Chef Spotlight
Interviewed by Elaine Cappellino

Danny Trace
Executive Chef
Commander’s Palace
Destin, Florida

Southern Hospitality Magazine:  What early experiences in your life began your interest in being a chef?

Danny Trace:  I grew up in a cooking family and lived in the outskirts of New Orleans. My grandfather and my uncle were both cooks in the military, so we grew up hunting, fishing and gardening. I grew up in Louisiana, cooking out on the back porch for family and that sort of thing.

We would hunt, fish, crawfish, crab, alligator hunt and frog gig, and then bring home whatever we caught and cook it that night. Whatever season we were in, that’s what we ate. People would be waiting back home for dinner, so we had to be back in time to cook up whatever we caught.

My grandfather had a garden with okra, butter beans and greens, that sort of thing. There were figs, pecan trees and pear trees, so all of those things intertwined in what we were cooking. It seemed that the men cooked in the family. My mom and grandma could both cook, but my grandpa cooked at least 95 percent of the time.

I learned a lot from my grandfather; he was my mentor. I mean my grandfather was making dishes like crawfish egg drop soup, and I grew up watching him. You learn a style of cooking, how to layer things and cook things, how to make roux. You use what you learned in the past, and you kind of carry it along with you.

SHM:  When did you decide to become a professional chef?

DT:  I still haven’t decided. (laughs) Actually, I was working in Virginia Beach in a family business, and I just didn’t want to pursue that as a career, so I decided to go to culinary school. I attended Johnson and Wales in Norfolk, Va. I went through the two-year associate’s degree program. I was working full-time in the family business and going to school at night. I was always cooking for family and friends. People always appreciate the New Orleans and Louisiana flavors. They are very distinctive flavors. People enjoy the simple foods like red beans and rice, gumbos and étouffée.

SHM:  How did you land at Commander’s Palace?

DT:  With both feet on the ground and running. You don’t have a choice. I did my externship in Commander’s Palace, so I started in the hot seat. My stepmother was friends with the chef at the time, so I kind of had an in. I also stayed really focused in terms of where I wanted to go and how I was going to get there. That was my way to get back home. I did my externship there and stayed there.

I trained in every position throughout the kitchen: production, desserts, garde-manger, broiler, sauté, chef de partie, saucier, sous chef, chef de cuisine. When I began, I started under Jamie Shannon.

SHM:  Where and what other positions have you held?

DT:  After the storm (Hurricane Katrina), I was given the opportunity to take over the helm of Café Adelaide and the Swizzle Stick Bar in the Loews New Orleans Hotel. It is a sister restaurant of Commander’s.

SHM:  Tell us about Commander’s Palace in Destin.

DT:  I was given the opportunity to come to Destin to open Commander’s Palace here. It was kind of a tough decision. I really love New Orleans and have my roots there, but the fishing and hunting out here are pretty prevalent, and the scenery is a lot better, too. In New Orleans, Commander’s overlooks a cemetery, and here we overlook the harbor. It is a better visual choice, that’s for sure.

In Destin, you still get the whole New Orleans feel. As kids we used to vacation here and in Ft. Walton and Panama City, so it’s kind of our backyard. You’d be surprised how many New Orleans people there are. It’s a quick getaway kind of place, and it’s pretty much the same customer base as New Orleans: Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

We have a full menu out at the On the Rocks bar. We have live entertainment, and we actually have a bar chef. We take our cocktails and our food very seriously. That’s a New Orleans thing, for sure.

SHM:  Do you have special styles, flavors or ingredients you like to cook with?

DT:  Anything Creole, seasonal and local proteins. At Commander’s Palace Destin, we are putting a Floribbean twist on our menu items. This time of year, we are using lots of shrimp, oysters, blue crab, red snapper and yellowfin tuna.

SHM:  Do you have a signature dish or a favorite recipe you would like to share?

DT:  I’ve got like one. (laughs) No, really we have a few. We do this shrimp and taso corndog that’s really popular. It’s a fun dish, and it is a twist on a dish that we used to do down in New Orleans. You crispy fry the shrimp and toss it in hot sauce beurre blanc. We have kind of done our twist on it and put the shrimp on a stick with taso cornbread and make corndogs out of it. It’s great fun. We serve a lot at the restaurant and at the On the Rocks bar.

SHM:  What is your hope for your future in terms of your career?

DT:  I’m looking to stay here and put roots down in Destin. I want to make this the best restaurant on the coast. I hope to train as many cooks as I can and turn them into chefs. One of my mentors, Ella Brennan, put it this way, “We are on a mission to Creolize all the cooks starting with the day they walk in.”