Damien Tiregol loves his job.
That’s a good thing, because his is the sort of job you have to love or it would wear you out. Damien is the executive chef at Chatters Restaurant and Bar at 1010 S. Madison St. in Webb City. When he’s not running the kitchen at Chatters, he’s working at the establishment’s sister restaurant, Crabby’s Seafood Bar and Grill, 815 W. Seventh St. in Joplin.
“You have to love it,” Damien said of his profession.
I met up with Damien on Wednesday morning to talk some chicken wings. Damien’s recipe for mango-based chicken wings took home first place last weekend at the annual King of Wings chicken-wing contest. My plan was — and still is — to divulge some of Damien’s wing secrets (but not the recipe for his winning wing) in the Let’s Eat section in next Wednesday’s paper. But after spending an hour talking food with Damien, I felt compelled to write about him today.
See, I enjoy spending time with people who love their jobs. Look, life is sort of short when you think about it, so spending 40 (or 60) hours a week doing something you don’t enjoy is not the best way to live your life. The thing is, not everyone is fortunate enough to find that dream job. That job that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. That job that makes 10-hour days seem like a snap. That job that leaves you feeling as good at the end of the day as you did at the start of the day.
I’ve always thought that Mike Shannon has one of those jobs. Mike, of course, is the former St. Louis Cardinals player (and my favorite Cardinals player of all time) and longtime radio broadcaster for the team. What Mike gets to do just about every day is go to the ballpark, talk baseball and sip the occasional beer.
How great is that?
What is neat about people who love what they’re doing is that it’s pretty easy to sense that love. Listen to Mike call a Cardinals game and tell me he doesn’t love what he’s doing.
Likewise, spend 10 minutes talking to Damien about food and tell me he doesn’t love being in the kitchen. On Wednesday, I mentioned to Damien that I love to spend Sunday afternoons in our kitchen at home. I told Damien that, to me, there is nothing better than hanging out in the kitchen knowing that I’ve got something in the oven, or on the stove, or on the grill.
Damien instantly nodded his head.
“That Sunday is your golf,” he said.
I had never thought of it that way before, but Damien is right.
In the hour I spent with Damien, I picked up at least five cooking tips that had never occurred to me before. And I like to think I know my way around a kitchen.
One tip Damien gave me involved soaking chicken wings in a brine overnight before frying them. I’ll have more about that in next week’s Let’s Eat section, but let’s just say the brine soak has the potential to change the way I fix wings.
Like a lot of the chefs working in the area, Damien went through the culinary arts program at Franklin Technology Center in Joplin. I’m not sure people realize this, but the folks at Franklin Tech constantly churn out quality chefs who make the Joplin area’s already great restaurant scene even better.
If you think about it from a food perspective, we’re pretty lucky. There are a host of great, locally owned restaurants in the area. With places like Crabby’s and Chatters, Hackett Hot Wings and Lumpy’s, and more ethnic spots like Wings N More, Fortune East, Lalo’s and El Rey, folks have a bevy of food choices. Not to mention some of the classic, longtime Joplin establishments like Wilder’s, Fred and Red’s, Jim Bob’s, Casa Montez and Pizza By Stout.
And that list came off the top of my head. I know I’ve left out a host of other great places to eat.
All of the restaurants I mentioned, I think, have one thing in common: There is at least one person like Damien working at each one of them. Someone who loves what he’s doing.
Oh, and if I’ve failed to mention one of your favorite places, drop me a line or an e-mail, or give me a call.
I’m making my own private list.
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