One Murfreesboro Chef Is Teaching Online Cooking Classes During His Restaurant’s Voluntary Closure

Many restaurant owners and chefs are having to quickly pivot their businesses to try and find out what to do with new found excess product, time, and obvious need for a profit during tumultuous times. Chef Alex Belew, from one of Murfreesboro’s best restaurants, Dallas & Jane, is doing exactly that with his new ‘cooking with corona’ series. The chef took to Dallas & Jane’s Instagram to announce that he’ll start doing (daily, if possible) cooking classes online — where he’ll teach kids home from school and parents alike how to hone those now, much-needed, at-home cooking skills.

Social distance-ers and quarantined folks can join Belew today (Wednesday, March 18) at 10:30 a.m. via Facebook live from his Dallas & Jane page and learn to make the chef’s take on crispy fried chicken and the restaurant’s “coal miner” cocktail. Donations can be made to the restaurant via Venmo at @alexbelew.

Chef Belew is not a stranger to the struggles of restaurant ownership. Just weeks ago, he took to his own personal Facebook account announcing that if business didn’t turn around quickly, he would be forced to close his strip mall hidden gem, Dallas & Jane. But the community showed up, and just over a week ago, he announced that Dallas & Jane was going to be okay. Then the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to make the decision to close, albeit temporarily.

Belew is showing his passion for the craft by continuing to cook on a daily basis, albeit through a video screen for people to mimic at home. The chef says he’d love to collaborate with other local chefs to demo some of their own signature dishes.

Stay tuned, and email nashville@eater.com if you know of other interesting happenings around town, and ways to donate in support of local restaurant employees affected by these closures.

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