These East Texas chefs refuse to compromise when it comes to using fresh food

Published 8:00 am Friday, July 6, 2018

By Danny Mogle, Lifestyles Magazine

Kiepersol Restaurant executive chef Robinson Bravo is pictured in the dining area near the wine cellar on May 30, 2018. Bravo uses vegetables and herbs from the on-site greenhouse such as green beans, mint and lettuces in his dishes. He also uses Kiepersol Estates wines in his sauces. (Sarah A. Miller/Lifestyles Magazine)

Chef Thomas Mattson checks out the suppliers and farms of the meat supplying and produce he cooks with at Roast Social Kitchen. When Chef Robinson Bravo wants fresh herbs for the meals he serves at the Restaurant at Kiepersol, all he has to do is pick them from a nearby greenhouse. At Cork Food & Drink, Ricardo Garnica’s quest to use fresh ingredients has led him to start growing herbs and vegetables in raised beds just outside the restaurant.

All three of these executive chefs have fully embraced the farm-to-table movement of using hormone-free, grass-fed meat and organically grown, in-season food from,  local suppliers — at times even growing it themselves.

Although the chefs have different backgrounds and approaches to creating unforgettable dishes, they all live by the mantra that fresh is best and agree that some of the meat and produce on earth is found right here in East Texas.

The Restaurant: Roast Social Kitchen

The chef: Thomas Mattson



Nick and Jen Pencis, owners of the successful and much-praised Tyler barbecue joint Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, opened Roast Social Kitchen two years ago with the promise of sourcing organic, local products whenever possible.

At times, as much as 90 percent of the ingredients their chefs use can be traced back to a specific, often local, farm or food supplier, the restaurant boasts on its website. 

Besides its regular selection of brick-oven pizzas with innovative toppings (its Meat Haters Pizza has organic tomato sauce, mozzarella and manchego cheeses, roasted mushroom and red pepper, caramelized onion and spinach and herb gremolata), salads and entrees, Roast also offers a changing lineup of  specials that showcase fresh ingredients selected by Mattson.

“I can get just about everything I need from suppliers within 250 miles,” he says. “Every day I am checking out what is available.”

He only uses food suppliers that he trusts and visits each farm and ranch “to make sure I know what I’m getting.”

Mattson has been working in kitchens since he was a teenager and quickly rose through the culinary ranks. He has worked as a private chef and has had stints at Neighborhood Flix Cinema and Cafe, an upscale Denver restaurant that shows movies, and Roux Restaurant on popular Sixth Street in downtown Austin.

Over the years, he learned the value of getting to know food suppliers and opting for the freshest ingredients possible.

He says the goal at Roast is to serve food that is “approachable, fun and full of flavor. … We may not have been at the forefront of farm-to-table (movement) but we are moving it along. I have to know where the food comes from. It is a duty to my craft.”

The restaurant: The Restaurant at Kiepersol

The Chef: Robinson Bravo

The Restaurant at Kiepersol is located on the grounds of one of the largest and most successful vineyards in East Texas. The fine-dining menu is loaded with seafood selections and USDA prime steaks that pair excellently with its award-winning wines produced on-site. 

Some of the herbs and fresh vegetables used by Executive Chef Robinson Bravo are grown in greenhouses on the property. Those fresh-as-possible ingredients find their way into dishes such as Chicken Kiepersol, a chicken breast dusted with bread crumbs and spices and served with white wine butter sauce, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.

Bravo was hired 18 years ago by Kiepersol’s founder, the late Pierre de Wet. “He said to me that all the food had to be excellent,” says Bravo.
 
Bravo grew up in Mexico and first learned to cook from his mother. His talent for creating delicious food was nurtured under the tutelage of various chefs over the years. 
 
At Kiepersol, he takes advantage of using the vineyard’s wines in his cooking. Hundreds of bottles of Kiepersol wines are stored in a two-story wine cellar in the restaurant known for its rustic elegance.
 
Bravo incorporates the wine in stocks and sauces. “It gives them a special flavor,” he says.
 
Bravo’s food and Kiepersol wines are the star attractions at the restaurant’s special Vintner’s Dinners. Only offered a few times a year, the Vintner’s Dinner includes a specialty menu in which each course is paired with a wine.
 
A recent dinner featured a shrimp pesto pasta served with Texas Rose; braised duck served with Texas Mourvedre; Parmesan crusted filet served with Reserve Syrah; and baklava served with Texas White Port. 
 

Bravo says serving the highest quality food possible is his way of paying tribute to de Wet. “Everything we do, we do for him. Without him, none of this would be possible.”

 
The restaurant: Cork Food & Drink
The chef: Ricardo Garnica
 
At Cork & Food Drink, Executive Chef Ricardo Garnica refuses to compromise when it comes to fresh.
 
“The flavor of the food comes from being fresh,” says the longtime chef. “I have to make sure it’s fresh. I’m always looking for the best produce (made) with no chemicals.”
 
The tomatoes and peppers that end up in Garnica’s creations typically are grown in East Texas.
 
Cork promotes itself as “a unique casual-dining restaurant” with an extensive wine list. The restaurant is know for its small-plates appetizers that feature seasonal produce and grass-fed beef. 
 
Owner Jon Florendo says that whenever possible the restaurant uses produce from local farms and grass-fed beef from ranches.  
 
Its whiskey meatballs is made from grass-fed beef and its Green Goddess Bowl is a cornucopia of fresh greens. 
 
The restaurant is now growing herbs and vegetables in recently installed raised beds just off its front deck. Soon Garnica will be harvesting this fresh food for use in the restaurant.
 
Garnica says he learned to cook while living in Mexico. He came to the United States in search of a better life.
 
He is always looking to make new food creations. 
 
“When I see a recipe I make it my own. I never make exactly what the recipe says. I am always looking for something new, something different,” Garnica says. “He (Florendo) trusts me.”
 
Garnica is excited to put out the freshest food possible.
 
“This (being a chef) is not work for me. When it is something you love doing, it’s not work.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
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