Cajun Shrimp & Grits
Chef Dane Shipp posts his latest creations on his Instagram feed, a veritable tasting menu of delicious dishes like the one he generously shares here. Find him @chefdanefly.
HARDWORKING
Dayton Chef Dane Shipp
HIS TOUGHEST BOSS
DAYTON CHEF DANE SHIPP LEFT A WELL-REGARDED RESTAURANT POSITION TO RUN HIS OWN BUSINESS. HE IS WORKING HARDER THAN EVER.
Chef Dane Shipp is working hard. That’s always been a part of Shipp’s drive, but it’s kicked up a notch since he stepped away from his job as executive chef of the Lock 27 Brewpubs in Dayton in June and began consulting and catering. He works for himself now—and his boss is relentless.
“I sleep probably three hours a day,” he tells me with a laugh when we speak on the phone in early August. He’s in the car, heading to Yellow Springs, Ohio, to cater for a documentary that comedian Dave Chappelle (a Yellow Springs resident) is shooting for Netflix. “People don’t see it, but I’m always working. Now that I’m working for myself, it helps, even though I’m working harder than ever.”
CULINARY CURIOSITY
Shipp started working at Lock 27 in 2017 and became the Executive Chef in early 2020. The blend of casual atmosphere with upscale fare allowed him to experiment with a wide variety of new dishes, following his curiosity through the world of cuisine. “I created four or five new dishes a week for three years at Lock 27,” Shipp says. “That’s when my name started going around town.”
He built that name equally with well-executed twists on pub classics like chicken wings with peach habanero salsa, along with unexpected but satisfying diversions like vegan sweet Thai chili cauliflower bites.
Shipp has been vegan for three years, and while that presents certain challenges in the kitchen when he’s preparing meat dishes, he explains that it’s not as hard as folks might think.
“The meat is the easiest part. It’s everything that’s around it that has to be perfect. Vegan dishes are challenging, though, because I’m new to that. You have to replace the texture of meat. Flavoring is easy. Herbs, spices, those are all vegan, and that’s what makes meat taste good. I want to create vegan dishes that non-vegans will want to eat.”
Shipp’s passion for food began at home. He started cooking when he was 11 years old, and his mother gave him the early tools he needed in the kitchen. “My mom worked a lot, so I had to learn how to feed myself. She would get off work a couple hours after I got home from school, so she taught me how to make simple stuff,” he explains. “Whatever she had, I’d throw together. I’d fail a lot, but you learn the hard way.”
His mom taught him that you have to fail to succeed, and that permission to make mistakes in pursuit of excellence has carried him through difficult times. An injury derailed a college basketball scholarship, and a health condition forced him to leave culinary school. The path he’s followed wasn’t the one he charted, but he’s right where he wants to be.
“The decision I made to become my own boss has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my career,” Shipp says. “It’s extremely scary, but I believe in myself and the support I get.”
COOKING FOR CHANGE
Shipp began working for himself in early June as the country was in the midst of national protests against police brutality and systemic racism. On June 6, he published a poignant post on Instagram explaining how people treat him differently based on whether or not he’s in his professional space. Part of the content read:
“The only time those people feel safe around me is when I have a chef jacket on. Well this is me underneath the chef jacket. Black skin, tattoos. 6'0˝, 250 lb. stature, and a head full of locks. Stereotypes would say I’m a thug, but in reality I’m a hardworking, ambitious, kind-hearted human being.”
On the phone, he explains more about this frustration. “It’s weird, man. Right now, just being in a black T-shirt, people view me way differently,” he says. “People get afraid when I’m near them, tightening up their purses or whatever. It’s just what you live with being a Black man in America. I don’t let it get to me, but I recognize it.”
One of Shipp’s first projects as his own boss was organizing a Juneteenth fundraiser at Toxic Brew Company, a craft brewery in Dayton’s Oregon District. He prepared a menu of classic Southern soul food, and proceeds from sales went to the Dayton chapter of Black Lives Matter, which had a booth set up at the event to register people to vote.
“If I can get people to register to vote by luring them with a decent meal, that’s great,” Shipp says.
A CHEF’S LIFE
One of Shipp’s tattoos is a chef’s knife on his right forearm with the words “Chef’s Life” beneath it. It’s a handmade Japanese knife Shipp had coveted for years and now uses.
“I got the tattoo way before I got the knife,” he says with a laugh. “It was one of those things I wanted to speak into existence.”
Through tenacity, curiosity and an endless pursuit of excellence, Shipp is speaking his own future in the culinary world into existence, one exhausting day at a time. It’s hard work, but that’s nothing new.
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