A Chat with Chef Monica Pope

[FoodMan]

We are pleased to have Chef Monica Pope, from T'afia restaurant in Houston, as our guest for the week of June 13th through the 17th.

The chat officially starts on June 13th, but you can go ahead and start posting your questions for Chef Pope on this thread today

Monica Pope is chef and owner of T'afia restaurant in Midtown Houston. In addition to cooking at T’afia, Monica hosts the weekly midtown farmer’s market in the restaurant and its parking lot every Saturday.

Bio

Monica began her career at the age of 18 for prestigious Cafe Annie in Houston. She later left Houston for Europe where she spent the next three years working in restaurants in Greece and London. In 1990, she earned her Chef's title from Prue Leith's School of Food & Wine.

She returned to the United States, working first in several innovative San Francisco restaurants (Bix, Edie) then coming back to Houston to work in Marion Tindall's Bistro Cuisine and Tony Vallone's La Griglia. In 1992, Monica opened The Quilted Toque where she fully demonstrated the infusion of international foods. In 1994 she moved to open Boulevard Bistrot. In 1996, Monica was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Top 10 Best New Chefs.

After 10 years at her Museum District restaurant Boulevard Bistrot, Monica's lease was about to expire; she took this opportunity to start over from scratch--to break out of the bistro box and create a new concept in an up-and-coming part of Houston, South Midtown. Inspired by the location--an industrial red-brick building on 10,000 square feet of land--she has again envisioned and made real a restaurant with simple, good food using as many local and regional ingredients as possible.

Called the "Alice Waters of the Third Coast", Monica is a leader in the garden-to-table movement among American chefs and is an original charter member of Chefs Collaborative 2000, an organization of over 1000 chefs across the country whose work addresses the concerns and philosophy of clean food sources, seasonal food preparation and healthy food choices. She is a champion of sustainability in local agriculture, product purchasing and restaurant recycling of glass, plastic, aluminum and steel as well as kitchen waste through composting.

Monica is one of the founders of the Midtown Farmers Market – a weekly market that brings the community together on the cornerstone of food with offerings from local farmers, craftspeople, and chefs making artisanal, handcrafted breads, chocolates, pastries and prepared foods.

Honors, Features and Reviews

Pope's new restaurant is flat-out brilliant, a review by Robb Walsh, Houston Press, March 11, 2004

Well worth the journey, a review by Alison Cook, Houston Chronicle

Top 40 Best New American Restaurants, Travel & Leisure Magazine , December 2004

Best New Restaurant, Best Of Houston 2004, The Houston Press, Sept 2004

Right on the Market, Monica Pope gives Midtown some European flair, By Brian McManus, Houston Press, June 17, 2004

Bye-Bye, Bistrot?, By Marin Gustin, Houston Press March 06, 2003

Top 10 Best New Chefs in the United States, Chef Monica Pope, Food & Wine Magazine, 1996

More on Monica Pope in the eG Forums

Mid Town Farmers Market Tour

T'afia Restaurant Thread.

Mid Town Farmer’s Market Thread.

Monica Pope recipes in RecipeGullet

Organic Herb Salad

Fennel and Chestnut Soup with Apple Cider and Fennel Pollen

[FoodMan]

First, thank you for taking the time to join us for this chat.

Monica, I am always fascinated by the variety of ingredients and cooking techniques you demonstrate at T'afia, anywhere from Mediteranean to French and Asian. So, if you can sum up the food you serve at T'afia how would you describe it? And along those lines, is there any ingredient or technique that you do not like working with or prefer not to?

Elie

[fifi]

Thank you for joining us, Monica. I know that you have done a lot of research into the markets. I am baffled by the lack of markets in the Houston area, as compared to what I have seen in Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. Is there some basic reason that we can't get this going?

[Chris Amirault]

Glad to have you with us, Chef Monica!

Can you talk to us a bit about why it was that you decided to start anew with T'afia? As you are well aware, there are many in your profession who, when in possession of a good thing, maintain, franchise, and otherwise expand it. Tell us, if you would, a bit about why you chose to take a new and ultimately (and eminently!) successful tack in a business that so consistently punishes risk.

[Jack Tyler]

Monica:

Certainly, I understand the wonders and benefits of seasonal, locally-grown produce.... and, first of all, I love t'afia, as much as I have your other restaurants. However, my real interest is in your locally produced (?) seasonal wines that you serve at t'afia. How and where are they produced? By whom? How long does it take for production? In case you don't have much time to dine at other restaurants, which I assume is the case, out of 12,000, or so, restaurants in the Greater Houston area, possibly one of them does that.. and it belongs to you

Thanks.

Jack Tyler

www.HoustonRestaurantBusiness.com

[Monica Pope]

Thanks so much for loving t'afia and our ratafias, the seasonal fortified wines that we make at the restaurant (and for which the restaurant is named). Restaurants in other countries make fortified wines that are infused with fruits or vegetables (it is more common in France) but it is not that popular here in the US (although there are restaurants that do it, like Chez Panisse). We made a few at Boulevard Bistrot and, as we were developing the concept for t'afia, it all just clicked. I was reading Michel Bras' The Notebooks of Michel Bras – a beautiful little book on desserts, mostly, and he had a number of ratafia recipes that inspired us not only to make them at the new place but to name the restaurant after them. (by the way, t'afia -- the shortened version of the word ratafia – also is a toast that means "to your health" and "the deal is done;" so while you are drinking your ratafia, you can toast with it, too!)

For the most part, my partner Andrea (General Manager and "wine guy" at t'afia) comes up with the ratafias but she always gets input from me and our staff. It's been 1 1/2 years and I don't think we've made the same ratafia twice!

So, we treat our cocktails (and wine program) like food - we care about the ingredients we use, how we craft them, how we garnish them -- so that you are having a unique drinking experience. We make a white wine ratafia and a red wine ratafia (sometimes a rose ratafia) that starts with a good, crisp, dry wine, herbs from our garden or fruit or vegetables bought from the local growers at the farmers market, Wholesome Sweeteners organic sugar (from SUgarland), organic vanilla beans and Tito's Vodka (made in Austin). THe ratafias are put up in our walk-in and allowed to steep for 3-4 weeks. The flavors are amazing. Sometimes, we simply serve them over ice or with champagne because you don't have to do much to them. But sometimes we make cocktails that are a little more complex. Some examples of ratafias we've made are: rosemary & muscadine grapes; tomatoes & basil; fig & lavender; peaches; lemon verbena, lemon balm & lemon basil with satsuma oranges; cucumber & mint; celery & walnut.

Here's a recipe for you so you can make them at home, too.

RATAFIA RECIPE

1 cup organic seasonal fruit or vegetable or herb (if

an herb, crush a little; if fruit or vegetable, cut

open)

¼ cup organic sugar

¼ organic whole vanilla bean (cut open)

¼ cup Tito’s vodka (made in Austin!) or any

clean-tasting vodka

1 bottle Crisp white wine or dry red wine

Mix together to dissolve sugar. Put in refrigerator for 3-4 weeks (stir well every week). Strain and discard solids. This will yield about 4 cups of ratafia after straining. These ratafias can take 4 weeks to make but there is a way to make them go a little faster. Instead of cutting the fruit or vegetable in half and leaving it in the mixture, you can juice the fruit or vegetable and add the juice to the mixture, as well as the remaining citrus pulp/rinds.

thanks so much!!!

[zeitoun]

Hi Chef, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.

Your Bio briefly mentions that you spent some time in Greece prior to opening your first restaurant. I’m curious to know more about your time there, where you worked and how this sojourn influenced your style of cooking. I find it quite interesting that you chose Greece given that many young cooks tend to prefer countries such as France, Spain or Italy to go stage abroad.

[Pan]

I have a similar question. I wonder whether you'd like to compare the clienteles you came into contact with in the various cities where you have worked, what their expectations were and anything else you'd like to comment on in terms of the atmosphere, working conditions, etc., etc. Also, if you weren't working in Houston today, what other city would you most like to work in and why?

[Jack Tyler]

I know Tito very well ... it is gratifying that you also use "locally grown vodka".

Jack Tyler

[Monica Pope]

in response to elie,

thank you for taking some time to chat. i appreciate your fascination with our ingredients and our techniques demonstrated at t'afia. My main goal in returning to Houston after my "travels" for years was to be able to express all these styles i had been introduced to by all the countries and the cuisines i had been exposed to. Back then, some 15 years ago, people only could grasp one focused cuisine, if that, and they could not comprehend a "patchwork" or a "quilt" of cuisines on one menu. Ingredients equal flavors and that's all i care about really. Ingredients are not for ingredients' sake, but for flavors' sake. Local ingredients put flavor first. Distance, shippability, monocropping doesn't have to be in the equation, shouldn't be in the equation. What's in the equation is the best varietal that can grow in the place and be brought to the consumer and appreciated is the shortest distance between two points and makes the most sense. Our cuisine at t'afia is best described as "passionately local"; passionately place-driven. You should taste terroir; you can eat where your food LIVES! Where you food is ALIVE! I don't particularly appreciate truffles no matter the season--it somehow seems driven by supply and price rather than experience. I'm interested in surprising people by the simple or even mundane; i shun high technique mainly because i'm not a high tech person. if it takes a machine, i'm not that interested. egullet is as high tech as i've ever been probably. if it takes days to prep, i lose some interest along the way. this week, people have been raving about the squash carpaccio with dandelion greens and as much as I kept thinking we could do more, people are blown away by the thin slice of the baby squash and the combination of the bitter dandelions chiffonaded and salt and pepper. It is surprising and satisfying. It is enough.

[Monica Pope]

in response to fifi,

thanks for starting the conversation, especially about the "market situation" as it will forever be known. yes i believe the reason is the crux of all of the bafflement about our city. our city is 50' below sea level, sub tropical weather, mostly concrete existence, air conditioned constantly, strip malls and skyscrapers and driven by oil & gas business. our claim to fame is we are the "chemical coast" with not much redeeming value other than its people, its spirit and its passion for art and culture. But it's the third largest city in this country and it's treated like it's inconsequential. We have always resisted joining the union if you know what i mean, but we are a part of this country and the country is going the way of farmers' markets, small agricultural communities, small artisans and in some way Houstonians are supporting the three certified markets that exist. I am encouraged by the viablility of these three markets so far, but everybody's question is "will they grow". Houston is a city about growth. Texas is a state about size--the largest liquor store in the world, the Texas-size IKEA, etc. Can we (the markets) stay small scale and high quality? Or will Houstonians demand it become as overwhelmingly and to be honest embarassingly abundant as the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Remember, it has gotten going and Mayor White did push the law through to get us certified to actually do it legally (that took 2 years) and he does appreciate the tremendous amount of value to the community as a whole and there will be incremental progress. Just wait and in the meantime, SUPPORT!

[docsconz]

Chef, is there a difference between a sangria and a ratafia or is sangria simply a subset of ratafie?

[Monica Pope]

in response to chris,

thank you for getting to the meat of the real issue, which is how does one manage business and creativity. i just read a short article about U2's manager and how they met when they were teenagers and how no matter how democratic they tried to be, Bono always ended up in the front seat and how they decided early on that it wasn't worth being creative if they didn't manage themselves with good business sense. By luck, they find themselves with the same manager after 25 years. Not all of us have that luck or that acumen. I have been punished by risk and what i've realized of late is that i've been punished by my insistence on not compromising on levels that i can't compromise myself. We GIVE food away and we still CAN'T GIVE FOOD AWAY! Fear factor, the unusual, the unfamiliar, the conditioned person. The space we chose, the name we chose, the food we chose etc. all adds up to risk taken and success sweeter. But it isn't easy easy. In hindsight, i could see franchising Boulevard Bistrot, easily (even without total compromise) except in the 10 years i had the Bistrot, all sorts of bistros opened, even a Bistro Hair Salon; it would be money-driven and as much as i obsess about money and don't let money dictate how or why i do something; it's a very fine line, I know. It was not our choice to leave 4319 Montrose, but at some level we were yearning to get out of the "bistrot box" as it were and we're not big proponents of transferring success in one location to another location by just putting a name on a building; as a fellow neighbor businessman says, "that was the coldest (read courageous) move he'd ever seen" and on some level i know it inspires him to make his next move.

I decided if we were going to move we were going to move forward, with lots of experience behind us. and we were finally going to be the restaurant we were striving to be for 13 years--a restaurant truly and passionately expressive of its place in the Houston landscape.

[Monica Pope]

in response to zeitoun,

thank you for your question. it is more typical to do a stage in france especially or spain or italy, but i didn't go to Europe to do a stage or i would have picked some very particular places to work in. i ended up in greece because most of a traveller's dreams include an island in greece and i decided to pick a livable (read agricultural) island, the largest island in the cyclades, Naxos, where i ended up at Ellie's Restaurant at the island's western point with the Apollo ruin and the sun setting between its sculpture as if on cue at 5:30pm, with tables being added every month from 100 seats to 400 by August and the craziness escalating in direct relation to the number of chairs. I had some entrepeneurial dreams there even then and i would have done really well but i had always intended on coming HOME. I always do what i intend so i try to intend what is honest and right. Ellie's was the childhood island home of ellie. who was a lawyer in Athens half of the year; she ploughed Budapest for antiques in the winter and found a German chef to execute her eclectic cuisine for the summer i worked for her. I don't remember her lasting (the German chef). She only did Greek food in July when her mother came to visit and then her mother did the Greek cooking. In March. when we got to the island, it was very windy and we struggled down the paralia (the boardwalk), to find a room and a meal (the story of my life) which we did. We found a room and then found a well-lighted restaurant where you walked into the kitchen and pointed to your food. I saw large white beans in tomato sauce, a greek country salad and lots of pita, i knew this town was for me. The bakery you could find by smell and walk out with a hot loaf and the afternoon "frappe" of instant coffee, sweetened condensed milk, shakened, not stirred, instantly goes against all of my currrent values, but is part of what the place is about. Trash mounds along the beautiful roadsides of hillside villages reminds me of Marins' problems along Tomales Bay. The fact that my 2 90 gallon trash containers haven't been picked up since Monday remind that everything we do has a consequence and that consequence can be considered in the creative scheme of things; if it's not, it's not worth it because it will ruin paradise.

Greece taught me alot. We are all islands and we must deal with our little world, or microcosm. And we can be a mixture of our influences, our travel even on a small island. It was the most unique place on the island, Ellie was a native, but she also wanted to share her experience of the world.

[tetsujustin]

Chef Pope,

This question was addressed to Chef Scott Tycer a couple of months back and I'm sure we would like to hear your opinion on it

As a recent culinary graduate hoping to one day own an upper end restaurant in Houston, I was wondering what you believe the outlook on the food culture of Houston is especially towards the fine dining sector, as it hasn't been nearly as big, accepted, or noticed as in such cities as San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. The amount of fine dining establishments has slowly crept up, but the numbers still aren't there as in the aforementioned cities. Do you think Houston has the clientele to accept it as most people think fine dining are only steakhouses. Do you see the food, portion sizing, and pricing range for there to be a large amount of fine dining restaurants ever being accepted by the citizens of Houston?

Also, on a personal question of mine: with the summer season upon us, what produce is coming in that you're really excited about and can't wait to work with? I can't wait for the sweet corn to come rolling in.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for your answer, Monica. As someone who watched several favorite restaurants here in Providence dissolve in marital strife, go up an owner's nose, and otherwise crash and burn, I've come to appreciate the acumen needed to do what you've done. So, bravo to you not only for finding the fine line between money-driven and financially sustaining but also for maintaining a commitment to outstanding quality and creativity; without both, we wouldn't be able to eat your great food, now would we?

Also, I'm sure that I join many, many eGulleteers when I say that I'm glad you resisted the urge to make your new move not T'afia but a Bistro Hair Salon.

[Monica Pope]

Chef, is there a difference between a sangria and a ratafia or is sangria simply a subset of ratafie?

←

The difference is that a ratafia is fortified with a spirit, in our case Texas vodka.

[FoodMan]

Chef, is there a difference between a sangria and a ratafia or is sangria simply a subset of ratafie?

←

The difference is that a ratafia is fortified with a spirit, in our case Texas vodka.

←

Also, and correct me if I am wrong, but a Ratafia is allowed to infuse and mellow for a few weeks. A Sangria is more or less a cocktail made with red wine and fruit and allowed to sit for a few hours. right?

Elie

[Monica Pope]

in response to pan,

each establishment sort of creates their own customer base. although we all experience some of the same issues, my customer base over 13 years is overall extraordinarily supportive and enthusiastic about what we do. my new staff always comments on how wonderful they are in comparison to say a place they used to work. i was a line cook or a dishwasher in other restaurants in other cities and wasn't on the pulse per se of their customer bases. i was just trying to execute my job well. if i were to work in any other city, i always think of san francisco, but the reality is i don't want to live and work with those unhappy people. my ultimate goal is to not have to work at all at some point. i don't think about cooking anywhere else ultimately. i love cooking in houston.

[Monica Pope]

in response to tetsujustin,

you're right on all counts; it's like we don't exist down here and yet in every sector of food, fashion, art, politics, design we drive this nation. we just happen to do it in those other cities. the ones who came back not because we couldn't make it anywhere--scott tycer, bryan caswell, dylan murray, claire smith...--but because it is home and family and community to us have gotten acknowledged, but can we impact the city enough to get the city acknowledged or noticed. i believe our new mayor white is working in a very forward-thinking way. the negatives of this city seem to always trump the positives. i am hopeful we can push the positives in the future. as far as houston' clientele is concerned i am at times discouraged. it is the third largest city in this country. we lack density and people's lifestyle choices dictates their dining choice. i've met old school friends who have lived all over the world, tramping the streets of nyc eating out every night or exploring the markets of amsterdam as a way of life, but when they decide to move back home and start a family they buy a house in one of our suburbs like sugarland, pearland or the woodlands and apologize because they haven't been to t'afia yet or the farmers' market. it will be a one off, not a way of life, a part of their life. the size of this city has hurt the heart of this city. we are in the heart of this city, but we must get people to leave the burbs, get a babysitter and take a "daytrip" to houston. they are a quite captive audience closer to home and no qualms about spending money. a chef friend who consults for a fine dining steak house and grill concept says "we looooove the suburbs" and they have built an empire in sugarland , clearlake, champions forest, woodlands,...you could fit 20 t'afias into just one of these restaurants, but who has influenced this city more in the last 13 years and you will impact this city more in the next 15 years. houstonians are conditioned to see huge plates of food, order by pound not ounces and do look for value, read cheap. houstonians eat out more than any city and they can eat out pretty inexpensively. sometimes the clientele can't discern the value of 6 oz. of hormone free beef, locally grown, simply prepared vegetables, organic grits or potatoes just plucked from the ground and lots of flavor from quantity quantity quantity and that wonderful stuffed to the gills feeling they are conditioned to feel. it has caught up with them and some of them are reconditioning themselves to eat seasonally, sustainably, and locally. think globally, act locally is permeating our culture to a point. houston will be last to get to the new party. there are a lot of exciting times ahead. i am, on a good day, optimistic that will see a sea change.

[RebeccaT]

Monica, thank you so much for joining us! I am a humongous fan of all you do... the farmer's market, t'afia, all of it. I appreciate that you get out and touch your clientele directly, not hiding in the kitchen, and that they feel like they are getting to know you by watching you work with food.

I also thank you for you description of Naxos. I was there just a year and a half ago, and your description brought back so many memories. I can't tell you if Ellie's is still there... there are so many restaurants there on the waterfront and just behind up into the Castro. It was there that we fell in love with Kitron, the local, very sweet liqueur... that would make an excellent cocktail with one of your ratafias, I'm thinking!

I have two questions (actually, I have loads, but these are the two I can get my head around at the moment).

FIrst, do you mind telling us just a little more about Plum? Is this an "on the side" way for you to continue to peddle your wonderful salad dressings and oh that AMAZING pimento cheese like you do at the market? Or will it be more organized, more of a side business than that?

Also, have you ever taught classes anywhere in Houston, such as Sur la Table or Central Market? Would you consider doing them in your own kitchen? I think that home cooks can really learn a lot from a chef such as yourself, since so many of your simple preparations rely primarily on seeking out the best ingredients, not on working with restaurant-grade equipment and an army of line cooks.

Thanks!

[Mayhaw Man]

Monica, thanks for doing this. Your answers have been very thorough and informative.

So with that, I'll ask a really general question and see what you can come up with.

I notice that you have a number of Texas wines on your winelist. Are these wines there because they are your favorites? Or do you rotate them in and out with other wines from Texas or elsewhere? I recently worked on a project involving Texas wineries and was suprised at the number of them and their diversity (my background is in beer, not wine, and this was a learning experience for me)and also with the suprising volume that some of them are doing (or intend on doing taking future planned production and sales into account). Do the wines sell well, as compared to other ones on the list? Can you reccomend any standouts or favorites?

Thanks

[Pan]

Monica, thank you for your answer.

I'm wondering whether you think about what's most Texan about your restaurant. You are in Houston, and you use lots of fresh, locally-grown ingredients, but are there consciously Texan influences in the ways you put those ingredients together, or is that even an interesting or relevant question as far as you're concerned? The menus currently up on the t'afia website show influences from all over the world, befitting your interests and world travels. But does a taste for foods seen by many as typically Texan like barbecue or Tex-Mex items filter in there, too? Or another way to ask the question is, do you find yourself eating barbecue and other traditionally Texan foods on your days off, or do you tend to seek out the foods of the Vietnamese and many other communities who have increasingly made your city cosmopolitan, or both?

Edited June 15, 2005 by Pan (log)

[Monica Pope]

in response to rebeccaT,

thank you for asking about PLUM. we made a decision to refer to anything we did offsite as its own entity. i came up with plum because i love plums, because our work at PLUM makes your lives "plum easy", and it happens to be my name backwards. hence, farmer's market products/pantry essentials, box lunch program, small, intimate events offsite like the one we're doing tonight falls under PLUM. essentially anything that does not happen in the t'afia dining venues is PLUM. Currently, it is approximately 10% of our revenue so it's no small side business and we hope to grow each aspect in the next two years.

as for cooking classes, i do most of my teaching at sur la table (in combination with a farmer's market tour, scones, coffee, demo at sur la table and lunch) or a store tour at central market where some of our farmers and artisans provide product. it's difficult to do demos in my kitchen because i don't have 20 peelers or 20 of anything so the involvement can be restricted. i also do some for charity at people's homes for less than 8 couples, but these can be challenging if you're not familiar with people's equipment, etc. currently, we're working on a cookbook which i hope will reach a wider audience and force me finally to get more organized!!

[Monica Pope]

in response to mayhaw man,

thank you so much for trying to explore the texas wine situation. you are right there are a number of texas wineries, but not all of them grow their own grapes or even purchase texas grown grapes for use in their wines. some of these "texas wineries" often purchase chilean or californian juice, bottle it, and call it a texas wine. we do not carry any of these wines. the texas wines on our list are from wineries that grow their own grapes or purchase texas grown grapes exclusively. we only purchase texas wines we like. in addition, they are very food friendly and are all terroir driven, making them a perfect match, "what grows together, goes together", for the local market tasting menu. they sell very well once they are exposed to the discerning public and their misconceptions and prejudices are undone. some that stand out are: everything from McPherson vineyards especially their rose of syrah, Flat Creek Estate especially their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, and the really hard to get La Cruz de la Comal wines of Lewis Dickson, lawyer turned winemaker, especially his Troubadour.