Parker County Today PCT MAY 2019 | Page 27

C hef Paxton Lanning is not new to the food scene in Parker County. This self-taught chef has been helping out his family since he was a teen in his mother’s and step- father’s kitchen at Whistle Hill. They started him in his career path, and he is forever thankful to them for it.  •Small Animal •Large Animal •Boarding •Grooming Ryan E. Cate, DVM 819 Santa Fe Drive | Weatherford, TX 76086 (817) 594-0216 | Metro: (817) 596-8808 Mon-Fri: 8am–5:30pm | Sat: 8am–12pm • Emergency calls after hours • 1421 FM 1189 Ste. 4 | Brock, TX 76087 (817) 599-8085 Mon-Thur: 7:30am–6pm | Fri: 7:30am–5pm “I was raised in this environment and they gave me a commitment and love for something that I did not know that I already had, that I didn’t even know was there,” Lanning explained. “When I was a kid, I kind of took it for granted. For me it was just another normal day. But looking back on it, a lot of kids don’t get to walk around or learn how to cook at 13. They’re very supportive and give me advice and are always there to help if I need it. If I’m doing some- thing wrong, they’ll tell me where I’m messing up. No one is going to care as much as they do.”  When he looks back on his life and thinks about the future, he said that one book that changed his perspective early on was The Nasty Bits by the late Anthony Bourdain. The book is a collection of essays and stories centered around food and the restaurant business, something that Lanning knows all too well.  “It talks about life as a dishwasher and moving all the way to the top. It is relative to different steps and cycles along my career. He says it how it is. I got to meet him one time and it put Now Serving Two Locations 25