Meet Nick Walker | Executive Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
-My most important lesson was self taught, or self inflicted rather… -In this industry if you want an actual successful career, then you must understand that “fun and relaxation” are earned through hard, stressful, grit building work. You must sweat until your pores are dry, cook until your arm hairs are burnt, and work until your feet are numb from pain. Fun and free time is the reward. Everything else in between is your challenge to get through. Over coming this challenge for many years repeated will give you a successful, lengthy career. At the end of this career, you will have earned the time to have fun and be free…

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is through food. The plate is my paint palate, and food is my paint brush. I was most recently a Long time hotel chef. But since the Pandemic, I’ve pivoted into the Manufacturing realm and started making “value added goods” or food products for retail sale. Salad dressings, sauces, jams, stocks, salsas, seasonings, spice blends, and meal kits. My road of 17 years has not been easy. Lots of pain and sacrifice, brutal hours, and more stress than anyone should have in there entire life. I overcame challenges with grit, determination. and vision for my future. Make sure to put the effort in while your young and single. Traveling down the road of becoming a successful chef is hard to do when you have a family. The hours and effort it takes are more than a family should bare.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d cook 1 dinner for sure!!! Then amongst the other days we could do Burgers at Maple & Motor, Pizza at Canne Rosa, pasta at Lucia, Drinks at Parliament, Nicer Dinner at the Charles, and can’t forget Drinks at the Rosewood Mansion. We would definitely tour the Perot museum, and we would surely go out for night of trouble in Deep Ellum, and likely finish with a day of fun at elm fork Gun range.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout to my wife, Emily. My success has only increased since her and I have been together. She is my rock, she keeps me level headed. She is the only person who I’ve ever been able to put over work, It’s taken time in our relationship to get to that point, but her charm and love make her my priority in life.

Website: profoundfoods.com
Instagram: @chefnickwalker