes, 4 seconds
Like I’m I’m always going to be open.
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56 minutes, 6 seconds
I’m always approachable. Don’t think I’m too good. Like I will always stop and say hello. So man, rock with me. Like let’s let’s let’s have a conversation.
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56 minutes, 15 seconds
see what we can create.
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56 minutes, 16 seconds
Yeah, absolutely, man. Um, for anybody else, I I urge you to get a copy of this
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56 minutes, 23 seconds
book because whether you’re in the industry or not, this is not an industry book. This is a a human book. And it’s a
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56 minutes, 29 seconds
book that I feel anybody that is going through something or know someone that has gone through something, this is one of those books that is it’s a it’s a
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56 minutes, 38 seconds
testament of it’s not what you go through, it’s how you come out of it.
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56 minutes, 42 seconds
and and that’s that is definitely the theme of it.
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56 minutes, 46 seconds
Please check my guy out, brother Luck on all chef brother Luck on all platforms including the website. If you have found
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56 minutes, 56 seconds
any any interest or found some reverence for the conversations that we
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57 minutes, 5 seconds
had today, please follow, like and subscribe. This has been the Taste Music Hear Food podcast show. the home of all
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things food, music, and culture and how they connect. Until next time, take care.