Good Eats

The Fiery Chef "His Own Boss Again"

By Rick Allen • Photos By John Jernigan

With COVID-19 raging here locally, Ocala’s Good Life has found the ideal place for gourmet food in a pandemic, a revered local chef’s latest dining option that’s perfecting the art of take-out.

We all thought—“hoped” might be a better term— that the coronavirus would be gone by now. Instead, it’s hanging around like a deadbeat relative who won’t take a hint. As a result, we’ve had to adapt to new ways of routine. Meals at the dinner table are more common now; dining out no longer is a way of life.

As 2020 dawned, the nation was on track to another record year for restaurants, the National Restaurant Association reports. Now, we’ll be lucky if our favorite places survive. Consumer eating and drinking in April, the NRA adds, plunged to its lowest level since October 1984.

Like us, eateries have had to adapt to new ways of doing the routine.

“Surviving COVID-19 requires courage,” notes the food service blog Fast Casual. “To beat the odds, restaurant owners need vision.”

Take Loring Felix, for instance. He’s tackled the odds before as a fixture on the area’s culinary landscape for decades—O’Neals on the Downtown Square as a top grad from Lake Weir High’s culinary program, executive chef at Bella Luna, his own oft-honored Felix’s, exec chef at Braised Onion, teaming up with Jose Moreno at Mesa de Notte.

Just under three years ago he launched his current venture, The Fiery Chef, a personal cooking service. The Fiery Chef moved into new quarters next to Big Lots on east Silver Springs Boulevard six months ago, just as the virus began to affect parts hereabouts.

It was precipitous timing. Felix got to reshape his craft into one more suited to less dining out and be his own boss again.

The idea here is he has three eight-week menus—keto, paleo, classic—prepared on a rotating basis. “You never see the same protein prepared the same way for two months,” he says. In addition, he cans his sauces and such for your own home cooking. “Take it home and it tastes like I just made it. That’s the idea.”

I’ve been writing about Felix going back to the Bella Luna days, so obviously I’ve eaten a lot of his food over the years. After sampling a variety of meals from his latest menu, I can say definitively, “Yup, this is Felix’s food.” It is tasty and flavorful.

Be sure to try the blackened salmon delicately seasoned with fresh herbs; the keto roasted chicken breast with shallots, minced prosciutto, fresh basil, and sliced mushrooms in a sherry wine sauce; or the shrimp scampi in a zesty garlic, lemon butter sauce. The list goes on, in keto, paleo and classic options.

At $6 to $8 per serving, that’s not far from the cost of fast food fare, so why wouldn’t you opt for a healthy meal prepared by an award-winning chef with a local reputation for fabulous food?

I spent some time with my old friend recently to reminisce where he’s been, where he’s going, and how he’s fared during the pandemic. “Yes,” he says. “I made the right choice at the right time.”

What special precautions have you taken during the COVID crisis?

“Outside of gloves and masks (he along with three staff members go through more than a thousand gloves and masks every week), not much,” he says. “We run a clean ship here. It’s open, so you can see what we’re doing.” And when they’re not cooking, they’re cleaning.

“It’s comforting for people to come in and see what we’re doing in the kitchen,” says Candy Rankin, who’s been with Felix for three years. “My No. 2,” Felix quips.

For those who’d rather not venture in, they offer curbside delivery.

“Just pull up, let us know you’re here, and we’ll bring your order out to you.”

But delivery is the house specialty: meals prepped, cooked, cooled, then assembled into sealed, single-serving containers and brought to your door. Your role is simply heat and eat.

How has the coronavirus affected your business?

“We don’t do much foot traffic because of Covid, obviously, but my business has doubled.”

If I can’t get to you, how do I get meals?

Easy, delivery. “I’ve gone from 250 meals a week to over 500. That’s delivery, out the door,” he says.

Felix, Rankin, and Heather Mason cook each Monday and Thursday for deliveries on Tuesday and Friday. Some of his early regulars rely on the delivery service.

“There are many I haven’t seen in awhile,” he says, “but they still order.”

The menu changes each Friday at 1:00am. Place an order online at fierychefstore.com by midnight Sunday for Tuesday delivery or midnight Wednesday for Friday delivery. The store also is open 9:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday for order pickups and walk-ins.

“I’ve taken 40 years of gourmet upscale cooking and channeled it into healthier versions of the same thing I’ve always cooked.”

2637 E. Silver Springs Blvd.

421-9205

thefierychefstore.com