Off the Menu: Chef Nick Badovinus talks about his new Dallas restaurant, Montlake Cut

"We like keeping it simple, we like keeping it honest, we like keeping it straightforward." That's chef Nick Badovinus talking about his new seafood restaurant in Preston Center, Montlake Cut. I sat down with the chef – whom you might know from his Neighborhood Services restaurants or Off-Site Kitchen – on Monday to interview him, following my review of Montlake Cut.

The video also takes a peek inside the kitchen at Montlake Cut, where the cooks are making Alaska king crab fried rice – one of my favorite dishes there, and according to Badovinus, one of the best-sellers as well.

Hungry for more? In the unedited video (find it below), you can hear Badovinus talking about the business part of the restaurant business ("It's all fun and games until you have to P and L . . . "). He also riffs on the inspiration for this restaurant (his childhood and adolescence in Seattle), his "adult relationship" with Dallas, the "place-making" part of putting a restaurant together and lots more.

Now, isn't there something you'd like to ask the next chef? 

We'd very much like to make you a part of Off the Menu. After the next review is published, shoot me a note at lbrenner@dallasnews.com, send me a tweet @lesbren or find me at facebook.com/leslie.brenner, and tell me what you'd like me to ask the next chef on your behalf. I'll be happy to oblige.