The Sauce Guru of the Fifth Ward

By Catherine McGarry Miller

Dion Willis is something of a rarity in today’s world: he’s happy. Barclay’s Executive Chef is a contented family man who loves his job and is so confident in his own abilities that he’ll take on all comers.

Although Barclay Gallery and Garden Café in the “Fifth Ward” (Walker’s Point to some of us) is new to the restaurant scene-and owner John LeBrun’s first-Willis has 20 years of cooking experience under his belt. As a youngster, his first kitchen experiment was preparing a pork chop dinner for his mother. But his “real” culinary career started at 15 with a dishwashing job at Chi Chi’s. “I came up through the school of hard knocks” he says of his culinary education. By 16, he’d moved up to the position of appetizer cook and his interest in food blossomed: “I love just grabbing everything and coming up with anything good.” He puts the emphasis on good. You could call him an excitable boy – he seems electrified by his culinary adventures and inventions.

A native Milwaukeean, Willis grew up on the city’s North side in a restaurant family – his mother and father ran a George Webb’s at 91st and Carmen for most of their adult lives. At home, his father ran the kitchen: “Dad was the cook [in the family] – Southern, soul food, ribs, chicken, Midwest, everything.” He graduated from Greendale High School, where he played defensive end for the school’s football team. During this time, he put away a lot of pizza and still considers Italian food his favorite.

Training under his hero Bob Zappatelli at Zappa’s Restaurant on Silver Spring was an excellent proving ground for Willis. There, Willis developed his proficiency in Mediterranean cookery and complex sauces. The turning point in his career came when he made a curried chicken dish better than the head chef:  Willis knew then that he was well on his way. After Zappa’s, he has worked in the main kitchen at Potawatomi Bingo Casino, home of the lauded Dream Dance and Bya wi se nek Buffet, and two years ago was the first chef at Swank, “the posh eatery” on Water Street.

At Barclay’s, Willis started as Sous Chef, but was promoted to Executive Chef within the first week. “We had faith in him and loved his enthusiasm,” owner LeBrun avers with pride. Willis returns the compliment. “I start with the boss man and if he likes it, I make it.” In his own role as boss, Wills is laid back. In his kitchen of ten chefs, one mistake is not enough to banish the Sous Chef to Siberia. Perhaps that’s why many of his Swank staff followed him to Barclay’s. “I’m always smiling. I have the drive to put out good food. I get high on the positive comments and respect constructive criticism.”

Willis enhanced the menu created by Barclay’s owners: Buffalo wings for LeBrun’s daughter Laura; sweet & sour chicken without breading for his daughter Sara’s gluten-free diet. The classic sauce for the Beef Tenderloin is pure Willis. “Anyone can make a steak” he argues. “Sauces give everything its own identity.” The self-proclaimed “Sauce Guru” starts his signature two-day sauce with a veal stock reduced ten times to the proper consistency: flavor-rich and just thick enough to hold the baby portabella mushroom slices to the filet.

Willis seasons his sashimi-grade tuna steak simply and kicks it up a notch with creamy emulsified red chili vinaigrette, perky enough to waken the taste buds without burning them out. Mild-flavored, crunchy, sautéed bok choy compliments the tender, savory tuna. His raspberry vinaigrette dressing, not overly sugary, allows the natural sweetness of the fresh and dried fruits used in several of the salads to come forward. Barclay’s potato chips, served with sandwiches or as a side, are the best I’ve had this side of Spain: papery thin, crisp and lightly salted.

Chef Willis works a 60-hour week to put out breakfast, lunch and dinner for café customers. Even with his busy schedule, he makes time to play football and video games with his three boys, who with his wife Mona, serve as his test kitchen tasters. Sporting a squeaky clean liver, in itself enough of a rarity in his field, Willis doesn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. His self-confidence is unabashed, though he claims no conceit when he says: “I think I’m the best chef in the city. I’m up for all challenges. I thrive on competition. My goal is to be number one.”