Watermelon Manchego Salad
WITH ARUGULA and roasted pumpkin seeds, this sweet and salty combination is not your everyday salad.
Getting Started as a Chef: Brother Luck Tells It Like It Is
Excerpted with permission from No Lucks Given: Life Is Hard, But There Is Hope by Brother Marcellus Luck IV with Marcus Costantino, No Luck Publishing, 2022.
I got into kitchens out of necessity. I joined a culinary program in high school because it was a guaranteed meal, and I’d probably get the opportunity to meet some girls. At Metro Tech High School, outside of the core curriculum, we could choose a vocational skill to study: auto-shop, carpentry, plumbing, etc. Of the options presented, the only one to offer free food was the culinary program. Listening to the grumble of my stomach and remembering my home-ec teacher, Mrs. Kimbrough, saying, “You know, Brother, you are pretty good at cooking. You should consider going to culinary school,” I signed up. (Thank you, Mrs. Kimbrough!)
I never thought about college, never mind a career; my plan was to join the military; much of my family served in the military. At the end of my junior year, about the same time I was being rejected by a Marine Corps recruiter because of my asthma, one of my classmates in the culinary program was receiving a partial scholarship to attend culinary school.
Curious about how that worked, I asked my instructor, Chef Jim Holman, “Is that something I can do? Can I get a scholarship?”
“How is your grade point average?” he asked.
“My grades are good this year, Chef,” I said proudly.
“No, what is your cumulative GPA?” he clarified, shaking his head.
“What do you mean?” I inquired.
“Brother, you have some homework to do,” he advised, “go to your home school and ask them for your cumulative GPA. If you want a chance at a scholarship, you have to have at least a 3.0, plus you’ll need to start cooking in a real kitchen.”
I walked into the administration building the next morning at Trevor G. Browne High School and hit the silver bell to summon the receptionist.
“Can I get a copy of my cumulative GPA printed out?” I asked softly.
My nerves were already telling me what I was about to read. The receptionist handed me the sheet of paper, and I put my headphones back on as I began to read the summary. Every grade I had made throughout my entire high school career was typewriter-printed in bold black ink. All those classes I had skipped my freshman year were reflected in the D’s and F’s for each semester. My sophomore year was no better as I stayed in trouble because of the drugs and alcohol I had become so dependent on. The bottom of the page included my cumulative GPA: a 1.9 average. The only reason it was even that high was that I had been putting in an actual effort throughout my junior year. I loved going to the vocational culinary program, which meant I had to attend the other classes to continue being allowed to participate. This was nowhere close to the 3.0 GPA Chef Holman had told me I needed to qualify for any scholarships. It was going to take straight A’s my entire senior year just to end up with a 2.0. If you’re reading this and you’re currently in high school, then please remember that every grade you receive at the end of each quarter will be reflected in your senior year when you begin to apply for any college scholarships.
As I walked into the campus foyer, I wasn’t going to wallow in my failure. My decision had already been made up. This half-truth on paper wasn’t going to stop me. All this report stated was that I didn’t care about my future. It had hit the nail right on the head. I hadn’t cared about it until recently. It was time to change my narrative and take control of my trajectory. My 18th birthday wasn’t too far away. I needed to stop blaming other people for my decisions. I told myself, “You will be going to culinary school. Forget what they said you couldn’t do.”
I needed to find a different option to pay for the tuition than what they had suggested. It obviously wasn’t going to be on my academic merit. But I knew I could depend heavily on my hustling abilities. Culinary school cost about thirty grand back then. I was going to make this happen by any means necessary, even if it required creating my own miracle.
I launched into the summer before my senior year with a fire lit by pride and determination, a function of my ever-present insecurities. I started applying for jobs, riding the bus back and forth throughout Phoenix and Scottsdale to drop off applications. I applied at Tarbell’s & Barmouche, Vincent’s on Camelback, Michael’s at the Citadel, and Mary Elaine’s in the Phoenician. I was trying to work somewhere that was considered high-end. Nobody was interested in me or willing to take a chance. The only chef to call me back was Randy Saito from the downtown Hyatt Phoenix.
On all of my applications, I had put [my friend] Tina down as a personal reference. I’m sure Chef Saito was less enthralled with my experience, but he called anyway.
“Is this Mr. Luck?”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“This is a real person?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really know Tina Turner?”
“Yeah, I do, but not the one you are thinking of.”
Continue Brother Luck’s inspiring book to find out how he earned tuition to culinary school, competed on the Food Network and opened two successful restaurants in Colorado Springs, Colorado, despite his upbringing and ongoing mental health challenges. Learn more about his experience with C-CAP and his commitment to mentorship.
As a C-CAP alumnus, Luck provided the recipe for Watermelon Manchego Salad. He will sign copies of his book at the 8th C-CAP Harvest Moon event on October 9, 2022 at Tarbell’s.
“Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.”
“Social media showcases highlight reels, but those aren’t real life, and they only set people up for failure. No Lucks Given shares the good, the bad, and the ugly— unfiltered—and encourages readers that their stories matter, just the way they are.”
Find it
Phoenix, AZ
623-606-6213
Communities Near You
Related Stories & Recipes