Chef Chris Dinello: The “Soul” of Alligator Soul
May/June 2008
By Angie Mosier
Caught somewhere between “low country” and “farm country”, Savannah chefs have a wonderful opportunity to take local fresh seafood, farm vegetables and livestock to create a hometown cuisine that transcends country “camp”.
Angela Hopper Photography
Alligator Soul restaurant owner Maureen Craig says, “the name ‘Alligator Soul’ has everything to do with who you are and not what you look like. Too often we are wrongly judged by our exterior appearance (thus the word ‘Alligator’) while we all know that the ‘soul’ is what matters.
“Soul indeed; enter current Chef Chris Dinello. Born in Connecticut and raised in Florida, Chef Dinello became passionate about food and cooking at a young age. Trained in the classics, he has cooked in every style of restaurant from The Union Square Café in New York City to the resorts of Palm Beach. “I’ve worked in huge kitchens and cooked for hundreds of people at a time. While I learned lots working in big hotels, I found that the work is a bit stifling and I don’t ever see myself doing that again.”Moving to Savannah in 2001, Chef Dinello met the late Chef Hilary Craig and started working with him at Alligator Soul. The two forged a friendship as well as a great working relationship. They both believed in putting some of who you are into every dish and truly caring about the customer. After Chef Craig was diagnosed with cancer and knew he would not be able to carry on in the kitchen, he handpicked his friend and colleague Chef Dinello to take over. While the original menu boasted a strong presence of Cajun and Creole dishes, Dinello now puts classic standards out front that reflect his training. “Chef Craig had a great love for Cajun and Creole cooking because as he was growing up, his nanny cooked for him in that style. I love that food too, and we have continued to serve gumbo, oysters Bienville and jambalaya-those are the dishes that the restaurant was built upon-but folks also love that we offer a great steak, lamb and duck classics as well. We also can appreciate the growing number of vegetarian diners that come in, and we make a great effort to give them the same caliber of dining experience. Our owner, Maureen, is a vegetarian and it has been fun and important to come up with great options for those diners,” says Dinello.
The mix of casual and classic seems to drive the success of the business. The 52 seat restaurant is situated in the museum district, near the Telfair Museum. Chef Dinello is quick to say that his main goal is to provide the best food possible, sourced as local as possible. That means that the menu must change often. “Our customers know that we serve seasonal food and while there has been a bit of a learning curve with customers wondering why the menu changes so much, they have come to appreciate that we buy from local purveyors and are o.k. with frequent menu changes. Our food is consistently good but it may not be consistently the same. Last year we served 157 different dishes and that was fun. We have specials every night and when it comes to sides and menu descriptions I keep it open. Instead of always offering, say, broccoli year round, the side dishes change as the harvest changes.”
Changing with the seasons and sourcing great products sounds lovely but from a business/chef perspective, the reality is that it may not be less expensive or easy to do. It takes extra effort that Dinello feels is totally worth the effort. “I try to watch the numbers and be fiscally responsible but I don’t compromise in my buying practices. I will cut costs in other ways. When it comes to sourcing purveyors, I buy in concentric circles starting with the one that is closest to me and I move out from there. I will pay more for food that is grown closer to me because not only is the food fresher and tastier, it is the right thing to do. I want use the best ingredients in my kitchen and I’ll pay more if I need to.”Dinello’s effort to buy locally ensures that customers are eating healthy, fresh food but also boosts the local economy. “Making that effort is worthwhile to me and makes my job more interesting. I get to meet farmers and fishermen. For example, I work with a local fishing boat Captain who calls me from the boat every day at a certain time to let me know what is coming in. It’s difficult to get food fresher than that.” The chef has developed relationships with local farmers and fisherman and feels that is important to the success of not just his restaurant, but to the success of the purveyor and ultimately, the community. The idea of “doing good” with one’s business is not lost on Chef Dinello. His love of local products mixed with his love of cooking and making folks feel at home around the table is truly the “soul” of Alligator Soul. That soul is what people come for-whether they know it or not-because they can taste it in the Oysters Bienville or the Smoked Duck Breast and that “soul” is good business.
