“Me want food!” Even if you don’t recognize that 30 Rock reference, you probably still feel it. It is just that time of year. Everyone is cooking and eating like they’re getting paid for it. And some folks actually are! Although you may not recognize his name right away, Evansville native Scot Mangold has probably cooked your dinner, cut your hair, or assaulted your eardrums at some point. For nine years he trimmed, colored, and styled locks at local cutteries like Glemby’s, Roger’s, and Tangles, while moonlighting in rock bands like Dogglethuraxxe and the Outhouse Spiders. Only after skipping town, and when rock stardom seemed unlikely to pan out, did he begin to learn about food at Johnson and Wales University in South Carolina. After an internship in Arizona, and a job in Florida with famed Atlanta chef, Paul Albrecht (“This is America brudda, we put salt and pepper on everything.”), his mad skills landed him the Executive Chef position at three separate country clubs in Denver. But as many of us know all too well, Evansville is a jealous mistress and managed to lure Mangold back. After taking a stab at running his own private chef business here, he moved on to the Executive chef position at Firefly Southern Grill where owners Joshua Armstrong and Scott Wylie memorably noted, “The most important ingredient is the one you leave out.”. Never one to rest on his laurels, he was very recently hired on as Sous Chef for SMG, the company that manages Robert’s Stadium, The Centre, Victory Theater, and Mesker Ampitheater. Hope you sampled his dishes while you had the chance; because now he’s cooking for the likes of the Harlem Globetrotters and the Doodlebops! He put down his cleaver just long enough to sit in the Hot Seat.

 

#1 What is the most comforting comfort food?

Hot dogs, Kraft mac-n-cheese, and Kool Aid.

 

#2 Have you had any great celebrity encounters?

I once catered a small reception for Mikhail Gorbachev.

 

#3 What would your deserted island picks be for a CD, DVD, and a book?

 CD - I'm taking two; I'm obsessed with Brett Eugene Ralph's Kentucky Chrome Revue, so that and Velvet Underground’s Another View

DVD - Delicatessen

Book - Laughter in the Dark or something on how to survive on a deserted island

 

#4 Can you name your most embarrassing obsession?

Used to be Smallville.

 

#5 What is your dream car?

1959 Cadillac Hearse.

 

#6 Are you a cat person or a dog person?

Cat.

 

#7 What is your favorite website?

 cyberrentals.com and ultimate-guitar.com (for the tabs)

 

#8 Do you have any tattoos or other interesting distinguishing characteristics, like webbed toes?

13 tattoos. It would be cool to have webbed toes and fingers then I could swim like the man from Atlantis.

 

#9 What is your favorite quote and who said it?

"Open your eyes and move stuff around." -my mom.

 

#10 Who will play you in the movie version of your life?

Bear Grylls. (Of Man vs. Wild fame.)

 

#11 What was the first concert you ever attended?

Van Halen 1984.

 

#12 Random trivia question:  What is the only food that does not spoil? (No fair Googling!)

Honey - Beauty school mind here!! (Fangirl says, Correct!!)

 

#13 What’s your poison?

Normally rum and sprite, but a few weeks ago I remembered how much Tuaca likes me.

 

#14 Name your favorite heroes: one fake, one real.

Fake – Superman.

Real - seems like a lot of pressure to put on one person.

 

#15 What was your best Halloween costume ever?

I went as a naked lady and got 2nd place to some dude that looked like Norm from Cheers.

 

#16 What do you think is the best invention ever?

Musical instruments.

 

#17 Free association time! What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the word "trounce"?

Pounce.

 

#18 Have you ever been arrested?

Thankfully and surprisingly, no.

 

#19 If you had a chance to ask anyone, alive or dead, just one question, what would you do?

I would ask Steve Sesnik "Why did you let the Velvet Underground continue after Lou left?" Maureen Tucker always looks embarrassed in those pictures.

 

#20 What will you be remembered for?

That I was a pretty fair person.