Takoma Park native Danny Wells knows a thing or two about fish. As chef de cuisine in restaurant owner Jeff Black’s new Pearl Dive Oyster Palace, Wells has earned his place in this fish-oriented kitchen: he has worked at Black’s high-end seafood restaurant, BlackSalt, in D.C. for several years. “I opened there as sous chef for three years,” said Wells of his time at BlackSalt. “Then I worked as chef de cuisine until 2010, when I took a break and moved to New York to cook at the Mandarin Oriental hotel’s restaurant Asiate.” But Wells knew that the Pearl Dive project was coming together, and returned to D.C. to be onsite for concept and construction meetings to execute the menus for the opening.
Wells grew up in a household where good, home-made food was valued. As he notes, his mother and paternal grandmother were really good cooks. “We had no frozen foods and rarely ate canned vegetables,” he explained. “There was always an appreciation for good ingredients.”
| If you go |
| Pearl Dive Oyster Palace |
| Where: 1612 14th St. NW |
| Info: 202-986-8778 |
| Hours: Lunch, Friday and Saturday, 11:30 to 3 p.m.; Dinner nightly, 5 to 11 p.m. |
As a young teen, Wells took his first job as a dishwasher in a Takoma Park eatery, but early on was allowed to work with the chef and pastry chef to do some prep work. “While working there, the more I did the more I enjoyed it,” he said. “By the age of 16, I knew I wanted to go to culinary school.” And he did, attending Johnson & Wales at the Providence, Rhode Island, campus.
Afterwards, he moved around a bit, from Miami Beach and to Spain. But he ran into a friend who was cooking at that time at Black’s Rockville restaurant, Addie’s. He came back to work as a line cook there, and, after an interval, ended up working at BlackSalt.
Fortunately, Wells loves seafood, because he is surrounded with every sort of deep-sea matter afloat, from mermaid designs to portholes to fish to loads of oysters themselves. “I love eating it [seafood],” he said. “I grew up eating a lot of fish. I went fishing with my dad, and we especially caught crabs in this area. I also had a brief obsession with Mediterranean cooking so I developed an appreciation for it.” He added that working with Jeff Black, now an acknowledged seafood expert, has only heightened his hankering for all edibles from the deep.
Has he achieved a seafood signature dish? All varieties of seafood are challenging to cook, he says, because their flesh is generally fragile, leaving little room for error. In the end, he decides that he really focuses on preparing Mid-Atlantic varieties, from rockfish to bluefish to oysters. Yet, he gets a kick out of preparing tilefish from the Carolinas, the cobia from Florida, many types of tuna, and mackerel. Sounds like he learned good lessons when fishing with his dad.
Q&A
What is your comfort food?
Vietnamese pho from Pho 75 [in Arlington] …. And I eat at 2 Amys a lot.
What’s in your fridge?
Not a lot. When I have more than 2 days off, I stock the fridge at home … I make broths and freeze them.
Where’s your favorite restaurant?
In Silver Spring, there’s a Thai restaurant called Kao Thai. And Pacci’s Trattoria, Mark’s Kitchen, Palena, and Jackie’s Restaurant.
What would you do with a year off?
Travel … Brazil is at the top of my list.
Do you have a favorite cookbook?
I use Culinary Artistry … it provides information about [food] pairings.
Recipe
BBQ Shrimp
Reserve the BBQ Spice Mix for another batch of shrimp.
Serves 1
6 to 8 large shrimp, preferably Gulf, head and shell intact
1 tablespoon barbecue Spice Mix (recipe below)
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons beer, preferably Abita
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon lemon juice
? tablespoon chopped parsley
In a saut? pan over high heat, cook the shrimp, barbecue Spice Mix, garlic, beer, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook the shrimp, stirring gently, until they start to turn pink. Reduce the heat to medium low, and add the butter, one piece at a time while swirling the pan until the butter is incorporated before adding the next piece.
Once all the butter is added, stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Serve with a baguette and lots of napkins.
BBQ Spice Mix
16 tablespoons ancho powder
3 tablespoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground cayenne
Mix together in a bowl and store in an airtight container.
