April 3, 2023

Meet the Award-Winning Chef Cooking at Brookdale Dowlen Oaks

About Katie Neal

Content Manager

Katie Neal is a former Parade magazine editor who was lucky enough to interview two of her idols — Jimmy Carter and Taylor Swift —before pivoting to a career in marketing. Now she leads content strategy and engagement for Brookdale Senior Living.

brookdale dowlen oaks chef pharella houston

If you asked the average person what it takes to be a chef, they might simply say it takes good taste or knowing your way around a whisk. But for Brookdale Dowlen Oaks Chef Pharella Houston, it’s much more than that. “You have to have the passion for it,” says Houston, “And you also have to have the compassion for it. I think those two things go together perfectly when you’re preparing food.”

Houston is a recent honoree of the National Black Chef’s Association, accepting her award on the heels of 26 years of culinary excellence in the senior living industry. She credits her love for cooking and for helping seniors with a close relationship with her food-loving grandmother.

“At first it was just giving her utensils, and then it was, ‘I’m going to teach you how to do hot water cornbread,’” says Houston. “I grew up living with elderly people, so it was always a passion for me to be around them, to get with them and talk about the foods they liked and didn’t like.”

It’s exactly this passion for food, for people, and getting to know their culinary preferences that sets Houston apart. Upon nomination, Houston says she was lauded as a "prime example of what a chef should be" for her professionalism and for her commitment to resident satisfaction.

“I do take the time to go out and meet with [residents],” explains Houston. Even beyond meeting people when they first move in to the community, she says, “I always go to the dining room and talk to them and find out, ‘Hey, how was the meal?’”

But Houston’s conversations with residents aren’t solely limited to food preferences and dietary accommodations. They talk about life; they laugh.

“It’s an exciting group because they have so many jokes to tell you,” says Houston. “They tell their stories, they make me laugh…and my main focus is on pleasing them as far as their diets are concerned.”

And based upon her residents’ reactions, they certainly are pleased. Houston says her residents have a number of favorite dishes of hers that they request. Most commonly requested in the Beaumont, Texas, Brookdale community are comfort food favorites like fried chicken and fried fish, and one more seasonal specialty dish.

“The gumbo they ask for often – even in the summer,” laughs Houston. When asked for the secret to her gumbo, she had this advice to offer. “The secret to my gumbo is the roux—if you’ve got a good roux, you’ve got a good gumbo.”

But when it comes to pleasing her residents, the secret to their satisfaction isn’t just in the roux. It’s in the thoughtfulness and the love she infuses into each dish.

“They do have moments where they aren’t able to tell you what they like and don’t like,” explains Houston. “Sometimes the residents forget their allergies and I have to remind them… [so] it’s about sitting down and communicating with them and having that 1:1 relationship with them.”

In a sense, Houston isn’t just a chef—she’s a customer satisfaction specialist, a problem solver, a confidante and a friend.

“It’s about pleasing them and making them happy, because I do understand that they have given up a lifestyle they have had for many years. They’ve given up their home, they’ve given up their kitchen – so why not make that transition as happy as we can for them?”

Chef Houston’s work is as much of an art as it is a culinary science. When asked her favorite part about preparing food, the award-winning chef who aims to please couldn’t choose one – and instead named two: one, “Making the food beautiful—because everyone eats with their eyes,” and two, “When they taste it, come to the kitchen door, and ask for the chef.”