Dubbed the "Alice Waters of the Third Coast," German-born, Texas-reared chef Monica Pope has been revolutionizing Houston's culinary scene since she debuted her first restaurant in 1992. Pope shares her passion for connecting local farmers and consumers with cooking classes, an online cookbook Eat Where Your Food Lives, plus Sparrow Bar + Cookshop and Beaver's restaurants. Pope has enjoyed national recognition in the form of a James Beard award nomination and a spot competing on the 2010 second season of Top Chef Masters on Bravo. She is the only female Texas chef to be named Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine thanks to her inventive, "eat where your food lives" cooking style.
Hailed by Travel & Leisure magazine as "one of the most ingenious restaurateurs around," Pope first learned to cook from her Czech grandmother and went on to earn her Chef's title from Prue Leith's School of Food and Wine in London. After working in Europe and San Francisco, she returned home to Houston to open the Quilted Toque, which was followed by a succession of acclaimed restaurants, including Boulevard Bistrot and t'afia.
Pope is the founding chair of Recipe for Success Foundation's Chefs Advisory Board and current Board Member of the Houston-based non-profit, which is dedicated to fighting childhood obesity. She taught the very first Chefs in Schools™ class at MacGregor Elementary in September 2006 and has taught monthly cooking classes there ever since. Pope regularly appears as an RFS media spokesperson and national advocate and was invited as part of an RFS delegation to the White House for the launch of Michelle Obama's Chefs Move to Schools initiative.
2018 Chef of the Year
Kevin Naderi, Roost
Chefs Advisory Board
Beginning in the late 1990's Chef Monica Pope joined in Gracie's efforts to establish a group of concerned chefs who were willing to get involved in a hands on way to teach kids to cook. Twenty-four answered the call and in 2006, we established our Chefs Advisory Board, a working committee with Monica as its Chair. Through the years, more and more chefs have joined our founding members, and today we have over 100 members in Houston and across the country. Monica Pope continues to lead the team as Chair Emeritus.
These busy professionals donate their time month after month, year after year, bringing their unique insight and perspective of food to the children, turning on their taste buds and opening their minds to new foods. It's a Recipe for Success! Would you like to join us? Get in touch and get started today!
The Foundation's Chefs Advisory Board served as inspiration for the White House campaign for Chefs Move to School! Six members of our Chefs Advisory Board joined members of our Board of Directors at the White House in June 2010 for the kick-off of Chefs Move to Schools! where Recipe for Success was featured as a national model and resource. See pictures here. And read about the trip here and here.