Chef Jessie Gomez was running the kitchen at Birdie's until last month, when he made the move to Vast, where he's running the Daily Table, Vast's lunch program. The Edmond native is the kind of chef and person that makes people sound like grandfathers when they describe him; to wit, when our very own James Frazier said, "He's a very impressive young man." Yup, that sounds real old. Gomez is 27, but he's already established himself as one of the best chefs in the state. I used to say "best chef under 30," and that's still true, but he's not just a young chef anymore.

The Edmond native always wanted to cook, and he was mentored in the professional side of the process at Holloway Restaurant Group, most notably by Chef Joel Wingate, who he calls his mentor. He spent time at Grant Achatz's Roister in Chicago while finding time to stage at dozens of other Chicagoland restaurants before returning to Oklahoma City. We were lucky to get him back. Part of the reason he moved to the day shift at Vast was to focus on his own (along with Chef Jeffrey Gordon) concept Takuaches, which we talk about extensively in the episode. He promised to come back and talk tacos next time, and we're holding him to it!