Among his other duties, Doug also arranges in-store tastings and miscellaneous culinary activities throughout the year. Upbeat and positive in attitude, Doug’s a natural in this line of work.
Born Dwight Douglas Smith in San Antonio, Texas, 35 years ago, Doug had lived in England and Germany by the time he was 3. His father, a career officer in the Air Force, had to move his family every 12 to 18 months, and Doug adapted to these frequent relocations as a natural part of his life. By the time Doug was in his teens, he’d spent time growing up in Texas, Idaho, Nebraska and Great Falls.
Besides being a skilled cook, Doug’s grandmother was a model, artist and writer of magazine articles on how to be thrifty. Doug frequently posed for her, and she rewarded him with ice cold glasses of root beer and Dr. Pepper.
In the sixth grade, Doug developed an interest in music and took up the guitar. He discovered he could play by ear, which allowed him to re-create tunes without having to read music.
At 17, Doug’s parents retired to Great Falls, and Doug, still in high school, hooked up with a band, headed by Shane Hickey. After graduation he attended college in Laramie, Wyo., where his Great Falls buddy Shane had formed a new band. For three years, the band toured on the West Coast, the Midwest and in parts of Texas.
Doug was extremely happy performing, and at the same time he romanticized being a chef on the Food Network. For Doug, music is as much a part of his life as is food. He is nourished by both, and he feels a strong kinship between the two. Perhaps it’s because the acts of cooking and music are rhythmic and mostly spontaneous.
By 1996, food was exerting a stronger pull on Doug’s ambitions, and he enrolled in Missoula’s College of Technology two-year culinary program. As fate would have it, the band’s creator, Shane Hickey, decided to move to Missoula, too. The band was reborn, and Doug performed in it extracurricularly.
Under Ross Lodahl’s instruction at the College of Technology, Doug blossomed into an exceptional student. When an opportunity to cook professionally opened up at Ray Risho’s Perugia, Ross recommended Doug for the job, and Ray hired him.
For three years, Doug worked at Perugia as a prep cook, line cook and at Ray’s ambitious Ports of Call dinners, a monthly celebration of a particular cuisine’s foods and wines. At Perugia, Doug developed a keen interest in wines and learned all he could about grape cultivation and wine production.
To get additional restaurant experience, Doug left Perugia and worked at Red Bird for six or seven months. At about this time, he made an album with his band.
Wanting still more variety and experience in cooking, Doug accepted a part-time job at the Good Food Store at its former Kensington Street address, where he created the store’s salad bar and prepared several kinds of sushi. In 2001, Doug became a full-time employee.
When the Good Food Store opened its grand new location on Third and Russell streets in 2003, Doug created the wine department, something the store lacked at its former site. Once it was up and running successfully, Doug was appointed director of the cooking school.
In this position, Doug schedules all the classes, provides assistance to the visiting chef/instructors, and makes it a pleasant and delicious experience for all who attend. The evening classes have ranged all over the culinary map, from Argentina to Thailand. During the 1 1/2- to two-hour sessions, participants get a taste of each dish prepared. Afternoon classes are briefer and also include tastings.
Who knows, one of these days we may be treated to a new show on the Food Network, “The Musical Chef.” Doug, get ready for your close-up.
Greg Patent is a food writer and columnist for the Missoulian and Missoula.com magazine. He also co-hosts a weekly radio show about food with Jon Jackson on KUFM Sundays at 11:50 a.m. His new cookbook, “A Baker’s Odyssey,” was a 2008 James Beard Award nominee. Visit Greg’s Web site at www.gregpatent.com. You can write him at chefguymt@gregpatent.com.
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