Acclaimed Charlotte chefs work two jobs for a taste of their culinary dream
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — At the Market at 7th Street in Uptown, foodies pull up a chair for something familiar with a twist.
“We’ve been following them for a minute now and I’m also a chef, so I like good food,” said Prettni Bryant, who sat down as a customer at Jimmy Pearls.
“No lie to you, these are the best gizzards I ever had,” Bryant raved.
Oscar Johnson and Daryl Cooper are the chefs and co-owners of the business that’s just steps from the light rail. They have learned that great things happen when you let the old souls cook.
“Southern food is deeper than mac and cheese,” Cooper told Queen City News.
“This is Uncle G’s fish sandwich,” Johnson explains in the kitchen, seasoning a dish named after his Uncle Gene.
“Sweet potato tartar sauce, field pea slaw with some sea island red peas, hot sauce, crispy hot fish,” Johnson said, describing Uncle G’s creation. “This is the money-maker right here!”
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The Jimmy Pearls menu is a taste of their heritage and Virginia upbringing. Several shelves at the eatery include photos of loved ones who inspired their passion for food.
“Through cooking, I’ve learned about myself and my history than going through any type of history class,” says Cooper.
The fact is, cash can be an elusive ingredient.
“Being a great cook doesn’t necessarily translate to dollars,” said Cooper.
But as she wolfs down some of their gizzards, Bryant is thrilled that the duo’s daily grind finally paid off.
“It’s good to see somebody with my skin color that got nominated for the James Beard Award,” she says. “Seriously, it’s awesome!”
Cooper and Johnson are James Beard Award semifinalists for Best Chef: Southeast. The finalists will be unveiled in April and the winners will are announced in June.
“I almost broke down in tears,” Cooper said.
“We really don’t know,” Johnson told Bryant, unsure how they got the nod. “We come here, we just come here, and we work, we work our second jobs.”
They may be up for a James Beard Award, but both say they haven’t arrived just yet. Both work side hustles as they chase their culinary dream of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant location, possibly this year.
Before Coop preps and cooks at the restaurant, he works a full day as cafeteria manager at Charlotte East Language Academy.
“’Man, you are a big cafeteria lady.’” someone once told Coop. “I said, ‘Yep!’”
“I have to do what I got to do in order to keep the bills paid and keep the roof over my head,” he says of the cafeteria day job.
And on a day when crispy chicken legs were on the school menu, we spoke to a little girl who gave the main course a thumbs up.
Virginia-bred Charlotte chefs among North Carolina’s James Beard semifinalists
“[Tastes] like chicken,” she said.
Elsewhere, Chef Johnson’s second job is with Baba and Pop’s, owned by Megan Yurek.
They make thousands of handmade dumplings a week.
“I was scared, I was really delicate with them at first,” Johnson said, making a batch of pierogis.
“Being an entrepreneur is very tough, so you know you still got to take care of your family and all your responsibilities,” he says.
The extra dough from a second job helps the chefs hang on through the struggles of business ownership.
“If you really believe in yourself, no matter what’s going on, keep your head down, keep showing up,” said Cooper.
“Having a Beard nomination in the midst of all the things that we’ve been through, it just gives us a great sense of accomplishment and something to keep us going,” Johnson says.
Despite their long work schedules, sharing their heritage through food gives them much satisfaction. Now, they’re so close to their vision as restaurateurs, they can almost taste it.
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