Response to our profiles of four women who have shaped the way Austin eats and our list of working local female chefs has been very interesting. Some readers questioned why the feature wasn’t more comprehensive in its coverage of women who have made contributions to the local food scene. The simple answer is that writer Ronna Welsh chose to limit her piece to four subjects. Other readers e-mailed me with names of working women chefs that we’d managed to miss and those names are very welcome. Others were curious as to why we hadn’t listed women who have created local food companies or are restaurateurs but not cooks. I considered all of the above when I sat down to write that list, but where to start? Should the list begin with quintessential Texas hostess Mary Faulk Koock, who turned her ancestral home into Green Pastures in the Fifties, or the legendary Helen Corbitt, who took up residence in the Driskill Hotel from 1961-1964 to cook for the Johnson family? Or should it start with Virginia Daugherty and Maudie Hamilton, who both opened popular cafes during the same time period? A list starting in the late Seventies would begin with Ann Clark‘s groundbreaking La Bonne Cuisine Cooking School and Martha Rose Schulman‘s popular vegetarian supper club. What about a starting point of 1980, the year Judy Wilcott founded Texas French Bread by supplying baguettes to Jeffrey’s? Other food businesswomen of the Eighties: GourmetGals Betsy Nozick and Tricia Henry; Janie Breed, creator of Austin’s first gourmet deli/ bakery, the Kitchen Door; Cecilia Cook of Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard Catering; Jeffrey’s first pastry chef Marilyn Scher; frequent temple caterer Sarah Sutton; and trailblazing Sixth Street restaurateur Alana Mora. Here’s an amended list of female chefs, restaurateurs, and food business owners. If we missed someone this time, just shoot me.
| Rebecca Wallace, executive chef/co-owner, Word of Mouth Catering |
| Rosalind Martin, executive chef, the Summit |
| Romina Derra, gelataia e pasticcera, Milano’s |
| Concetta Mastroianni, gelataia e pasticcera, Dolce Vita |
| Alba Estenoz, pastry chef, Shoreline Grill |
| Mary Hall Rodman, chef/co-owner, High Life Cafe |
| Shirley Slaughter, pastry chef/owner, Shirley’s Cakes |
| Amy Miller, owner, Amy’s Ice Cream |
| Penny McConnell, owner, Penny’s Pastries |
| Marta Guzman, owner, International Delights (Marta’s Flan) |
| Sharon Gerhardt, co-owner, Ella’s Restaurant |
| Ernestine Galindo, owner, El Galindo |
| Lana Weill, owner, Lana’s Eggrolls |
| Brigid Abdenour, chef/co-owner, Tom’s Tabooley |
| Luba Sinclair, chef/owner, Eat Your Greens |
| Lauri and Carol Raymond, co-owners, Sisters and Co. (salad dressings) |
| Cynthia and Lydia Perez, co-owners, Las Manitas |
| Maria Corbalan, owner, Taco Xpress |
| Sharon Watkins, co-owner, Chez Zee |
| Dorsey Barger, co-owner, East Side Cafe |
| Cara O’Brien, co-owner, Si Bon |
| Peggy Weiss, co-owner, Jeffrey’s, Shoreline Grill |
| Erica Brown, co-owner, Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Zoot, Dolce Vita, Manga |
| Amelia Rey-Shannon, co-owner, Austin Java Company |
| Theresa Mertens, co-owner, Austin Land & Cattle Company |
| Jennifer Koury, co-owner, Manuel’s, Changos |
| Sybile Rochambeau, co-owner, Chez Nous |
| Denise Salles, co-owner, Jean-Luc’s French Bistro |
| Suzi Yi, co-owner, Suzi’s China Kitchen, Suzi’s China Grill |
| Carol Buchanan, co-owner, Assorted Affairs Catering |
| Evelyn Talmadge, co-owner, Captain Quackenbush’s |
| Carol Ann Sayle, co-owner, Boggy Creek Farm |
| Sarah Bolton, cheesemaker/co-owner, Pure Luck Organics, Dripping Springs |
| Jonnie Stansbury, chef/innkeeper, Blair House Inn, Wimberley |
| Anne Welch, winemaker, Hill Country Cellars, Cedar Park |
This article appears in August 21 • 1998 and August 21 • 1998 (Cover).