Food Network’s Chef Lamar Moore Dishes on Community Service during COVID-19

Chicago chef Lamar Moore, winner of "Vegas Chef Prizefight," has cooked at Currency Exchange Cafe and the Swill Inn, and most recently helped re-concept the menu at Macy’s famous Walnut Room in the Loop(Food Network / HANDOUT)

Chicago’s own, Chef Lamar Moore has been cooking a long time.

A winner of Food Network’s “Vegas Chef Prizefight” competition show, Moore has cooked at Currency Exchange Cafe and the Swill Inn, and most recently helped re-concept the menu at Macy’s famous Walnut Room in the Loop.

On a recent episode of #WORDSWITHSCOOP Presented by Orox Leather via Instagram Live, Chef Moore shared quick dishes people can make at home during the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN’s Chicago Bulls Last Dance documentary and tons more.

Check out a snippet from our dialogue below:

Chef Lamar Moore on what he’s doing in his community amid combating the COVID-19:
“I just dropped off today about 200 meals at the Montessori School of Englewood Academy and they reached out to me because they were trying to get integrated in Chicago. So they reached out to me and I said yes because it’s important for me to give back to the community, and definitely the frontline workers from the hospitals. And I work with 50/50 Restaurant Group who operates Roots Pizza and Utopia, they have a lot of spaces and they already have a 50/50 charity and u thought that it would be a great idea to pair with them and do a pizza collaboration. And so we took one of their pizza operations in O-Town – which is one of their newer places that was not making much money and we were able to activate it at that location. I’m working with them and Frontline Foods and we’re delivering food all across Chicago man. I mean, it’s tough to do, but people are out here and they need help. They need food. They need meals. Outside of doing things like this; which I enjoy doing and it’s a way that I can give back to my community which is near to my heart. It’s super important and we’re not going to stop and we’re going to feed as many people as we can. We went out today and it was crazy. We had 200 meals and I swear within 10 minutes, they were gone. It’s crazy man.”

Chef Lamar Moore on Chicago Bulls’ Last Dance documentary:
“Dude!…I could’ve sat there all night long and watch all of it! It is super cool to see Jordan and the rest of them talking, because you don’t hear from Jordan that much, you know what I mean? And it’s kind of cool to see him go in obviously, being a big sports fan, Big Chicago fan…it’s just cool. I been excited about it and once the corona hit I was like, I hope they release it early because, it was originally supposed to be released in June. When I saw the date, I was like, ‘Oh hell yeah!’ I’m excited. So yeah man.”

Chef Lamar Moore on his role model:
“Marcus Samuelson. So Marcus Samuelson is a chef in New York. He’s been around a good 20 to 30 years. He owns a restaurant called the Red Rooster – Ethiopian/ Swedish style…and he does a lot for the community too. He’s also doing the Kitchens and also donating a lot of menus. He obviously does a lot of TV, great recipes and he’s a great guy. I’ve crossed his path and actually I have his cookbook somewhere in here and he’s phenomenal. What he does for the community, for his people, for the neighborhood…and he’s so active in the neighborhood, he’s a great guy and I love what he does and I model myself behind him.”