About Stuart

Résumé
Chef Donald began his culinary career at the tender age of five when his maternal grandmother came to visit from her home in Spokane, WA. The ladies of the house (three generations in all) were making biscuits for a family get together. Young Stuart went to his grandmother and asked could he help. He was outfitted with a small cast iron skillet and a large ball of biscuit dough. He was taught to knead the dough, shown the proper amount of bacon drippings to grease the pan with, and finally allowed to bake his biscuit. A chef was born.

During his adolescent years Stuart was often left to fend for himself for meals on Saturday afternoons. It was then that he began experimenting with his mothers spice collection while frying burgers for lunch. It was easy to tell when the young man was hungry for a burger by the permanence of garlic and cayenne pepper in the air.

After high school began the first phase of food industry training, Stuart was hired as a busboy at Shoney’s the summer before starting college. Fast forward twenty years and Stuart's passion, dry wit, and culinary acumen have established him as a versatile culinary entertainer. A celebrated food writer, he is the author of a cookbook and a regular columnist for 'Zalea Magazine, Current, and the Well Fed Network. His work hosting the online cooking show Everyday Gourmet has drawn comparisons to Food Network stars Alton Brown and Mario Batali, but he is unique in his mission of changing the quality of food home cooks prepare. Currenlty, Stuart is the Executive Chef at Mars Hill Café in Mobile, AL.


Food Author.
Chef Donald is also a recognized food author having had a number of articles printed and also publishing his first cookbook, Amigeauxs Mexican/Creole Fusion Cuisine Cookbook available from 4 Star Publishing. This first endeavor from Chef Donald’s creative kitchen has produced memorable recipes like Creole White Chili and the luxurious White Chocolate Bananas Foster. Chef Donald has also contributed innumerable restaurant reviews for sites like ChefMoz.org, MyGourmetGuide.com and RestaurantLocate.com. He also the author of two non-food related books Nine Straight a look at the Auburn/Alabama football rivalry and A More Perfect Union a fiction novel. Both available from Lulu Publishing. At present he is the food and drink writer for Current Publications doing articles for the monthly Magazine 'Zalea and the weekly periodical Current. Recently, he was presented a red ribbon award in the short story category by writing.com.


History.
In addition to Stuart’s experience in a kitchen he is also a veteran of the stage having performed in plays in both church and public school. He received a scholarship in drama at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Moreover, he is a professional musician with over ten years of classical training on the trombone. He is also proficient on guitar, electric bass, and piano. As a singer he has received scholarships in choir and show choir, and was asked to perform the National Anthem before a basketball game at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. He has performed on television and in concert in Biloxi, MS, Mobile, AL, New Orleans, LA, and Nashville, TN (where he lived for the better part of the 1990’s) Stuart has shared the stage with notable Nashville musicians Jerry Navarro, Akil Thompson, and Chris West (Guy Smilet Blues Exchange), as well as the King of the Mobile Jazz Scene, Joe Lewis.

Goals
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