Celestia Mobley

Appears in

Toques in Black: The Extraordinary Diversity of Black Chefs

Published 2019

About

I began cooking at the tender age of eight, learning from my maternal grandmother. I watched her prepare family dinners with love every Sunday and on holidays. In 1998, upon leaving a 10-year career in banking that began immediately after high school, I opened Lojope’s Seafood Restaurant, specializing in a Southern favorite: garlic crabs and shrimp.

When Pastor Vaughn McLaughlin expressed a desire to expand the church’s food ministry, he spoke to me about cooking at the new Potter’s House Café. I sold the seafood restaurant and became head cook at the café. While working there, I enrolled in FSCJ’s Culinary School. In addition to my studies, I took advantage of an opportunity to travel to Europe on a culinary tour. Upon my graduation with a degree in Culinary Management in 2002, I left the café for a brief internship at the River Club in downtown Jacksonville. I later returned to the café as restaurant manager.

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Blue Crab and Shrimp Country Slow Boil

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