Peach’s Restaurant chef Lamar Moore working to be the role model he wishes he had growing up

CHICAGO (CBS) — A South Side chef isn’t just focused on his meals, he’s working on giving back to the community.

CBS 2 digital journalist met up with him at Peach’s Restaurant to talk about what it means to be a chef in the back of house and also one who prides himself on giving back to his community.

Colorful, decadent, flavorful, fulfilling; these are just a few ways people have described Moore’s cooking.

“I love to hear that it’s from the heart, because that’s the reason why I do it,” he said.

After having led the openings of restaurants around the country, as well as appearing on the Food Network several times, Moore is now focused on giving back to his community and being the role model he wishes he’d had growing up on the South Side.

“When I was younger, you couldn’t find a lot of Black chefs. Going to culinary school, I think I probably saw two Black chef instructors,” he said.

Moore does events in the community, most recently being a brunch at Peach’s with the James Beard Foundation. Moore said he’s aiming to bring more exposure to the myriad of ways one can make a career for themselves in the culinary world.

“James Beard Foundation, I’ve talked about doing a few more events here; and being a native of the South Side, again, I want to be able to kind of do something for our community,” he said.

His outreach relies on accessibility, working with local brands to create dishes that regular people can recreate at home, while making sure that what’s being bought in stores by his audiences is coming from local farms and gardens.

 “Being able to bridge the gap between, you know, having great sustainable food and then also being able to know how to shop at the stores,” Moore said. “It’s being able to easily change the ingredients; and then explain the who, the what, the where, and the why behind it.”

Moore is redefining what it means to be a chef out in one’s community, taking it beyond the kitchen.

“As I’ve gotten older, my career is now seeing us as chefs in our community, starting to really wrap our hands around our community. Those things just gets me excited about, you know, what we do as chefs,” he said.