Thanin Viriyaki
Last year, if you wanted to enjoy one of the city’s best new restaurants, Chef’s Corner, you had to jump through a few hoops. First, you had to walk around the Twinkies.
A year ago, Fort Worth-based chef Mike Douresseaux was working out of a gas station on the far east side. In a scene that was both surreal and a little comical, Douresseaux was making fantastically imaginative Cajun and soul food in a makeshift kitchen inside the station, right next to the soda machines, packaged muffins, and 12-packs of Red Bull.
His tiny business became a local sensation when area TikTok-ers caught wind of his food and posted videos of it, like a majestic chicken and waffles and a lamb shank one might find in any five-star restaurant. People lined up inside and outside and hung around the station’s air and gas pumps waiting for his food, which he humbly served in clamshell to-go containers because, well, it was a gas station and there wasn’t anywhere to sit.
Those days came to an end when the Louisiana-born chef moved into a brick-and-mortar earlier this spring. Douresseaux is now serving his terrific soul food and Cajun cuisine out of an east side space once occupied by soul food restaurant Turkey Den. Some of Turkey Den’s menu is still available, including the restaurant’s namesake turkey legs, so huge they’ll feed two, and some of that restaurant’s staff is still working there — a friendly, attentive bunch. At press time, Turkey Den’s sign was still up, too.
Thanin Viriyaki
But while he waits for a sign, he’s intent on making a name for himself here, in this nicely decorated strip mall space on Oakland Boulevard, his ground zero for a new life and rejuvenated culinary career. As we wrote about in a previous profile, he spent years as a corporate chef before demons and addictions got the best of him, causing a fall from grace.
Fueled by the need to help his daughter get through school and life, he mounted a comeback that has culminated with this new brick-and-mortar location. He’s no longer hand-delivering clamshell containers. Instead, his creations arrive on artfully arranged plates, as they should.
His spectacular gumbo, still studded with massive snow crab legs and succulent blue crab, now simmers for hours, its rich aroma filling the air. Lamb shank comes with a refined mushroom risotto. And the chicken and waffles, drizzled with burnt butter caramel, feel less like a gas station surprise and more like a gourmet indulgence.
“It still doesn’t make that big of a difference where I’m cooking,” he says. “What matters to me is, do people like what I’m doing?”
So far, they seem to. During two recent visits, the place was nearly full — and it takes a lot to fill this spacious restaurant, with its split dining room and huge patio. Many followed him from the gas station, while others are getting to know him through Turkey Den’s food.
“The idea is, maybe they’ll order a turkey leg, but then get something I made,” he says. “The idea is to keep the people who love Turkey Den happy but also get them to branch out and try something new.”
Chef’s Corner, 1201 Oakland Blvd.
