Whether he's cooking up a new dinner series, serving a special spinach dip or feeding on-the-go folks as a personal chef, Tye Davis is ever-resourceful as "The Encouraging Chef."
Davis divides his time between Little Rock and Texarkana, and with an engaging smile and conversational skills he makes meals more than just the dishes he cooks. He's held "Cook and Conversations" events, and he's cooked via social media. Cooking is more than cooking for Tye.
Like many, last year's coronavirus takeover of our everyday lives became a time for hime to transform his life and shift directions.
"I started out during the pandemic," Davis explained. He had no idea that it would become what it has, something bigger than he suspected. "I started cooking on Facebook Live. I was just cooking, something I love to do."
Someone contacted him then and asked him to cook for a couple's ministry based out of Little Rock, but he would talk during the cooking - hence, "Cook and Conversations."
"I believe that conversation is everything, business is conversation. Everything starts with conversation. I started from there, and I just started meeting people. I moved to Texarkana and I just started cooking for people in their homes," Davis said.
He, along with local chef Marjorie Slimer, recently joined a local cooking event organized by Annemarie Sullivan of Sullifarm and Kitchen. It's an indicator of how his cooking is heating up.
"I did not plan on cooking at all for a career," Davis said. His previous work was in the funeral industry, a bit of a difference. But cooking has forever been a passion, a way for him to provide something special for others.
"For me, cooking for people is a service and I want to make a memory that you'll never forget," Davis explained about his approach.
It's less about the food and more about serving up an experience. He cooks for a family in Little Rock, and then he's in Texarkana about three days per week, adding other private jobs, too. Consider him a traveling personal chef.
"Wherever I'm needed, I'll go. I was in Houston a few weeks ago for a little dinner," Davis said. He's done events in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, too.
Houston-raised, Davis tried cooking in high school, getting a certification there with a half-day in school, half-day working the trade. And as it is for many, family plays a key role in his appreciation for getting creative with food.
"It really stemmed from watching my grandparents cook," he recalled. "And also growing up in a single-parent home." With Mom at work, he had to fix something beyond ramen noodles and sandwiches.
Davis said, "I started cooking at a very young age. I started making cakes and things like that, and I just kind of grew a passion for it."
Cousins invited him, a middle school student, to cook for them, so he knew his meals tasted good. He began cooking for family. Fast forward to last year, and it was time for a career shift after after he worked in the funeral business for a few years, where he served others in a different way.
"I really just stepped into it during the pandemic," Davis said about cooking, adding with a laugh, "People are like, you work at a funeral home? Hmmm, do I really want to eat your food? That's a joke that I always hear."
Davis said his cooking business is getting busier day by day. He longs to buy an old, Victorian house someday and run two locations, one in Texarkana and another in Little Rock.
"And revamp that old, Victorian house into a restaurant," Davis said. He wants people to sit around an island bar, watch him cook and share conversation. That's the dream.
"Let's talk and let's eat good food," he said. The most interesting conversations run the gamut of life. "You'll find that talking to people while cooking, they'll tell you some of the things that they've been wanting to tell somebody," he said.
His cooking and conversation events bring a sense of healing to folks, he believes, because of the talks they have. "We dived into depth in conversations that day-to-day people don't have because we're so busy," Davis said.
They want a release.
"That release for them is having a good time, eating good food, and talking about something that they've wanted to talk about for a long time," Davis said. His first question: How are you?
"And it just flows from there," he said. It's sincere conversation with no destination. "You have to learn how to listen," he said.
But he has to be skillful enough to watch over his food while talking at the same time.
"That is a very hard thing to do, but I think I've mastered it," Davis said. Just like medicine, cooking and conversation forever takes practice.
What does he love to cook? Light Southern cuisine is where it's at for him now.
"I started out with comfort food because that's what I knew growing up. Soul food, things like that," Davis said. However, this past year he diversified with small plates of flavorful food, dishes that won't overwhelm you but nonetheless satisfy.
Having come through Texarkana on his way between Little Rock and Houston, he decided he liked Texarkana, having stopped here to visit Starbucks. He got a feel for the town, liked what he felt and moved here.
"Texarkana has taught me how to embrace people," Davis said. "People in Texarkana care about you." If he can find people to embrace and feed them good food, then all is good.
(Find Tye Davis via Facebook at the name "Davis A. Davis," via email at [email protected] or at 713-822-4452.)