WATCH // EXPLORE // CRAVE
A Man On Fire Even if you’ve never met Loring Felix, chances are you’ve probably heard of him. Chef Felix has been preparing delicious meals in Ocala for decades as chef and/or owner of some of Ocala’s most popular restaurants. // B Y K A R I N FA B R Y- C U S H E N B E R Y
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don’t quit,” Chef Felix says. “I try to change with the times and continue to learn and grow.” His earliest food lessons came when he was just a kid and was responsible for preparing meals for his younger siblings while his mom worked as a nurse. “They would be like ‘we’re having this again?,’” jokes Chef Felix, “so I started to make different stuff. A lot of that stuff wasn’t great, but it was different.” His first official job in the kitchen came at age 15 when I LEARNED TO MAKE SOUPS, he went to work for SAUCES AND GRAVIES IN Long John Silver’s on Silver Springs HEALTHY WAYS BUT TO Boulevard. He recalls TASTE THE WAY I WANT that the restaurant wasn’t even built THEM TO. YOU SHOULDN’T yet. The interview BE ABLE TO TELL THAT A was conducted at including his famous a desk in a field soups. The chef and DISH IS HEALTHY BY THE with construction his carefully selected WAY IT TASTES. equipment behind it. staff prepare 700 to Chef Felix has been 800 meals a week - CHEF LORING FELIX cooking ever since. now. There are seven Recently, though, Chef Felix’s outlook on categories of food to choose from, including food has changed. Today he’s going for fresh, classics, keto, paleo, low fat and more. Each healthy and convenient. meal category offers five protein choices per “I’ve been doing prepared meals for three week, including options like maple-glazed years now, but it took a year or so to do the chicken or shrimp scampi. research on various diets. I learned to make “The proteins may be the same in each soups, sauces and gravies in healthy ways but category, but the prep work, sides and sauces to taste the way I want them to. You shouldn’t change to cater to the individual diets,” Chef be able to tell that a dish is healthy by the way Felix says. it tastes.” Although subscriptions are available, a la Chef Felix’s The Fiery Chef storefront in carte items are also popular. Some tried-andthe Hillside Center on East Silver Springs true favorites include braised beef short ribs, Boulevard offers patrons a great selection of Swedish meatballs and the pecan-crusted fresh, pressure canned and frozen selections, salmon. The Chef keeps roughly 150 fresh 30
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Photos courtesy of The Fiery Chef
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meals stocked in the store each week, plus sauces, desserts and more, and guests are invited to peruse the shelves at his store. “I can’t keep the vodka sauce in stock when we have it,” he says. “It’s a plum tomato cream sauce with crushed red pepper, basil, onion and prosciutto. We also offer bone broths, dressings, chutneys and more.” Chef Felix also offers full-service catering. And at a time when many are trying to recoup their COVID losses by over-charging, Chef Felix is doing the opposite—matching or beating anyone’s prices just to show you what he can do. “Once I feed you, I’ve got you,” he says with a smile. The Fiery Chef // 2637 East Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala // thefierychef.com // (352) 512-1845
