RESPECT. Interview: Chef Lauren Williams Takes D.C. Culture and Creates the Prime Taste For The City

Chef Lauren Williams created a different sense of style when it comes to culinary art. Chef Lauren attended Liberty University where he played football and majored in communications. Upon graduating, he went on to play professional football in the NFL. He signed with the Oakland Raiders and was allocated by the Raiders in 2007 to play in the NFL Europa league for the Rhein Fire. However, after an extremely short career, he went back to his passion for food.

Williams began his culinary career at a contract catering company where he worked in General Management. He then attended The Art Institute of Washington to expand his knowledge of the Culinary Arts. After his time with the contract catering company, Williams moved on to the restaurant scene where he gained even more experience and hands on knowledge within the culinary industry. His experience then landed him a position with a company contracted by DC Public Schools where he serviced school cafeterias across the District by providing healthier meal options for kids.

After his time as Executive Chef with the school district, Williams became the personal chef to John Wall, the starting point guard for the Washington Wizards. Williams has also been a contestant on Food Network’s reality show Cut Throat Kitchen.

Over the years, Chef Lauren’s passion has shined through his work but even more so on every plate he’s touched. His true loves are food and the art of servicing others.

Chef Lauren is food, flavor, and life!

RESPECT.: Where are you from?

Chef Lauren: I’m a D.C. native born & raised on Capitol Hill, D.C. Southeast.

RESPECT.: What influenced your career based on your upbringing?

Chef Lauren: I grew up in the inner-city on Capitol Hill before it looked like Capitol Hill now. A rougher Capitol Hill *laughs*.

I grew up with my mother, my brother, my father, and my grandmother, like it, was a lot of us in one house. It was my grandparents’ house on my mother’s side. You know the typical city kids playing in the streets: football, basketball just playing sports. We played games, went to school, came back and hung out with the family, things like that. My family big on cooking, so at nine years old, I got interested in what my grandma was doing in the kitchen. I was a kid that liked to eat. Trust me, I was crushing food. I started off in my Grandma’s kitchen at nine years old she taught me how to make homemade biscuits. homemade chicken and dumplings, and stuff like that. That real country food. My family has southern roots  like North Carolina and South Carolina. So that’s how I started out. I didn’t get into it into it until later on life.

RESPECT.: So, what did you do in the meantime?

Chef Lauren: I was more of an athlete and I did all kinds of things karate, track, football, and basketball. I  went to Bishop McNamara in Forestdale, Md. It was a private school where I played football, ran track, played basketball. I got a scholarship to Howard University in football. I had scholarships to other places but Howard was the best fit. I transferred out of there and went to a school called Liberty University in Va. I went there on a track scholarship. I helped them with a track championship indoor. Then I got back into football and back onto the football field. At first I had to redshirt, I played all four years of football there got a communications degree in graphic arts. Once I graduated Liberty, I tried my hand in the NFL. I went from workouts to workouts, different teams from all over the country. Finally landed with the Oakland Raiders in 07’, they sent me to Europe. I was in camp with the NFL Europe team, Rhein Fire and then I was in camp a whole season with them in Germany. I spent my time with Rhein Fire that spring all the way until the summer, came back from NFL Europe. I went to camp with the Raider. This is back when Al Davis was still around. I was with the Hall-of-Famer, Warren Sapp, Dante Culpepper, and future Hall-of-famer Sebastian Janikowski, all of those cats.

RESPECT.: After 07’, then what was next?

Chef Lauren:  I got cut from the Raiders right before the last preseason game. Then I came home started working in contracting food services. This minority company that has been running for about 30 years in D.C. I just came and learned the business. In the midst of me learning the business, I was still working out and still trying out for teams. I tried to put my hand on arena football, I tried to work out a little Canadian football. I did some arena balling in L.A. It was only for a short period of time and I had to leave.

RESPECT.: So what made you pursue the route towards Culinary Arts?

Chef Lauren: After football came the catering company and you know I love food. I said you know what I’d like to do something that is more hands and the business sounded really good it was a minority-owned business. I love black businesses and minority businesses. I said you know what, I want to be apart of something like that. I loved the schematics of it and how the business was run. We feed senior citizens and it was back home here and D.C. We fed senior-citizens in the city, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, special needs clients, and daycares all within the city. It was just something that felt close to home with it. From my grandma, the kitchen, and providing for these type of people, it just felt like it was home for me, that’s when I got with the company. They are no longer around it was called Nutrition, Inc., that’s what got me in the culinary field. I’ve cooked throughout high school or college. I cooked and did stuff but getting back into the adult life and the workforce. It drew me back in so that’s how I really got back into it. In the midst of me working for that catering company, workout out for teams, trying to get back in the game; I went to culinary arts school as well. I didn’t finish, I was like three hours short due to finances but you know it was an experience. I just kept pushing forward. Around this time, I had my first child, my son was born. Then, I had to get real serious into this game of the culinary world because I was really passionate about it. I started working in this restaurant. With the Nutrition, Inc. company, we around during the Obama inauguration. We catered to a lot of the police force in the entire city. In three days, we did like 3,000 boxed lunches, a day for three days. It was something like that, something astronomical. Just being apart of that, that is what drived me to want to become more apart of the culinary arts field. Hey I’m apart of this culinary institution that is providing meals for the police force for the first black president of the U.S., I feel connected to that whole historic moment.  For me that’s a story under my belt I’m connected to that story in history. That also helped me move forward with the culinary world. It also helped revamp the meals on wheels program in the city. Until this day, they are still running this program that I helped revamped. It’s a sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride and joy being apart of something so huge and you’re not being recognized for it but it is huge still, huge to me. I feel proud about those two things: being apart of the Obama inauguration and feeding hundreds of seniors across the city, who can’t good for themselves. That was another motivating force to keep me going into this field. Then I got into the restaurant with my creative side after being in school and then the restaurant started to flow. I was always kind of artsy so that flowed hand and hand. Through this process, I’m beginning to realize more and more that this is my niche, this is my thing, this is my calling, and this is what I should be doing.

RESPECT.: As far putting in the time within the industry, what is that process like and your day to day routine in order for you to develop and always be able to create? How are you able to elevate your brand?

Chef Lauren: For me, being able to elevate myself and my brand is looking forward to move on to something bigger and better. What I did just in that process, I became the senior executive chef company that catered to the D.C. public school systems across D.C. , so you talking about 97 schools and 400+ employees and I’m writing the recipe book, menus, and training 400+ staff members. That’s a notch under my belt that I can take with me moving forward. I did that for like three and a half years. Then the opportunity with John Wall came along. Out of three other chefs, he chose me to be his personal chef. That was enough opportunity for me to elevate myself and elevate my brand. An opportunity to expand my imaginary pallet and my creativity. Just make sure that I stay moving forward. In each position and job I have done ever had in this field, there has always been a challenge whether it was people, food, paper, or whatever the case may be it has always been a challenge and to keep pushing forward. I’m not going to say keep pushing forward because I can overcome these challenges. I was working with John for three years which was and it was a crazy experience. I’ve met a lot of different people, gained so many different opportunities working with him, expanding my brand, and getting my name out there. In the midst working with John, I was able to start my business, the Prime Taste.

RESPECT.: What inspired the name behind your business?

Chef Lauren: I was thinking when I was coming up with the name, I always knew I wanted my name to feel high-end , royal, exclusive, and authentic, you know what I mean.

The word prime, I always thought that word was an ideal word for my company and it just kind of made sense. The word prime it means, first important. It means great, you know what I mean. When I think of that, I incorporated the word taste into that. When I feed someone, taste doesn’t just mean taste in food and flavor. It means taste in quality, taste in product, taste in style, taste in everything. You know you look somebody with fashion, you say they got  good taste. That doesn’t mean that they ate the clothes, it means that they see something that is great value. That’s how I look at Prime Taste like when you see it you see something of great importance. First has great importance then it has great taste. Taste meaning in flavor, style, swagger, and education. A word that embodies it. That’s how I was thinkin about the name when I came up with it.

 

RESPECT.: We’re getting past the holiday break and into 2018. What do you feel like food enhances the value of the relationships with customer, family, and friends?

Chef Lauren: When I look at the holidays or food in general. It takes me back to me and my grandmother in the kitchen. It takes me back to me and family sitting together like the movie, Soul Food and we’re just yapping it up around good food, having a good time around good company. When I thought about all those things that’s what I want to embody when I present food to somebody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a holiday like Thanksgiving or not. When I give you food, I want you to taste soul, I want you to feel soul, and I want you to embody soul. I want you to have that feel like I’m your granddad, grandma, uncle, aunt, cousin, your father, mother, sister, or your brother. I want you to feel like I’m family. I came here to prepare this special for you. That’s the way I feel about it.

RESPECT.: What’s the word RESPECT. mean to you?

Chef Lauren: Respect is something that you earn. Respect is something that you work for. There is general respect but i’m talking about when you see a person and you say “Do I respect this person or not?” Respect is something that you will work for. Everybody knows that this world is very much crazy and being a black man still isn’t easy. Yeah, it may be easier than my grandparents or my parents had but that is just general knowledge of their  situation. Being a black man still isn’t easy,    sometimes we aren’t afforded the same opportunities as others are afforded. In order for us to move forward in this world, we have to prove more. In order for us to prove more, we have to earn more respect and it’s not like it’s automatically given to us. Especially in this  industry, it is becoming popular and part of a bigger culture.

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