Q+A: Douglass Williams, Chef/Owner, MIDA
Photos by Michael Piazza
Chef Douglass Williams, chef and owner of MIDA, a classic Italian restaurant in Boston’s South End neighborhood, was honored this year as one of Food & Wine’s 10 Best New Chefs in America and as a James Beard Semifinalist for Best Chef Northeast. Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Chef Williams attended Atlantic Cape Culinary School, graduating in 2004. He is the founder of Culinary Breakdown, an in-home cooking class company, and credits his mother’s Lebanese-Syrian background for his love of cooking. When the husband and father of twin boys isn’t rolling pasta dough, he pours himself into his role as an ambassador for the Steppingstone Foundation, which serves students from underserved communities to gain access to, navigate and graduate from college, and uses his career in food to heal himself from Crohn’s disease.
EDIBLE BOSTON: How are you? How’s the family?
DOUGLASS WILLIAMS: Everything is good. The babies are 2½ now. They’re huge people. A lot of things have changed, obviously, due to the [Food & Wine] recognition but also the trajectory of where we’re going with the business. I am very excited.
EB: Before we talk about the future, how did you get started in food?
DW: Food has always been the forefront. It came from multiple directions, both from my mother—cooking in the home, me absorbing that—but also as a form of pleasure. With time, I became more confident as a cook. At 14, I signed-up for a home ec class. It sounded like the most fun, and that’s where all the girls were. I just thought, “How are more people not taking this class? What better class could there be?” I took it for three years in high school.
At age 16 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The craziest thing I could have done at that point, with my condition, was to become someone who had to ingest food for a living. But I saved myself through food. I couldn’t consume fried foods or gluten—all those little comforts were off limits. [Crohn’s] forces you into a corner, and thankfully that corner was to cook better foods. That’s how it essentially began, before I got into culinary school and dived into the professional world. And it came down to happiness. I realized what I cooked made people extremely happy. That built my confidence and without that I don’t think I would have been in the mental position to move forward with such a daunting decision to become a chef.
EB: How did your Crohn’s diagnosis impact your relationship with food?
DW: This was before Whole Foods was popular—2001. The gluten-free movement was in its infancy. I explored the vegetable department at the grocery store. I would see the different types of mushrooms, squash or something my mom had cooked one time, and I would now have to prepare it. I explored the fish department. I would try the bass. That led me to conversations and spending more time in the grocery store, which was essentially my first kitchen. That allowed me to experiment.
It opened the entire world to me. I was in this kind of vacuum; almost every teenager is. After my [Crohn’s] surgery, I was bone thin. I had to gain that weight back. I couldn’t eat what I wanted to eat. I couldn’t eat fried things, couldn’t eat breaded things, couldn’t eat anything with soy, nothing fermented, nothing from wheat, no flours or sugars. We had to make our own ketchup. Every comfort food was out the window. But I realized most of the world didn’t eat like that. Once I realized that, it was time to travel, I guess [laughs]. That honestly made me really want to get out there and experience new ingredients and spices. There was so much out there to learn.
EB: Tell me about your travels and how transformative that was for you?
DW: The first place I ever went out of the country was a culinary trip to Vienna. I still have that in my psyche; I am very into classical music. It does something for my soul. If the music is good, the food is usually good. You look at Nashville or New Orleans; it’s a partnership, in a way. That was the first time I was ever in a Michelin kitchen; that bustle, energy and precision of a world-class city was unbelievable to me. It made me realize anything was possible, and I needed to see more of Europe and the rest of the world, like, immediately. That was my wakeup call.
EB: How did you settle on Boston?
DW: From Vienna, I knew I needed to get back to the States and get in a real kitchen. I started to make plans to move [out of Atlantic City]. Boston seemed like a good place to prepare myself for the big time. It had a great food scene and I wanted to be a part of that. Moving to Boston [in 2006 at age 21] was the best thing for me because it helped me realize what else was possible.
Boston is bustling, and there are still a lot of untapped places, like Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. All of those places are underserved. There are a lot of empty buildings and businesses. So I kept that in mind as I traveled the world—New York, Thailand, Paris, Nantucket. And when I ended up coming back, my thoughts were correct. There still hadn’t been anyone to populate that side of Mass Ave—the side that I’m on now. It seemed like it was a weird disconnect. There should be some cohesion here. I thought, “How about I do something down there one day?” So when I returned from Paris I reached out to Christoper Myers, a big mentor of mine. He introduced me to my business partner Brian Lesser. Brian gave me some sage advice on how to run a business and not be chained to the stove. I had goals outside of the kitchen, like becoming a father.
EB: How did you feel about being recognized by Food & Wine and your win of Best New Chef this year?
DW: Holy shit! I don’t think you can say that [laughs]. I saw my first issue of Food & Wine magazine at 15. My mom had a subscription. Food & Wine taught me that if you could make it to the cover of a magazine you can do anything. Especially with a weird-looking chef’s jacket. I thought they were superheroes, in my mind—the best in the world. Thomas Keller. Nancy Silverton. Every person that is literally a god in my fi eld has been on that cover. I don’t think I’ve still digested it. Now [with this honor] I can really help bring life to this neighborhood. Now I can really open up where I want to. Now I can really grant to a certain charity. I think that’s what Food & Wine does. It gives people a platform, allows books to happen, all sorts of things that were otherwise unattainable, in my opinion. To do the things I have always wanted to do, to really fulfi ll my dreams and hopefully help a lot of people at the same time.
EB: Where did the concept for MIDA come from?
DW: MIDA is a cozy, 70-seat, shotgun-style Italian restaurant that’s been here for three-and-a-half years now. “MIDA” is two words in Italian which together mean “he or she gives,” and we translated that directly to “generosity”— that was the pillar I wanted to put all our values upon. That was what my mom represented and what I refl ected. MIDA is a lot of things to a lot of people. We wanted to make a place that felt good to people who don’t dine out very often but also for those who dine out almost as a profession. We want to be world-class in a neighborhood setting, both in food and in hospitality. You don’t fi nd that world-class ambition in a non-pretentious restaurant, especially not without tablecloths. The only way to do that is to be in the neighborhood. We also lend a bridge to the other side of the street. Mass Ave isn’t a barrier. I want there to be a level of familiarity and comfort and a sense of love. You can meet anybody at this restaurant and that’s what I always wanted. It’s a social restaurant. When you’re inside you have a sense you could be in London or Paris or New York. That’s what MIDA is.
EB: What’s your favorite thing on the MIDA menu?
DW: Do I have to give you just one? Because I would say it’s the whole menu! The Bucatini Carbonara—we have that as a running special right now. I think we’ll always have a carbonara on the menu. Bucatini Carbonara is a magical beast: It’s silky, it’s unctuous, it’s bright, it’s rich, it’s dynamic. It has all the adjectives of a perfect pasta. It picks up so much sauce, and when you eat it, you can’t help but be giddy and giggle a little bit; it just does something to you. We pair it with rock shrimp; the shrimp is a little sweet. It’s just such a balanced dish that can be made heavier for fall or winter and you can lighten it up with capers or summer squash for the summertime. The focaccia is lights out—we make that in-house everyday. It’s baked with garlic butter and a little chili flake, with a ton of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and some chives on top. And it’s just outstanding. Every time I re-taste it, the texture, the crunchiness, the sponginess, with more crunchiness at the end. It’s really good.
EB: How have you been able to pivot during the COVID-19? How has MIDA been affected?
DW: Solidarity was a big thing. Immediately Seth [Gerber], my business partner at MIDA, came up with an idea to do a “Pasta Drive” in April. We made pasta by the pound for pickup. We raised funds for our employees who didn’t have the luxury to collect unemployment. It was a stepping-stone situation and we made progress as best as we could. Then we opened for takeout with certain precautions put in place. It was a stressful time as there were many updates—changes by the hour. We needed to take our time and do it right. But we also needed to reopen to keep the brand momentum. We had to support our most vulnerable employees. We also participated in Off Their Plate, which was an initiative to feed all the frontline workers. We did 5,000 meals a week. It was remarkable and very surreal. Everyone wore a mask. It was tangible help. That’s the best kind of help and that drove us to do more. We opened for outdoor dining and it was well-received—the neighborhood loved it—and summer couldn’t have come at a better time. It gave us a perspective on life but also how grateful we are and we get to operate at full-capacity, employee-wise.
EB: Any upcoming projects we can look out for?
DW: We have a restaurant opening in Newton that’s going to be very similar to MIDA, but bigger, and it will allow us to enjoy more of our guests. It will have a larger bar and a really fun atmosphere. The kitchen and production room will be fully open. You’ll see how our gelato and pasta are made. I’m excited about that. That’s going to be in April 2021, under construction now. Another project is Apizza, New Haven-style pizza, that will open in North Station at some point in the future. We’re really excited about that.
This interview was edited for length and clarity; it appeared in the Fall/Holiday 2020 issue.
