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When it comes to cooking competitions, chef Melvin “Boots” Johnson can throw down with the best…and come out on top. The Los Angeles native, who goes by the nickname “Boots” as a nod to his favorite footwear from childhood, has won big as a chef on TV competitions.
Some of the many cooking competitions Chef Boots has conquered include “Chopped,” “Cutthroat Kitchen,” “Man vs. Child” and “Beat Bobby Flay”—where he beat his former boss using his grandmother’s biscuits and gravy recipe.
In addition to being a chef on TV, the culinary talent is also the owner of two restaurants: the iconic Harlem Biscuit Company in New York City and award-winning Bones Smokehouse in St. Croix (a restaurant Chef Boots opened in January of this year) and he also serves as the executive chef of the Victoria Theater Restaurant in the Renaissance Harlem NY hotel.
To top it all off, he’s also launching two new barbecue sauces for sale in restaurants and stores.
Inspiring the Next Culinary Stars
But beyond the accolades as a chef on TV and food industry success, Chef Boots is using his influence to lift up the next generation of culinary stars. “You have to be obsessed with this industry and being the best that you can possibly be in cooking,” shares the self-described southern chef about what motivates him during culinary competitions.
He hopes to instill that same passion in young cooks. To do that, Chef Boots is counting on his visibility as a chef on TV. He shares, “I live here in Harlem. I look like all the other brothers who walk around here. And so when I talk to kids—I speak at career day all the time—I’m relatable…They see themselves.”
Learning the Craft
To further open doors for young talent, Chef Boots runs his culinary mentorship program Drive Change. “I’ve had kids come through my kitchen as interns,” he shares. But finding success like the executive chef requires a reality check.
“Out of all the kids, I’ve hired one…because she had more experience. She worked in the industry first and knew she wanted to go to culinary school. Other kids come out of high school and see stuff on TV and say, ‘I can go to culinary school and become a chef.’ That’s not how it works,” he relates.
“You have to put in the time to learning the craft…You have to be obsessed with being a great chef. You can’t just say, ‘I like to cook.’ It doesn’t work that way. You have to live, breathe it.”
To inspire his mentees, Chef Boots gives them two books that are required reading in his program: “Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain and “Creole Feast: 15 Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets” by Nathaniel Burton and Rudy Lombard.
“One thing that Bourdain said in his book, ‘I don’t care what you learned in school. Can you make that dish 50 times tonight? The exact same one. If you can’t set up, get out of here.’ That’s what this business is; it’s not the glory.”
Winning In Life—And As Chef on TV
Which brings us back to his cooking competition wins as a chef on TV. “I’m 57 years old, and the last ten years are when I started reaping the benefits of all the work I’ve done since I was 14. It’s a lot of hard work,” says the chef.
So what are the qualities needed to succeed as a chef on TV as well as in life? “You have to be really, really hungry…You have to have that killer instinct,” says Chef Boots about the desire to overcome the competition. “Confidence that you know what you’re doing” is another quality a winning chef on TV and a successful cook in the kitchen will share, says Chef Boots.
“The one big thing is that you have to be confident in your cooking. I did Chopped five times and there’s always somebody that is second guessing themselves—and that’s the one who is always out after the first round.”
Finally, the fierce competitor offers this. “Make good TV.” This tip translates to being fearless in all things that you do. “Just go for it! I remember when I did Cutthroat Kitchen, I was in a last round, and we had to make cherries jubilee—in a ball pit. And so I just said, ‘You know what? Make some good TV,’ so I dove in headfirst. I landed on my buttermilk and I had stuff everywhere…The camera’s always rolling, so you just got to keep going.”
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More Than Just a Job
While Chef Boots doesn’t believe himself to be a “role model” for Black culinary talent, he does believe that younger people considering the culinary industry have to see others like themselves.
“I’ve been cooking since I was 14 [when] my parents opened a barbecue restaurant in Compton. I’ve just never left the kitchen…There’s been a lot of times where I was the only Black person in the whole company. And so now since I’m in the position of owning and running restaurants, I’ve promoted a lot of Black brothers in my kitchens, mentoring them. It’s why I have guys that have cooked for me still reach out with questions; I stay mentoring [those] that have worked under me.”
Chef Boots admits to living and breathing the art and business of food. “Being a chef is not a job. It’s a lifestyle. If you can get people to have the passion for that, you’re going to build your industry—especially having more Black voices in food.”
More information about Chef Melvin “Boots” Johnson and his current projects can be found by following him on social media and online.
