Name: Allen Sanders
Position & Restaurant: Chef, Olivia’s Corner Market
Hometown: Leland, Mississippi
How did you get into cooking? By accident! Got a job bussing tables at a restaurant when I was 19. Within a year I was running the place.
What is the best thing about your job? Seeing satisfied customers who love our food.
Who is your favorite cook/chef? My grandmother was my favorite cook—I still think about her cooking all the time.
What kitchen tool/utensil could you not live without? My charcoal grill!
What is your favorite flavor combo? Bacon, blue cheese, and tomatoes
Name three items in your fridge: Breast milk, baby food, and butter.
Where do you get your best recipe ideas? By taking really good ingredients and not getting fancy with them—let the ingredients stand on their own.
What is the best meal you’ve ever eaten? Garlic encrusted, gorgonzola stuffed filet from Spindini in Memphis.
What is the weirdest meal you’ve ever eaten? Catfish Bananas
Personal specialties: Anything Grilled or Smoked.
Favorite Midnight snack: Peanut Butter and Jelly.
Favorite Kitchen Music: 80s Music
Who would you most like to cook for and what would you prepare? My late Mother—I would make her my fried green tomatoes with the crawfish sauce.
Where do you like to dine in Oxford? Snackbar—love raw oysters.
Favorite restaurant in the world: Olivia’s Corner Market, of course!
Aspirations: I’m living the dream!!
Fried catfish: eat the tail or not? Absolutely eat the tail!
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