Dirk Flanigan: Striking a popular chord on stage and in the kitchen

Nation's Restaurant News, August 24, 1998 by Gregg Cebrzynski

Even though he was rockin', he never stopped cooking: first at La Tour under the tutelage of executive chef Jeff Jackson, then at six other Chicago restaurants. Flanigan, who is married and has a daughter, now is executive chef at Madam B, which specializes in Pacific Rim cuisine.

His interest in food developed early. Flanigan, who is 30,fondly recalls watching Julia Child on 30, fondly recalls watching Julia Child on TV. "I remember as a kid just flipping through the channels," he says, "and you'd see her, and she's got wine and this and that, and she's totally down with what she's doing."

During high school Flanigan served as an apprentice at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples, Fla. He knew then that he wanted to become a chef even though, as he now realizes, "getting sidetracked with the music kind of took it back a little bit. But I wouldn't change anything."

His plan for Madam B is pretty much what he had in mind when he first came to Chicago: "Basically, what I want to do is make this restaurant 11ck."

Title: Executive chef, Madam B, Chicago

Birth date: Jan. 14, 1968

Hometown: Naples, Fla.

Education: Naples High School

Career highlights: Serving as apprentice at the Ritz-Canton Hotel in Naples, Fla., at the age of 16; working at La Tour in Chicago at age 18.

When did you first become interested in music?

I was always listening to standard rock. Probably it was at age 12, when my sister gave me an eight-track of the Sex Pistols, and I started to listen to a lot of punk rock, a lot of English punk, a lot of American punk. In Naples, Fla., there wasn't a huge outlet for punk rockers. So I continued working in two smaller restaurants.

Do you still perform with Pigface?

Yeah. We sold out the House of Blues the day before Easter. Then we went up to Minneapolis. They were on tour for a month and a half, but I only hooked up for those two shows.

How often are you able to perform live with the group?

It depends. We'll do something maybe once a year; then we'll put out a new record or some remixes. But as far as getting out and doing real tours anymore, no way. To try and do a month-long tour, you're playing 32 shows in 30 days.

Is food preparation an art, like music?

I consider it an art, but it's also a craft. You have certain components to work with, and you're doing it with your mind and your hands.

What's harder: Singing on key or preparing a good meal?

That all depends. Being a chef isn't just cooking. It's fielding every phone call, saying no to some purveyor who calls once a week, and you tell him, "No, I'm happy with the company I'm with." I think the ongoing process of creativity makes it somewhat easier. I'll be falling asleep, and I'll think, "Wow, I can do that with this." As far as singing on key, it depends on how many people ire singing with you.

You started your food career early, didn't you?

I washed dishes from 13 to 14, and from 14 on I was working with food. By the time I graduated from high school, I was working at the Ritz-Carlton and getting credit for it at school. The good thing about being 16 and working at the Ritz-Carlton was that you had all these influential people around you, and you've got all the different styles of management. You've got the chef, who takes his people and nurtures them along, and then you've got the French guy, who tells you in broken English how to do it, and then if you do it wrong, he's just screaming at you.

You were a line cook at age 15. Isn't that young?

Yeah, I think so. When I decided to become a chef, everybody else was talking about school, and I didn't really like school. I had some teachers who were really cool and got me interested in learning. And then I had the ones who were, well, it doesn't matter; I just go by the hook. I was making OK money for a young guy. I remember telling one of my friends -- he was getting ready to go to college -- think I'll become a chef. And he was like, "Dude, don't be a chef. Just cook." "To this day I don't understand what he meant.

What's your style of cooking?

I was thinking about this the other day because somebody asked me. I don't really' have a style. I kind of just do it. It's really weird. I try to remain pretty simple. If you have too much going on on a plate, a lot of people aren't going to grasp it.

What makes a dish extraordinary?

I really like escargot, so how can I make escargot into something that's unique to this restaurant, something you won't see everywhere? The escargot here is served with fried garlic demi-glace. There's a little fish sauce in there, served on a goat-cheese-basil maki roll. You won't see that in many other restaurants in this city. As for extraordinary, I don't mean that you're not going to see the same vibe somewhere else, because as far as chefs today are concerned, nobody's re-creating the wheel.

What do you enjoy eating when you visit a restaurant?

Whenever there's a chance to order foie gras, I order foie gras. Whenever there's a chance to have sweetbreads or oysters, I'll have them. But if I'm out with my daughter, it's hot dogs at Murphy's, awesome hot dogs. And they have Dog n Suds root beer, which my daughter goes crazy for, and I have an excuse to order it.