California-born Cally Johnson is currently the executive chef at Lorena Southern Twist, Lori Burson’s Midtown sister restaurant to Stella Modern Italian. She came back to Oklahoma after a long hiatus in California to help Burson with her Southern concept. This necessitated Johnson digging into a genre of food she knew a little about, because growing up in Bakersfield, California means you are exposed to Okie cookie from when our great and great great grandparent fled the Dust Bowl for the green valleys of California’s agriculture belt. In this episode, Johnson gives us an overview of her surprisingly fascinating and diverse backstory, including her time as a Christian music sensation, although she’d probably quibble about “sensation.” She came to cheffing later in life, and quickly established herself as a creative wizard of sorts, and along the way she and Chef Kathryn Mathis started Big Truck Tacos. Her CJ’s green chile pork taco is still the only gringo taco to haunt my dreams.

Chef Cally is without pretension in cooking, even as she’s able to plate beautifully, and her creativity in utilizing the whole animal (surely a cornerstone of Southern cooking) makes even her most humble dishes — like the bologna sandwich at Lorena — feel like a modern American innovation instead of something grounded in the humble roots of the rural South. She speaks plainly and directly, a habit I find refreshing amidst all the noise surrounding hospitality, but in the right conversations, she can dive deep and reveal a thoughtful, studied, deliberate side capable of real complexity driven by energetic curiosity. Her story has been one of my favorite in these episodes, including her relationship with her conservative (and loving) Christian parents and coming out story and its impact on the relationship, and I have no doubt you’ll find it as entertaining and fascinating as we did.