Q. How have your street skills helped you in the kitchen?

A. Growing up around gangsters and thugs, I had the ability to motivate and convince people to do it my way. I knew how to understand the workforce. Most of the people in the kitchens were Latino and Black ex-cons, down on their luck guys who came from poverty. I knew how to praise them, but still tell them they needed to get stronger. If a guy wasn’t doing something right, I’d say “Homie, you’re a great sauté cook and your vegetables are fabulous, but if you change it this way, it would be 10 times better.” I don’t just beat him up.

I was a natural leader. I drew respect when I walked into the kitchen. My vice president here said when you walk in a kitchen, the leader of the kitchen should stand out.

Q. You’ve created a distinctive style of cooking you call posh urban. What is it?

A. Posh urban was born because Robert Gadsby was on me so much about cooking soul food that I said I’m going to redefine it and put a California twist on it. Posh urban is Southern cuisine redefined, dishes like Sweet Potato Pot au Feu with Smoked Collard Greens and Turkey Confit, Cornbread-crusted Lamb Chops or Watermelon served with a Blackberry Gastrique. It’s Dirty Fried Chicken, inspired by the Buttermilk-soaked Fried Chicken that I learned from Friendly Womack in prison.

Q. You run a 24-hour restaurant that serves about 3,000 meals a day. How do you keep the food tasting special?

A. My staff respects me and does a fabulous job. Everything we do here, we make in-house. We don’t buy anything from outside. We have a butcher shop that handles our meat, a main kitchen that produces our marinara, peppercorn, merlot red wine sauce, our Alfredo, and barbecue sauce. We even bought a franchise of La Brea Bakery that does all of our bread. And we have a world-renowned pastry chef, Jean-Philippe Maury. Most of our chefs at Bellagio are Culinary Institute of America grads and most of the cooks are really seasoned.

We work hard at making sure every customer has a dining experience they remember. We’re one of the few cafés that turn a big profit. This isn’t a place where you lost all your money so they give you a comp. We take pride in our cuisine.

Q. You write that it’s disappointing that more Black chefs aren’t given the opportunity to cook in top restaurants around the country. What is it like working at Bellagio?

A. Bellagio is the pinnacle of my career. Terry Lanni, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of MGM MIRAGE, did a bold move in early 2000 with diversity and paved the way for me to come into Bellagio and become Executive Chef within three months. They really opened doors for me. I’ve flourished here. It makes me proud to walk through this building with my Bellagio chef coat on. I call it the Bentley of them all.

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