Randy Rucker - Recipe for Success

Randy Rucker

Chef Randy Rucker credits his mother for his passion for food, and his culinary peers for inspiration. After graduating from Johnson & Wales, Rucker moved to California, working with chefs like Matt Millea and Craig Von Foester and developing a taste for raw ingredients like artichokes, sea urchins, and wild mushrooms. Two years later, Rucker returned to Houston as chef de cuisine for John Sheely at Riviera Grill in the Sam Houston Hotel. He also worked as sous chef at Mark's American Cuisine. And after a brief stint in Austin as sous chef at Zoot Restaurant, Rucker returned to Houston to work with Tim Keating at Quattro at Four Seasons Hotel Houston.

Not all of Rucker's culinary experience has been Texas-bound. He staged at both Tru in Chicago and briefly at Clio in Boston before planting his roots, firmly, in Houston. In 2005, Rucker opened Laidback Manor with his mother, Bootsie, and received numerous awards and accolades from national press, including Food Arts and The Wall Street Journal. Just a year after opening Laidback Manor, he began working as a corporate chef at the Cordua Group.

Never one to limit his projects, Rucker also operated an underground supper club, Tenacity, which led to a chef position at The Rainbow Lodge. Rucker, along with his culinary confidant and mentor Chef Jonathan Jones, drew inspiration from an onsite garden and citrus grove. Their efforts were rewarded with four stars from Modern Luxury-- not to mention the first four-star review (in almost nine years) from Alison Cook at The Houston Chronicle. Randy is currently chef-owner of Bootsie's in Tomball, Texas, Rucker's in the process of opening a second restaurant in Tomball, Restaurant Connate. Rucker expresses his philosophy--that food should represent an unrepeatable time and place--in the foraged ingredients that inspire the Bootsie's daily-changing menu. Wherever he's cooking, Rucker executes his menu with a deep love of Third Coast produce and cuisine, balancing Southern classics with modern techniques.

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.