Monica Pope
Owner, Executive Chef, t'afia & co-owner, Beavers
Monica Pope is a 2007 James Beard Award Nominee/ Best Chef Southwest. Her latest restaurant venture, t'afia, has received local and national accolades and has been featured on seven different Best New Restaurant lists, including Bon Appetit Magazine, Gourmet Magazine & Texas Monthly Magazine. T'afia was also chosen Best New Restaurant in 2004 and Best Restaurant in 2005 by The Houston Press. Monica Pope is the only Texas woman chef to be named a Top 10 Best New Chef by Food & Wine Magazine (1996).
Before creating t'afia, Monica developed several other restaurants in Houston, including The Quilted Toque and Boulevard Bistro. Last year, she and her team fed one hundred and seventy guests at Jolie Vue Farm during Houston's "Outstanding in the Field."
Monica was instrumental in the development of Recipe for Success, using her contacts to grow the organization's Chefs in Schools program. She is currently working on her first book - an insightful, poignant and humorous look at a woman's place in the (restaurant) kitchen, entitled "Eating Hope: Caution, Chef May Be Starving."
Monica's cooking philosophy centers around one essential theme: place. According to Monica, "As a chef, I have spent the last 15 years cooking in one place - Houston, Texas. My cooking style has developed organically from certain fundamental truths: first, what grows together goes together, and, second, that food simply tastes better when you eat where your food lives. For over ten years, I have supported local farmers, ranchers and food producers, and also helped found the Midtown Farmers Market; ultimately, the efforts of these local food producers form the heart and soul of my current restaurant, t'afia."
Owner, Executive Chef, t'afia & co-owner, Beavers
Monica Pope is a 2007 James Beard Award Nominee/ Best Chef Southwest. Her latest restaurant venture, t'afia, has received local and national accolades and has been featured on seven different Best New Restaurant lists, including Bon Appetit Magazine, Gourmet Magazine & Texas Monthly Magazine. T'afia was also chosen Best New Restaurant in 2004 and Best Restaurant in 2005 by The Houston Press. Monica Pope is the only Texas woman chef to be named a Top 10 Best New Chef by Food & Wine Magazine (1996).Before creating t'afia, Monica developed several other restaurants in Houston, including The Quilted Toque and Boulevard Bistro. Last year, she and her team fed one hundred and seventy guests at Jolie Vue Farm during Houston's "Outstanding in the Field."
Monica was instrumental in the development of Recipe for Success, using her contacts to grow the organization's Chefs in Schools program. She is currently working on her first book - an insightful, poignant and humorous look at a woman's place in the (restaurant) kitchen, entitled "Eating Hope: Caution, Chef May Be Starving."
Monica's cooking philosophy centers around one essential theme: place. According to Monica, "As a chef, I have spent the last 15 years cooking in one place - Houston, Texas. My cooking style has developed organically from certain fundamental truths: first, what grows together goes together, and, second, that food simply tastes better when you eat where your food lives. For over ten years, I have supported local farmers, ranchers and food producers, and also helped found the Midtown Farmers Market; ultimately, the efforts of these local food producers form the heart and soul of my current restaurant, t'afia."
