Meet Traci Moore | Culinary Artist and Chocolatier

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

Hi Traci, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I believe wholeheartedly that taking risks are essential to personal growth as well as growth in your career path or owning and running your own business. A quote that holds so true is a quote by Gary Vaynerchuck , “Life shrinks and expands on the proportion of your willingness to take risks and try new things.”

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I coined myself a “Culinary Artist” because I absolutely enjoy the plating and presentation of food as well as painting palates with my play on different spices and layers of flavor. I believe what sets me apart is my attention to detail. The majority of us eat with our eyes first. Because of that, I make sure to add pops of color and different textures to create a visually pleasing work of art on a plate. I am most proud, that with the nudge from a couple of associates, I took the leap and actually started The Dinner Clique, which is a pop-up dinner that I host every other month. There have been challenges along the way that I am diligently working hard to overcome by putting efficient systems in place to aid in creating a stellar experience for my guests. The unabridged Dinner Clique experience is meant to bring people together over amazing food, cocktails and conversation that would normally walk past each other on the street. There’s something about gathering over food that creates an environment comfortable enough for guests to be more engaging and realizing there’s more commonality between each other and that we are all truly six degrees separated.

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.
Shells and Tails (a must as soon as they touchdown) Parliament (craft cocktails)
Black Jack’s (the best hamburger that’s a hamburger without all the “gourmetness”…nostalgic)
Drake’s
Mesero
Jettison (perfect craft cocktails)
White Rock Lake
Rochester Park (a quick drive through all of the “hood” goodness on a Sunday)
African American Museum
The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum: The Samurai Collection
Dallas Museum of ArtsTrammel
Crow Asian Art Museum
The Taschen Library
Mercat Bistro
Lula B’s Design District
Dolly Python (Haskell Location)
Bishop Arts District
Deep Ellum
Commons Club
Rainbow Vomit
Sidecar Social
Gemma
Roots Southern Table
Smokey John’s (The catfish fried hard is soooo good)

And a couple of “duck off” spots that haven’t been discovered by the masses so I’ll keep them my secret for now!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Cortney Armstrong and Benisha Jones gave me the necessary push to start The Dinner Clique. I wanted things to be a “particular” way or “perfect” so I wanted to wait until the “right time”. They both told me that now was the perfect and best time and to just start. So I did!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedinnerclique/

Other: Personal Instagram https://www.instagram.com/themooreeffect/