Growing up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Dallas has been fascinated with cooking since his youth. His father was a chef and would often take him on early morning trips to the docks to purchase the freshest caught seafood in the Gulf. Cooking, for Dallas, has always been around creating flavorful food and making enough for everyone to share. Dallas always knew he wanted to be a chef just like his father but wanted to serve in the military first.

 

After high school, Dallas enlisted in the US. Army. Dallas is a Purple Heart recipient who spent 6 years as an Airborne Infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division with 3 Combat Deployments; 2 in Iraq and 1 in Afganistan.

 

The summer of 08’ and Dallas studied at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute from 09’-12’. This is where he learned classic traditional French cooking, and refine his palette. 

 

While finishing his last year at the Art Institute, Dallas started working at Briar Creek Country Club with Executive Chef Christopher Brooks as Lead Line Cook. In a short amount of time, he worked his way up to Executive Sous Chef. Three years later, Dallas found himself at Raleigh Country Club with Executive Chef Dennis Freeland as his Executive Sous Chef. After his tenure at Raleigh country club, the opportunity to work with Chef Andrew Klamar at Local Icon Hospitality presented itself, serving as his number 2, the Chef de Cuisine. 

​

Cajun and comfort food has always been in his heart, however through all his experience, Dallas continued to try new food, flavors, cuisines, and found how much he could combine and create. Ocean Springs, MS has a healthy collection of Vietnamese and Asian food, which had always been an interest of his.

 

After a 2 year hiatus from cooking in order to reset his palette and find inspiration as a chef, Dallas joined Mofu Shoppe's kitchen brigade under Executive Chef Matthew Greiner in the summer of 2019. Often chatting with the owner while she made dumplings, asking questions about the differences between different regions of Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. Here, he gained more love and passion for cooking Asian food. (As well as through is Laotian girlfriend's Mom; there's nothing like learning from the source!) Dallas hopes to keep flavors as true as possible while adding his own twist and Cajun spin to things as he moves forward in his new position at Mofu Shoppe. 

​

"Authentically Untraditional. And so dang good. "

​