Illustration by Jonny Russo
We recently talked to the leaders of the chef collective Chefbobbombs about their culinary upbringings, their upcoming ice cream shop, and what it means to work with your significant other.
How did you get into cooking?
Sonya: It started for me in Japan. I was about 9 or 10 when I moved there and fell in love with the cuisine and how it was made. After we moved back to the States, things got very rough for my family, and we were extremely poor. To help my mother, I began to cook using what we had and attempting to recreate takeout meals we couldn’t afford.
Damion: When I was 12 or 13, my mother jokingly said she was retiring from cooking. I was always interested in science and art. Being in the kitchen as a child was like Dexter[’s Laboratory]. I had access to fire, microwaves, chemicals, and all the ingredients to run my evil experiments. All I needed to do to be unsupervised was to make dinner. My “lab rats” (I mean family) have been my biggest supporters ever since.
Are you self-taught or did you attend cooking school?
Sonya: Both. To help me remember recipes, my mom would imitate Julia Child as we cooked. I’m also a proud Johnson & Wales alumni.
Damion: Both. I began cooking with my grandmothers and at home. As a teenager, I volunteered weekends and would run the pasta station at The Banker’s Club downtown just to be close to real chefs. A chef from Café Cin-Cin let me bus tables during the summer as a favor to my dad, and I jumped at every opportunity to work in the kitchen. Literally, the moment I learned I could pursue cooking in school instead of math or English or anything sitting at a desk, I knew exactly what I wanted for college and enrolled in culinary school at Johnson & Wales University.
How did the Chefbobbombs chef collective come to be?
Damion: We started back in the early 2000s with a group of friends. We would all meet on Sunday for dinner after church and each would cook a dish. From there, we were invited to cook at the church for events. A business began inadvertently after we graduated, as the events grew in number and nature. Once we graduated, I moved back to Cincinnati and Sonya stayed in Charleston, South Carolina, and we operated via phone as far as planning, then would take turns flying back and forth to help execute the events as a team.
What’s the overall goal of the initiative?
Sonya: To offer a safe space to create memories through the love of food and art. Freedom of expression is a huge part of what allows people to fully experience joy. We wanted to enhance and add value to our community and those around us by sharing those skill sets in a unique way.
Damion: Chefbobbombs (shef-ba-bomms) is the spirit of the new food culture, a culinary collaborative of eclectic chefs and fanatic foodies partying and plating. Normally, when you go to a club or party the focus is always on the bar—basically drinks and alcohol. We’re a group that remixes that energy while adding exciting food, art, and social experiences. We “chef” it up and it ends up being “the bomb” (pun intended).
Where did the name come from?
Damion: It’s a play on the band name from one of our favorite films, Scott Pilgrim vs the World.
When does LICK (Lynch’s Ice Cream Kitchen) officially open?
Damion: The short and most truthful answer is we are opening the moment that our “cream” meets the dream! The impact of the pandemic, job loss, outrageous increases to materials and construction costs keep pushing opening back. Unfortunately, despite requests, LICK has not received any financial support, assistance, or investment from any groups or the massive influx of private and public funds invested into the College Hill Business District. LICK is literally a mom and pop. We are proud to have come this far and have nearly completed a full renovation of a storefront in a central historic building in College Hill into a full-service ice cream shop and fruit juicery. We’ve done it through investing our personal savings, grinding each paycheck, side jobs, working doggedly, budgeting, scraping, and are scrounging to make the dream come true as soon as we can!
Why focus on ice cream?
Sonya: It’s that “something sweet” that everyone needs as a part of their day that brings comfort and joy. Additionally, it’s a dish that brings everyone together, no matter the culture. Personally, some of my fondest memories involve ice cream. Though we had very little, my mother would save whatever she could to treat us to a scoop.
Things came full circle (in a sense) as I was pregnant with our son during the initial planning stages of LICK. Morning sickness was kicking my butt and ice cream was the only thing that I could stomach. Being reminded of something that brought me joy and comfort when I needed it most was a feeling I wanted to share.
Damion: Ice cream was one of the first foods we created simply to enjoy the experience of eating it. Artists sometimes use different media, especially culinary artists. When Sonya came up with the name “ice cream kitchen” to me it inspired a theme of a painter at a chef’s table restaurant where the stainless steel was the canvas.
I want to involve our guests in the experience of the audience in creating the art. For quality desserts, you have to hand process, burn, pound, crush, and cure fresh and obscure flavors. I have a thirst for the art that comes in refining those to create unique and gourmet curated offerings to fit in small fleeting experiences like ice creams, chocolates, and desserts.
I attended your cosplay and karaoke ice cream social back in the summer. Why did you want to incorporate costuming into an event?
Damion: I’m a baby from the ’80s and I love everything that has to do with Marvel, anime, sketch comics, and basically the best era of superheroes. My wife, however, has a doctorate in horror and lives for villains. The shop needed our authentic backstory so I started making a little evil anime comic book about how LICK began where her villains would haunt my heroes. To bring it to life, I’ve been secretly bribing my friends, volunteers, and family with ice cream to play life-like versions of these characters. We invite our characters and anyone who loves dressing up and karaoke to party with us.
Sonya: I attended my first HorrorHound convention 2014 and fell in love. I’d finally found my people. From then on, I began cosplaying as a hobby. I hadn’t realized that Damion was as into it as he was, and I was delightfully surprised. From there we just took it and ran with it.
Who comes up with your ice cream flavors/combinations?
Sonya: I’d say, we both do.
Damion: We both do.
What’s it like working with your significant other?
Sonya: Damion is a natural teacher, and his brain is always in creative mode. He is also a teacher by nature of all the information he studies and gathers. Having that in a partner is very inspiring because I pick up on it and it keeps me on my toes. At times, it can be difficult to turn the business switch off at home. It takes a lot of planning, scheduling, compromise, and mutual effort to keep us on one accord. I love that we remain kids at heart and it’s fun knowing that you can essentially do whatever you want and you have someone that is 10 toes down ready to take the leap with you.
Damion: I remember once at work scooping Sonya off the floor into my arms, carrying the angel across the room, and sliding her fully clothed into a full sink of water. Our first job together as co-managers she hit me point blank in the face with a packet of sour cream at like 90 mph. She dumped my basketball shorts in the toilet before a game. I may have frozen her car keys in a bucket of ice one shift, so she was stuck at work. It’s like that.
With both of you being chefs, do you ever get competitive when it comes to cooking?
Sonya: At times, yes. It’s such fun energy to have in the ice cream shop because we use that competitive energy to create new ideas and then bounce them off each other.
Damion: I like standards and techniques, but I really only compete with trying to bend strange ingredients into crazy dishes. I was never able to really conflate art with competition. I feel like I become less intuitive, more stressed, more robotic, and it stymies some creativity and expression.
What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?
Sonya: Authentic Japanese yakisoba and medium rare Wagyu with grilled mango pieces and blue cheese crumbles, chargrilled oysters and foie gras. My mother’s macaroni and cheese, my father-in-law’s fried fish. My grandma Lillie’s pound cake. Honorable mention goes to my sister-in-law, who also makes a mean macaroni and cheese. Whew, sorry, that was a lot. I’m passionate about my food, y’all!
Damion: When I was a kid, my dad and I would walk to Goodies BBQ on Hamilton Avenue, buy a bucket of grilled wings with the spicy BBQ sauce and white bread. He’d put a pop, napkins, and the wings in my little duffel bag and we would sneak them into the Hollywood theater across the street and watch movies. Easily some of the best chargrilled wings, steaming and fall off the bone in the bucket with great hot BBQ sauce.
What do you think makes someone a “foodie”?
Sonya: To me, a foodie is someone who doesn’t shy away from the different experiences that food can bring. It represents someone who feels a desire to learn more and who becomes passionate about its origins and how it continues to bring us together.
Damion: If you get some joy out of eating above just sustenance, you are a foodie.
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