thedrifter
02-24-06, 02:43 PM
Chef's Sampler: Far from the mess hall
The Marines inspired Chris Pope to do two things: pick up a pan and get out of the military. He's come full circle as chef and co-owner of Zinc bistro and has another restaurant on the way.
By Carrie Seidman
Tribune Reporter
February 24, 2006
Interview With: Chris Pope, chef and co-owner, Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro, 3009 Central Ave. N.E. 254-9462.
Tribune: What's your culinary background?
Pope: When I dropped out of college in 1983, I joined the Marines and they made me a cook against my will. They sent me to a short program at Johnson & Wales (the culinary school in Rhode Island) to pique my interest. I think they thought they could put me in an officer's club, but all it did was pique my interest in getting out of the Marines and into the real industry. When I did, I worked for various restaurants in California for about 10 years, and then about three more years in Boston.
Tribune: What kind of things did you cook in the Marines?
Pope: (We were using) 45 pounds of ground beef at a time. The recipes were standardized and you weren't allowed to enhance them. But when the officer would step out of the kitchen, we'd use butter to make the roux instead of salad oil.
Tribune: What brought you to Albuquerque?
Pope: A woman. That's how I got back and forth across the country, following women. It wasn't the one I'm married to now. (Pope was married for the first time last year.) When I first got here, it was scary. The hotel food was so archaic; it was nothing I was used to. Then one day I took a bike ride past Season's and looked at the menu and thought, `I can cook here.' I was there for the next seven years, until we opened Zinc.
Tribune: How would you describe your cooking style?
Pope: It's kind of come full circle. As a young chef (Pope is 42), you want to dazzle people, wow them, so you use 12 ingredients and have six different things going on at once, and you're stacking things. I've come back around to rustic, simple presentations, local farmers, getting back to basic ingredients and flavors you can recognize. Familiar, but with a little twist.
Tribune: How do you feel about your restaurant being called the "place to be seen" in Albuquerque?
Pope: When that came out, I was almost discouraged. I want to be a place where everyone's comfortable; I don't want to be elitist. I certainly want to be known as a popular and well-respected place, but not an exclusive one.
Tribune: I hear you're getting ready to open another restaurant in the Heights?
Pope: Yeah, in what used to be YesterDaves. It's called Savoy. Well, maybe. Zinc's name changed about 10 times - The Blue Door, Thyme, The Red Bench - there were a lot of incarnations. Now I can't imagine it being called anything else.
Tribune: What will Savoy - or whatever it ends up being called - be like?
Pope: Kind of a California chop house, a little more high-end and elegant than Zinc. It'll be a little more experimental, without getting into the craziness. We hope to open in June or July.
Tribune: What kind of food do you like to cook, and eat, at home?
Pope: Grilled fish. I love seafood. I miss being on either coast and having steamer clams, a bucket of mussels or oysters on the half shell. You can get fresh fish here, but you have to plan ahead.
Tribune: What food do you like to eat that's a little embarrassing?
Pope: (Quickly) Peanut butter out of the jar. Jiffy or Peter Pan. Not the natural stuff, it's gotta have the sugar.
Tribune: What ingredient is overused these days?
Pope: I don't know, but I can tell you what I despise. Foams. It's such a ridiculous idea, it's not even food, it's like creative food art. I want something tangible.
Tribune: What kind of restaurant is Albuquerque missing?
Pope: A nonchain seafood grill. Little patisseries where you can have a coffee and pastry. We could use more classic Italian. A real deli. We need more locally owned places to fill all those little voids.
Here is one of Pope's recipes:
WILD MUSHROOM AND ASPARAGUS TART
For filling:
1 cup each shiitake, oyster and crimini mushrooms, cut or torn in bite-size pieces
1 bunch asparagus, blanched and cut into 1-inch pieces (save tops for garnish)
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Splash of white wine
1 tsp fresh thyme, roughly chopped
8 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
8 oz goat cheese, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, slightly whipped
4 oz heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Slowly carmelize onion in 1 tablespoon olive oil over very low heat for about 45 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms, thyme, wine and additional oil, and saute until thoroughly cooked. Set aside enough of the mixture to garnish finished tarts later.
3. Mix together remaining mushroom mixture and all other ingredients and pour into tart shells.
4. Cook at 350 degrees until slightly browned.
5. Top with a small amount of the reserved mushroom mixture and two asparagus tips. Serve warm or room temperature.
Crust:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 oz butter, weighed and cut into small pieces
2 eggs, chilled
6 tbsp iced water
1 egg for wash
Instructions
1. Put flour and salt into a bowl and cut in butter until it is in pieces the size of peas.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs together with water, then add to flour mixture, taking care not to overwork.
3. Wrap dough and refrigerate about 30 minutes.
4. Roll dough out to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut into circles about the size of a 16-oz. plastic sour cream lid. Press each circle into a tart shell and prick the bottom with a fork.
5. Whisk egg. Brush tart shells with the egg wash, using a pastry brush.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned.
Yield: 9-10 tarts
Ellie
The Marines inspired Chris Pope to do two things: pick up a pan and get out of the military. He's come full circle as chef and co-owner of Zinc bistro and has another restaurant on the way.
By Carrie Seidman
Tribune Reporter
February 24, 2006
Interview With: Chris Pope, chef and co-owner, Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro, 3009 Central Ave. N.E. 254-9462.
Tribune: What's your culinary background?
Pope: When I dropped out of college in 1983, I joined the Marines and they made me a cook against my will. They sent me to a short program at Johnson & Wales (the culinary school in Rhode Island) to pique my interest. I think they thought they could put me in an officer's club, but all it did was pique my interest in getting out of the Marines and into the real industry. When I did, I worked for various restaurants in California for about 10 years, and then about three more years in Boston.
Tribune: What kind of things did you cook in the Marines?
Pope: (We were using) 45 pounds of ground beef at a time. The recipes were standardized and you weren't allowed to enhance them. But when the officer would step out of the kitchen, we'd use butter to make the roux instead of salad oil.
Tribune: What brought you to Albuquerque?
Pope: A woman. That's how I got back and forth across the country, following women. It wasn't the one I'm married to now. (Pope was married for the first time last year.) When I first got here, it was scary. The hotel food was so archaic; it was nothing I was used to. Then one day I took a bike ride past Season's and looked at the menu and thought, `I can cook here.' I was there for the next seven years, until we opened Zinc.
Tribune: How would you describe your cooking style?
Pope: It's kind of come full circle. As a young chef (Pope is 42), you want to dazzle people, wow them, so you use 12 ingredients and have six different things going on at once, and you're stacking things. I've come back around to rustic, simple presentations, local farmers, getting back to basic ingredients and flavors you can recognize. Familiar, but with a little twist.
Tribune: How do you feel about your restaurant being called the "place to be seen" in Albuquerque?
Pope: When that came out, I was almost discouraged. I want to be a place where everyone's comfortable; I don't want to be elitist. I certainly want to be known as a popular and well-respected place, but not an exclusive one.
Tribune: I hear you're getting ready to open another restaurant in the Heights?
Pope: Yeah, in what used to be YesterDaves. It's called Savoy. Well, maybe. Zinc's name changed about 10 times - The Blue Door, Thyme, The Red Bench - there were a lot of incarnations. Now I can't imagine it being called anything else.
Tribune: What will Savoy - or whatever it ends up being called - be like?
Pope: Kind of a California chop house, a little more high-end and elegant than Zinc. It'll be a little more experimental, without getting into the craziness. We hope to open in June or July.
Tribune: What kind of food do you like to cook, and eat, at home?
Pope: Grilled fish. I love seafood. I miss being on either coast and having steamer clams, a bucket of mussels or oysters on the half shell. You can get fresh fish here, but you have to plan ahead.
Tribune: What food do you like to eat that's a little embarrassing?
Pope: (Quickly) Peanut butter out of the jar. Jiffy or Peter Pan. Not the natural stuff, it's gotta have the sugar.
Tribune: What ingredient is overused these days?
Pope: I don't know, but I can tell you what I despise. Foams. It's such a ridiculous idea, it's not even food, it's like creative food art. I want something tangible.
Tribune: What kind of restaurant is Albuquerque missing?
Pope: A nonchain seafood grill. Little patisseries where you can have a coffee and pastry. We could use more classic Italian. A real deli. We need more locally owned places to fill all those little voids.
Here is one of Pope's recipes:
WILD MUSHROOM AND ASPARAGUS TART
For filling:
1 cup each shiitake, oyster and crimini mushrooms, cut or torn in bite-size pieces
1 bunch asparagus, blanched and cut into 1-inch pieces (save tops for garnish)
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Splash of white wine
1 tsp fresh thyme, roughly chopped
8 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
8 oz goat cheese, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, slightly whipped
4 oz heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Slowly carmelize onion in 1 tablespoon olive oil over very low heat for about 45 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms, thyme, wine and additional oil, and saute until thoroughly cooked. Set aside enough of the mixture to garnish finished tarts later.
3. Mix together remaining mushroom mixture and all other ingredients and pour into tart shells.
4. Cook at 350 degrees until slightly browned.
5. Top with a small amount of the reserved mushroom mixture and two asparagus tips. Serve warm or room temperature.
Crust:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 oz butter, weighed and cut into small pieces
2 eggs, chilled
6 tbsp iced water
1 egg for wash
Instructions
1. Put flour and salt into a bowl and cut in butter until it is in pieces the size of peas.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs together with water, then add to flour mixture, taking care not to overwork.
3. Wrap dough and refrigerate about 30 minutes.
4. Roll dough out to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut into circles about the size of a 16-oz. plastic sour cream lid. Press each circle into a tart shell and prick the bottom with a fork.
5. Whisk egg. Brush tart shells with the egg wash, using a pastry brush.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned.
Yield: 9-10 tarts
Ellie