Wrist Twistin’ in the Kitchen With Chef Chitarra Natt of Divine Dymonds Catering
Photo courtesy of Divine Dymonds Catering Company
Chef Chitarra Natt, mother of four, began her 15 year culinary career growing up in Miami, Florida, with a large family. Initially afraid of cooking, Chef Natt has been cooking professionally since she attended culinary school. She’s currently the Owner and Executive Chef of Divine Dymonds Catering, right here, in Cypress, TX.
Divine Dymonds Catering is where Chef Natt provides quality meal planning and preparation for high clientele, oversees a full culinary staff, and travels to bring her signature event, The Art of Storytelling, to cities across the nation.
How did her career get started? Just keep reading to hear about my meetup with her and to get a brief glimpse into the world of Chef Chitarra Natt.
Cooking Is In Chef Natt’s Genes, But She Wasn’t Here For It
It’s not every day that you meet a true black chef in the flesh, so I will admit that I was nervous when I met her. But as soon as we started talking, it was on like popcorn.
Her warm smile, sense of humor, southern hospitality, and down-to-earth demeanor is welcoming.
Now, let Chef Natt tell it, she downright hated cooking and quite frankly, ran from the kitchen. She comes from a big family where her grandma was the ultimate cook.
“My grandma cooked everything in the house. She cooked for every holiday and family function,” said Chef Natt. “We never had paper plates because my grandma wanted everything nice -- down to every pot and every pan.
“I was a gung ho corrections officer, so I shied away from cooking. Being a criminal justice major, corrections was my number one thing. So, I always said, nope. Not doing it. But I ended up doing it anyway.”
“So, when did cooking start for you?” I asked.
“When I had my son,” said Chef Natt. “I didn’t want to just feed my baby hamburgers and french fries. So, I thought, let me go ahead and cook,” she responded while laughing. Then she said in a surprising tone, “It came naturally.”
Of course, cooking is in her genes, but as you can see, Chitarra was not here for it until she was approached with a challenge.
The Challenge That Changed The Game
After discovering her natural talent, Chitarra began cooking meals for family functions. She said, “Once everybody started tasting the food, they said, ‘You can cook.’”
As Chitarra was cooking these good meals for her family, her Uncle David approached her and said, “Tarra, why don’t you further this?”
Seeing that she clearly had a gift for feeding the soul, her uncle told her, “If you go to culinary school, I’ll back you.” Chitarra said, “All right, because I like a challenge.”
I leaned back in the chair, “So, your entire being as a chef began with a challenge from your uncle?”
“Yes ma’am,” she said. “We are always competitive.” And with that, Chitarra took her uncle up on the challenge.
“I went to the Art Institute of Houston and fell in love with it.”
Being that Chitarra hadn’t been in school in quite some time, she got discouraged. “At first I thought, I’ve been out of school for over 15 years. What am I doing?
But my husband and kids helped to push me and I got the hang of it. After I graduated, my uncle challenged me again and said, ‘Why don’t you further it even more and learn the French part of culinary?’”
Chitarra never backs down from a challenge. As a result, she went all in with exploring a higher level of culinary education. “So then, my family and I picked up and moved to New Jersey, while I attended the International Culinary Center of New York.”
Photo courtesy of Divine Dymonds Catering Company
What I love about Chitarra’s story is that her uncle is a huge supporter and motivator. That’s definitely something that we don’t hear too much about in the black community today, particularly among family members.
It’s always inspiring to hear about a family member inspiring and supporting another family member, without drama or malicious intent.
“My uncle is always pushing me to grow,” she said.
“But if anybody was to tell me I would be a chef, I would not have believed them.”
“So what happened after you graduated from culinary school in New York?” I asked.
“I graduated from the Culinary Center of New York and started working in restaurants. From there, the sky was the limit for me,” said Chef Natt.
About Divine Dymonds Catering Company
Photo courtesy of Divine Dymonds Catering Company
After working in different restaurants for a while, Divine Dymonds Catering Company was born. Chitarra pours everything she learned from her culinary education and brings that knowledge to her catering business.
“Culinary just enhanced what I already knew. But it showed me how to do the plating because everybody eats with their eyes first. If it looks good, you’re gonna try it.”
Divine Divine Dymonds Catering is where Chef Natt, better known as Chef Chee Chee, and her team serve up cuisine selections of American, Italian, French, Caribbean and Latin food to tempt you and your taste buds.
But that’s not all. Chef Natt travels across the United States to share her gift of feeding the soul through The Art of Storytelling.
The Art of Storytelling
Photo courtesy of Divine Dymonds Catering Company
Chef Natt does popup events through her food tour, The Art of Storytelling. The schedule for the tour includes locations such as Charlotte, San Diego, New York, Dallas, Hawaii, and Detroit.
I immediately leaned in, “Tell me more about this event, Chef.”
“Each state has its own nickname and what it’s known for. So, I build the menu around the state and tell them about their food.”
This one of a kind food tour is a full operational experience including other chefs, line techs and a wait staff. Chef Natt said:
“Everything I do is an experience. I cook from the heart to feed your soul.”
The Art of Storytelling is an event that fuels each of the five senses of your body - vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. The experience offers:
A full 5 course meal
Live band or DJ
Poetry
Decor
Sometimes the event even includes a VIP section. Tickets are only $75.00 per person and the tour offers a different experience in each city.
Keep an eye out, because when The Art of Storytelling returns to Houston, you and me both will want to be in the building.
Chef Natt Brings Elevated Meals to Our Community
Chef Natt and I had a chance to talk about the types of food we eat in our community. I said, “For our community -- the black community, we don’t always get exposure to elevated food.”
“Right,” said Chef Natt. “People think that because we’re black, we only know how to cook fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes.
But I can make the best and creamiest, mushroom risotto in the world.”
She even gives an example of how we often mistake food. “I’ll tell somebody, I’m going to do braised chicken for you.
They’ll say, braised chicken? What is that? I say well, just think of your gravy not being so heavy weight. Your gravy will be on a lighter level.”
She continued, “The way the food is worded and what it looks like are two different things. You may say, ‘Girl, this is smothered chicken.’ Now, the chicken is braised, but you thought it was smothered.
The difference is, smothered chicken has flour and other ingredients. But with my braised chicken, I just add a little wine to it.”
I love how Chef Natt can break down the culinary industry terminology to make us understand what those fancy meals really are. She said, “Exactly, because it’s not boujee food. But I can make it boujee.” We both laughed.
In closing, Chef Natt cooks foods of all cultures. “If you want to go to Asia, I’ll take you to Asia. If you want to go to Mexico, I’ll take you to Mexico. If you want France, I’ll take you there. I’ll take you all around the world.”
I can’t wait to share more with you about Chef Natt, her future as a chef, her plans to start two nonprofit organizations, and how she’s making changes in our community, in the inaugural issue of Kin + Dignity Magazine this spring! You can beat the rush and reserve your digital subscription now!
Be sure to support Chef Natt and follow her on Instagram. And, when you’re ready for a different food flavor, contact Divine Catering Company at 832-960-2252, via email at divinedymonds@gmail.com, on Instagram and on Facebook.