East Servery executive chef Derrix Norman feeds students’ bodies, minds

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

The chef at this fine establishment has a big laugh, a ready smile and a hearty welcome for all who enter.

	JEFF FITLOW
	Chef Derrix Norman, left, brings professionalism and a love of cooking to Rice University’s new East Servery, which opened in January and primarily serves Lovett and Will Rice colleges.
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These are pretty good qualities for any restaurateur, but it’s especially important when the clientele come to eat several times a day, every day, for months on end.

Chef Derrix Norman clearly loves his job.

The newly minted executive chef, a certification bestowed on the best of the best by the American Culinary Federation, brings professionalism and a love of cooking to Rice University’s new East Servery, which opened in January and primarily serves Lovett and Will Rice colleges.

“I can probably tell you, for every class since 2002 that I cooked for, something about what each of the seniors enjoyed eating,” said Norman, who pays close attention to which dishes move and which don’t from day to day.

Like all Rice chefs, he’s careful to observe students’ dietary requirements — some for health reasons and some imposed. “Coach (David) Bailiff, when he came aboard, brought all his football guys down, introduced them to me and told me, ‘Make sure you don’t give them cheeseburgers yet — until I tell you to.’

“But that first year, I can tell you what every one of those football linemen wanted on a burger,” he said.

Norman is as imposing as any lineman but has the touch of an artisan. While his role is that of a manager, he loves to cook, plan menus, create recipes and teach his staff and willing students the tricks of the trade, all hard-learned in more than two decades since graduating from Houston Community College’s culinary arts program.

Rice recruited the Houston native in 2000 after his career path had taken him through the kitchens of several hotels and Bon Appétit’s food services division. He worked at Cohen House, Sid Richardson and Will Rice colleges and helped open both the West and South serveries before taking on his current position.

Norman, who manages a staff of 27, enjoys the challenge, though it keeps him on campus for 12-hour shifts, six days a week. “I have to listen to all of their problems and be able to teach them, make sure they’re cutting right and practicing their cutting skills. Make sure they’re not wasting the product. Make sure they’re managing their stations, managing the food, make sure the food is good.”

And make sure the student body consumes 1,000 healthy meals a day.

“We kind of shy away from the comfort food,” Norman said, admitting that corn dogs do occasionally show up on the menu. But the East Servery will just as likely be serving one of the chef’s Cajun specialties, like Crawfish Etouffee (“My signature dish,” he said), a seafood gumbo or the chili that won the second annual Rice-Houston Chili Cook-off at last year’s Bayou Bucket football game against the University of Houston.

“The secret to that was, first of all, we ground our own beef,” he said. “Then we did a couple of little secret spices. It’s Texas chili, no beans. It was good.”

At the East Servery, the daily grind — and chop and mix and stew and bake — begins at 6 a.m. and runs through about 8:30 p.m., later if the next day features what Norman called a “heavy menu.”

“Dinner’s mainly a heavy menu,” he explained. “We may do three choices of meat. On a regular day we do two proteins, some days we do a carving station. We may do a specialty meat, a specialty fish, and some days the workload is a little heavier than other days.”

“A heavy prep day might mean we do a fresh fish, which takes a long time to fillet,” said Brad Thacker, Senior Operations Manager for Rice Housing and Dining. “We’re not talking about one fish …

“It’s 100 pounds of fish! We get them right off the boat,” Norman said. “A guy calls me a day ahead and tells me, ‘Hey, I got this fish coming in, would you like it? We got blue marlin, we got amberjack, tuna. What can you do with this fish this week?’ I can plan a menu around that.”

Cooking is Norman’s first love. He got that from his grandparents, New Orleans chefs who inspired him to take up the craft. He said it’s rewarding to know that the 600 or so students who come to the bright, airy East Servery for their meals every day are going to find something delightful.

“A lot of places have only a five-day menu. Every Thursday, you’re eating the same thing,” said Thacker. “Derrix and the rest of the chefs on campus try to keep it very fresh because they have the same people coming back day after day. In a restaurant, you might have a regular there two or three times a week at most.”

“We’re very much here for them,” Norman said. “The students eat with perception around here. Most of the time, when I write the menus, I don’t duplicate an entrée within a three- or four-week cycle.

“Sometimes, we have an item that may not move and you may not see that particular item again for a while. We’ll do it in a different way, change the perception a little bit. Maybe the flavors, maybe the protein,” he said.

“We know when it works because the students tell us. ‘Hey, that was one hell of a dish you did there.’ ‘That entrée was good today.'”

Fresh soups, fresh hand-cut salads (with homemade dressings) and a crepery, the East Servery’s signature station, are points of pride, and seem to satisfy increasingly picky eaters. “The students watch these shows on TV — ‘Iron Chef’ and the Food Network — and become armchair chefs themselves,” Thacker said. “They dream up some strange things and come up with interesting suggestions and the chefs work with them.”

“It’s good to interact with the kids,” Norman agreed. “I’ve taught a class, taught them how to make the Crawfish Etouffee my way. A couple of Fridays ago, my sous chef, Ryan (Trout), showed them how to make crepes, how we make the batters, the process, the equipment we use, and a couple of different fillings to make a savory crepe, a dessert crepe. I taught them how to make a pecan pie.

“My passion isn’t bakery. I can do a little pastry, some breads. But most of my items are entrées. I love cooking, and that’s the thing I like to do a lot — coming up with a new idea, a new recipe. We always want to wow the kids.”

Chef Derrix’ Tier One Chili

Chef Derrix Norman won the second annual Bayou Bucket Chili Cook-Off last October before the annual football game between Rice and the University of Houston.

10 pounds Beef Ground Round
1 gallon of water
2 diced Yellow onions
2 diced green bell Peppers
1 cup of minced garlic
½ cup beef base
¼ Worcestershire
½ cup chili powder
½ cup Cumin powder
1/4 cup red pepper powder
¼ cup Coarse Ground Black pepper
1/3 cup of kosher salt
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
2 cups of Mesa diluted in cold water

Method

1) Start by browning the beef in a large non stick soup pot on medium heat.
2) Add the dice vegetables and the spices stirring to mix all of the spices.
3) Mix the beef base with water to dilute; add to the chili mixture while simmering on medium heat.
4) Add your diced tomatoes and tomato paste water and continue cooking on medium heat.
5) Let it simmer for about 30 minutes and add the Mesa mixture.
6) Reduce the heat to low and continue simmering for two hours.
7) Taste and adjust as needed. Enjoy!