Change of career proves to be finger-lickin’ good idea
A MAN who forced to seek a new career path due to Coronavirus restrictions is bringing a brand new food event to the heart of his hometown, with hopes of giving his beloved local area a muchneeded uplift.
David John Stark worked as a sound engineer at music events around the world before the pandemic hit – and due to concerts and performances being shut down across the board, he was forced to look for a new means to make money while stringent curtailments were in place.
It was during this time that the 32-yearold from Washington discovered a hidden talent in cooking, whipping up a variety of exciting dishes from his kitchen while on the lookout for something to tide him over until gigs returned.
David said: “Obviously during the first lockdown I lost all the events, all my work was cancelled – I was in a bad place as you can imagine.
“One sort of form of therapy that I tried was a food blog, which was @North_east_scran on Instagram. I did that throughout the summer, I was working at Tesco and I was planning my dishes while I was at work and then buying all the ingredients at the end, making it and then putting the photos up.
“It gave me something to do over lockdown – it was great, but that then led to me getting some work. Around September I saw that Meat Stack were looking for kitchen staff, so I applied and sent the Instagram page as my CV and they ended up giving me some kitchen work.”
David worked with Meat Stack for a couple of months before the group opened a new restaurant called Fred’s Fried Chicken – where he in turn was sent to oversee the entire kitchen himself. It was during his time here that he learned how to cook fried chicken to perfection, while giving him ideas for other ventures himself.
David currently works with Wildfire Pizza at the Ship Isis in Sunderland, where he has trialled a couple of dishes and recipes, and after success as well as a wave of support from the local community – he has decided to launch his own event in Washington next month.
The event will take place today at the Black Bush in Washington, which is currently undergoing renovation works – so his launch of ‘Chick Chick Boom’ will tie in with the re-opening of the revamped boozer.
David added: “My past experiences have kind of started to encourage me to start doing my own thing and there’s a pub in Washington that’s being refurbished, so I’ve tied an event in with that pub opening, which is Sunday the third of April.
“At the moment it’s just a one off event, but if it goes well the guy has said that I could have a regular slot. I think that will be the case, I think it’s going to be every Sunday but at this moment it’s just a one-off thing.”
During the foodie event, David will serve up perfectly fried chicken strips and wings with buffalo or char sui sauce – each with rustic golden fries and home-made slaw. Other condiments will also be on the menu including a tangy white BBQ sauce, and a blue cheese dip.
Chick Chick Boom will take place from 3pm until 9pm.