Yesterday, we gave you the goods on Tre Wilcox, executive chef at Loft 610. Today, we asked Wilcox to finish a few sentences for us. Tomorrow, he shares one of his no-nonsense recipes.
(Note: Wilcox's words are after the ellipses.)
My friends say I'm... a gym rat. And a very disciplined chef.
My momma told me... get your shit together.
If I had 24 hours to live I'd... the answer kind of changes on a day-to-day basis. Today I'd say go for confession, have a good meal and spend the rest of the time with family.
My guilty pleasure is... fried chicken. Once a month in large quantity. I keep it to one day a month because I eat 12-15 pieces. It's pretty over the top. It can be from Popeyes, Kentucky Fried Chicken. If I go to Hooters, I get 50 wings. Dry. No sauce. And I ask them to make them extra crispy.
I cook therefore I... enjoy watching others enjoy my food. That's the pay off.
If I could be anywhere, I'd go... back to Paris. I was there for two weeks. Alain Ducasse has a school there (Ecole de Cuisine). I ate around in my off time there.
Never again will I... I don't have regrets. But I wouldn't try to do pastries again without measuring. Pastry is measurement. You gotta weigh it.
Cat or dog... Dog. Small, unannoying, don't-need-a-lot-of-attention dog. We have a tea cup terrier. Spunky. My daughter named him.
The CD I couldn't do without is... Lil Wayne.
I relax by... sitting on the patio looking out into the night and listening to the crickets.
If it weren't for cooking I... would be an athlete. A football player or a soccer player. Soccer first. Got offers from Notre Dame and UCLA. But you know how it goes -- no pass, no play. And if you don't go to school, you don't pass. I played club soccer. All you have to do is pay the coach and show up. I had a 2.5. Ugh. Soccer was right there in the bag for me...
The genre of food I cook is... food you want to eat. Visually pleasing. A combination of ingredients that sounds enticing. I want to make common food look like something of art basically. My style of cuisine is a little on the Mediterranean side. I want it to be beautiful.
Dallas diners want... to be full and to be visually satisfied. And maybe even have some to take home with them.
The Dallas food scene... doesn't need to change. There's something for almost all of us. I would like to see Dallas diners become more adventurous. They are intrigued to try. But they don't buy. It's like a conflict -- what I want to buy as opposed to what I want to try. It'd be great if they'd roll the dice sometimes.
Food should always... be visually, aesthetically pleasing. It should look like something you want to eat. It should be hot if it's supposed to be hot and cold if it's supposed to be cold. And it should be consistently delicious.
And food should never... be under-seasoned, served cold when it's supposed to be hot, and it should never be out of balance or have too much going on. It should be simple, but delicious.
