(bright percussive music) - My love language is food.

I love taking this raw product, and then, creating a dish.

(bright percussive music) This is a form of art, right?

The plate is the canvas, the food, that's the paint, and we trying to create a art piece and present it to hundreds of people a night.

(indistinct) (bright percussive music) Everything that I put on this plate, everything that I produce is a part of me going to you to say, "Man, I love you, dude, come sit down, let's break bread together."

It's just that simple to me.

(bright percussive music) We're in the suburbs of Sacramento, California, in the wonderful city of Roseville.

(bright percussive music) Q is me, of course, I'm Q, Chef Q, and then, 12/27, that's my birthday.

My 50th birthday is when I opened it.

(loud clattering) Two spicy pastas.

(bright percussive music) We describe it as "modern comfort food," so what we've tried to do was take the Southern region food, the Southern food, pair it with California fresh ingredients.

(bright percussive music) I'm pulling on those flavors and I just wanted to kinda mix it all up and just see what happens.

(gentle guitar music) My inspiration, it comes from me growing up in the South.

(gentle guitar music) My city is Cross City, Florida, extremely small community.

We had about three, maybe four stoplights going down the center of town, everybody knew everybody, and I joined the military, so that's really how I got out of there, if you will.

I served seven-plus years in the United States Navy, I loved it, man, I gotta travel the world and see many, many, many different countries, and it was just absolutely a blast.

(gentle guitar music) When I got out of the military, I was really trying to find my way, trying to see what I was gonna do, I knew I wasn't going back to Florida, so trying to figure out what my next step was.

(water spraying) I found a job, started washing dishes at a hotel down in San Diego, and that was my, you know, really introduction into the lifestyle of culinary arts, but I loved it, I really enjoyed washing dishes.

(gentle orchestral music) For me, the kitchen, it resembled a family, and I think, at that time, at that age, I definitely needed that, so that's really what stuck out to me, and then, just learning food.

(upbeat funk music) My school was the school of hard knocks, my school was jumping into the back pocket of some awesome chefs and asking tons of questions, learning on the fly, I read tons of cookbooks, watched tons of cook shows... - Drain most of the fat, you only need about two tablespoons.

- A little bit of lemon zest really adds some nice flavor.

- But no culinary school for me.

I couldn't afford it.

(laughs) - [Narrator] Turned out Quentin had a knack for the culinary arts, which runs in the family.

- My mom, she was a magician, I mean, she made something out of nothing, so I stayed in the kitchen a lot with her, helping her out.

Just fond memories, right?

She taught me a lot.

So she was my first culinary teacher, if you will.

(laughs) - [Narrator] He took on a variety of culinary jobs, steadily gaining experience and honing his skills as a chef over the years.

- I worked for the state penitentiary system, I was a guard/cook in that system, and then, I started working in Hollywood, in LA, so I got to be on-set with a lot of sitcoms and TV shows, so it just kinda kept, you know, snowballing.

(upbeat funk music) - [Narrator] Along his culinary journey, he met a woman who would end up by his side through every step and play a pivotal role in where he's at today.

His wife, Tamara.

- My wife didn't have to join me here in this crazy business called the restaurant, but she chose to.

I remember like it was yesterday.

When I sat there and I told my wife, I said, "All right, babe, I wanna do me, I wanna open my own place," and I looked at her and I said, "Are you okay with that?

Are you with me?"

And in the fashion of my wife, she goes, "Let's do it."

- Because he wasn't happy, he was just not content because he had his own vision, and he couldn't do his vision in another man's house.

He said, "Either I do my own thing now, or I'm never gonna be able to do it."

Well, I'm about life and having a great life, I was like, "Let's go.

Let's do it."

- The reason I wanted her to be a part of this with me is because I can trust her.

She has my back.

- I have the honor, and he's still laughing about it, of being his general manager.

I hope you feel the pride that we have to have you as part of our team, that you have that same pride that you're a part of a growing entity.

He's the artist, and we're all the supporting cast.

If an artist gets bombarded down with too many things, it's gonna stunt their creativity.

I need him to keep creating, so that's what I feel like my job is.

We're at 117, we have four large parties, and other than that, it's gonna be a great night, it's five o'clock, one, two, three, and... (people clapping) Showtime, everybody.

- [Quentin] We're live.

(gentle harp music) - We both do what we have to do to... You laying down this track, I'm laying down that track so that the train can go on that track and get to the destination.

(indistinct) Don't stop the train.

- You know, I would tell any married couple, every... You gotta define your roles.

You just...

I think that's it, there's zero competition, I can't do what he does, and he doesn't want to do what I do, so yeah, that's what works.

- Yeah, it makes it easy because, you know, I... You know, truly, like, being in her company, and then, you know, at least here, I can tell her what to do, I can't do that at home.

(Quentin laughing) - Yeah, that became the... - Can't do that at home.

- Yeah, so literally, we decided... Or maybe I should say I did, that, you know, he's the captain of the ship here, period.

I don't know nothing, so I have to ask him everything, so he loves that.

- Listen, for five years, I've had her listening to me.

- Yeah, yeah, so I now listen and... - Yeah, he... Oh, full advantage.

(laughs) So I'm happy I can be his work wife and his wife, and that we can connect even more, so yeah, it's made us much stronger.

I was able to get into his world and understand it better.

I saw the depths of his creativity and it humbled me to know his gift was that great.

(gentle piano music) So I knew he could cook, but I didn't know he could create.

(gentle piano music) It definitely made me that much more proud.

- I love her love.

I love the fact that she thinks that everyone around her can succeed and be that greater person and the greater version of themselves.

You may not have enough faith to believe it yourself, so I'm gonna grab onto that person's faith.

It's kinda like swinging into that lake.

You don't know if that rope can hold you, but you believe in it enough to grab it and swing, and then, you have enough faith, and you let go, and now, you're swimming in the lake.

That's what her words do to not only me, her kids, family, but everyone around her, so yeah.

- Wow.

Show me some sugar.

(gentle piano music) - [Narrator] Since opening their doors in 2019, Chef Q and his restaurant have made quite a name for themselves in the Sacramento region.

They recently relocated to a new larger space in Roseville.

- [People] Congratulations on your grand opening!

(people cheering) - [Narrator] Another step forward in Chef Q's ever-evolving culinary journey.

(ethereal orchestral music) - And I believe that the success, if you will, that has come is only for me to reach out and be a blessing to families and kids in the community.

All right, guys, today's the day, we out here, man, we doing it.

We have food.

From day one, 10% of the proceeds go out to feed the less fortunate citizens of this area, and last year, we helped feed 60,000 families with the donations coming from this restaurant.

We just trying to make their life a little bit better.

(gentle piano music) And I've been at local high schools giving lectures to show young black students that, yeah, you can do it because I've done it, so that's what's really important for me because my journey in this culinary world wasn't easy, it was not easy, man, so I had to prove myself, in other words, constantly, just to be sitting at the table, so to be that role model, if you will, to be that person that that community can look up to... (gentle piano music) I have to.

I have to.

What's up, guys?

What's up, guys?

everybody good?

Dreams do come true, but man, you just gotta do it.

Trust in your experience.

Trust in the years that you've been doing your skills and your task, and just go for it.

There's gonna be hiccups, there's gonna be bumps in the road, there's gonna be hills to climb, man, but I tell you, the journey, man, it's amazing, and when you can partner with someone you love and care about, that makes it even much better, like, that's just great.

(gentle piano music)