Grilled Ribeye Big Ranch, Big City
Louis Lambert on the origins and culinary experiences behind his debut cookbook.
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Do you ever feel limited in specifically making “Texas food?”
No, because I view Texas food as being so much more than beef and barbecue. Where I grew up, of course you have that region of barbecue and beef, but you have influences from all over. You’ve got Mexico just south of there. Make your way around the state and go to the plains of East Texas, and you’ve got more Southern cooking. You go to Beaumont and Port Arthur, and you’ve got a heavy Cajun influence. You go to Austin or the Hill Country, and you’ve got more of that German influence. So, you really can cook anything and still be true to Texas roots.
In becoming more popular through the years, did you ever fear that your restaurants would ever become too commercial? How do you maintain the integrity of your cuisine, amidst all of its popularity?
The first restaurant I opened in Austin was Lamberts on South Congress [Avenue, in Austin]. It was a small restaurant, around thirty-five seats. When we opened, it was not our goal to go out and get press for bedazzling. It was to truly do the foods that we wanted to cook on a daily basis and stay true to who we are. What I found was we got a lot of fame because we were staying true to who we were as chefs. Can it be done? Yes, but you have to walk in every day and make sure the quality is there.
What do you think it is that put your restaurants on the map?
The attention to detail and doing foods that people love to eat. That sounds simple, but it’s, again, not taking yourself so seriously that you try and teach people what they need and should want to eat. I’ve seen too many chefs go into restaurants that are unsuccessful, and their reply is, "Well, if my customers only could understand what I’m trying to do." You lose focus when you blame it on the eaters. And, we are in Texas, so people want to eat steaks, barbecue, and all the things that come with it.
Were there any recipes in the book that you had trouble divulging?
I’ll give up any recipe. That’s not going to keep anyone from coming in and eating at the restaurant. People come in to eat at the restaurant because they don’t want to stand in the kitchen and cook on their own. I have no problem giving any away.
How have you seen Texas cuisine evolve over the years?
More restaurants are taking the time to produce everything in-house, like we have from the very beginning. Consumers and diners are more educated now than ever before, so they want to know where their food comes from and how it has been prepared. A more educated diner means they recognize the extra step chefs have put into it. When we first started, we were some of the first and only ones that did everything from scratch, from making our own sausages, our own sauces, and smoking everything in-house.
How do you integrate the current trends into classical Texas cooking?
I’m old enough to remember the start of Southwestern cuisine. There are still some of those guys around that were doing Southwestern cuisine when it was the hottest rage, such as Dean Fearing and Stephan Pyles. It became the hot food trend of the time. I looked at that and thought it was somewhat silly because I grew up in the Southwest, and the food they were doing wasn’t rooted in our culture and heritage, even though they were using some of the ingredients that we would use. Most of the chefs I admire are trying to stay true to the foods and the culture and history of the foods that I associate with Texas. The challenge with that is that they don’t go overboard with the food, like they did earlier with Southwestern cuisine, where they are taking it away from what it truly is. You don’t want to improvise on recipes and make it so fancy that the food loses its soul.
What do you see over the horizon for Texas cuisine? Do you think things like food trucks will still continue to grow, or do you see something else coming up?
I hate to even acknowledge food trucks. I think food trucks will run their course. The market is getting overcrowded, and I don’t think it can sustain itself. As customers are becoming more educated, they are not going to want to see gimmicks. What they really want to see is more of what we are doing, point of origin, and where their foods are coming from. It’s hard to do now because the economics aren’t there to support it. When we first opened Jo’s, we wanted to use all natural, but then there wasn’t a source for all natural beef. Now that customers over the years have demanded it, there are a lot of producers doing all natural beef. Restaurants are driven by what people are doing in their homes. People weren’t demanding organic until they started cooking at home that way.
You have restaurants in both Austin and Fort Worth. Which city do you feel more home in?
As for day-to-day living, Fort Worth. It’s got such great culture, but at the same time it’s slower-paced. It’s more livable. To me, Fort Worth is what Austin was like ten, fifteen years ago. As far as the food scene, hands down, Austin’s food scene is miles ahead of anybody in the state of Texas because you have the university, the Capitol, and the high-tech industry. Because you have such diverse groups living there, you have people craving new and innovative things. I think that translates into a great food city.
At this point in your career, do you feel like you have a firm understanding and grasp of Texas cuisine, or is that something you are always learning from?
You are always learning, and the worst mistake a chef can make is to think that they know more than anybody. Everyday I walk into the kitchen, my eyes are opened to not just dishes, but also new ingredients and new ways of doing things. I’ve learned more from watching dishwashers throw together family meals at the restaurant than I have in four-star restaurants.
What can we expect from you or your restaurants in the coming years?
I want to be able to personally take the time to travel around the state and get to know the state food scene a little bit better. Not just the new hip restaurants, but also the tried-and-true restaurants and the geography and culture of its people. It’s exciting to be at that point in my career where I can see and learn more. I want to do another cookbook because I really enjoyed that process. As far as restaurants, I would like to do something a little bit smaller. Something small scale like the original Lamberts from way back when. I would like to touch every plate and get to know my customers.
For a schedule of Lambert’s book signings and cooking classes, as well as his Green Chile Queso recipe, check out Eat My Words.
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