NTF: How did you get started in the restaurant business? Please talk about your schooling and any travel you've done to learn more about various cuisines.
Oona: My involvement in the restaurant business was almost predestined because my dad was a classically trained chef so I grew up with great cooking. I was born in England and we moved to Australia when I was a baby. There I was exposed to a variety of cuisines brought to the country by the great number of immigrants. When I was a teenager, we moved back to England and my father opened his first restaurant. It was a family business so I was expected to go into it. I ended up in the kitchen working with him. Then I did a two-year apprenticeship in another one of his restaurants and started my career from there. In England, you learn the basics in your apprenticeship and then you start at the bottom. You go out and get a job dishwashing and work your way up job by job. It took about 7-8 years to work my way through. I opened my first restaurant when I was nearly 20 and it has been a wonderful journey to here.
NTF: What are some of the characteristics that differentiate turkey from other proteins, such as % of food cost, versatility, preparation tips, etc.?
Oona: Turkey is a great value for the money and it's quite versatile. From dark meat to white meat, from smoked to cured to pastrami, there is a whole world of flavors available with turkey. It also lends itself easily to different treatments. I enjoy working with its robust flavor. It can take on various cuisines and still stand on its own. It won't overpower or be overpowered by other ingredients. It goes well with everything from Cajun to Italian. I like to treat the different parts of turkey individually. When I cook legs or thighs, I don't use the same technique as when I cook breasts. For example, if I make a hearty stew or chowder I use the dark meat. If I prepare a sauté or scaloppini, I choose white meat. For stocks, I use smoked bones for the flavor. There's not much of the turkey I don't use.
NTF: Please describe your restaurant (upscale white tablecloth, casual dining, neighborhood spot, etc.). How does turkey fit into the scheme of your operation?
Oona: We're a restaurant, bar and entertainment center. You can come here, have a whole bunch of fun and eat really great food. We have different areas in Dave & Buster's with different ambiances, from our white tablecloth dining rooms to our midway to our grand bar. So depending on how you feel, you have different dining areas to choose. We use turkey in several different ways on our menu from our holiday roasts to our carved turkey breast sandwiches to our smoked turkey chowder. People enjoy turkey and we've found it works well with the type of cuisine we serve. As we offer more turkey on the menu we certainly don't have a problem selling it. It's very popular with the guests.
NTF: How do you currently menu turkey at your restaurant?
Oona: We serve our Smoked Turkey Chowder with Southwest Vegetables, which uses drumsticks and thighs. We offer the California Wrapper, a popular wrap sandwich filled with turkey, ham, avocado, lettuce and tomato. We have a Classic Club Sandwich, which is a great sandwich buy. We also do our holiday menus where we feature carved turkey breast.
NTF: What beverage(s) would you pair with your Smoked Turkey Chowder with Southwest Vegetables? What beverages do you suggest pairing with other turkey dishes you menu? (include wines, beer, and nonalcoholic)
Oona: I would suggest a Black Opal Shiraz, which is an Australian red wine. It's a lovely medium bodied, fruity type of wine with some slight oak. It really goes well with the robust flavor of that chowder. I'd also stretch out on a limb and say hard cider would go very well with it. A beer would have to be a brown or darker ale like a bock. It actually goes very well with whatever you care to drink, even water.
NTF: Have you heard from your patrons about their favorite turkey dish at the restaurant?
Oona: We get a lot of feedback and a lot of requests from across the country for the Smoked Turkey Chowder with Southwest Vegetables. Customers will eat here more often when it comes up in our soup rotation.
NTF: What's YOUR favorite way to eat turkey?
Oona: I really enjoy the fabulous braised squire tom's leg of turkey featured at our annual Texas Renaissance fair just outside of Dallas.

Also when we were growing up we would have our holiday roast turkey with two stuffings. My father would make a lovely Chestnut stuffing for the neck end and forcemeat stuffing with herbs for the other end. It was delicious.

NTF: How do you use the web as a tool in your work?
Oona: More and more we're starting to use the web. It's great to find sites that cater to professional chefs with recipes that can be used for volume foodservice.

I also use the Internet to check up on any recalls and it's becoming a good source of finding products as well.

NTF: Do you use the NTF web site as a resource? If so, how do you use it in your operation? Please describe other benefits of visiting www.eatturkey.com.
Oona: Eatturkey.com has some wonderful recipes. It's definitely a site I'll be going to more often. There was a wonderful osso buco, which is a technique I had never thought to apply to a turkey leg. And the bacon wrapped turkey tenderloins is a very nice recipe.