As a Baylor freshman who started taking in the Summer semester right after his 1993 graduation from high school, Randy Evans lived off-campus and found himself cooking for his roommates. As he attended classes, the VCR in his apartment worked overtime recording cooking shows at a time when there was no Food Network. His show of choice was the Great Chefs series on the Discovery Channel.
Randy was planning to major in Biology with a Chemistry minor, and recalls, “My sister and brother-in-law were doctors and I figured that was a better direction than working in my dad’s machine shop in Willis, Texas.”
But cooking has been a big part of his life growing up. Vacations revolved around “where are we going to eat. Mom baked a lot, and I liked to bake.” And when he went home on weekends, he’d go over to his sister’s new house with the big kitchen and cook for them because “it meant I could eat for free.”
He almost changed his major during the fall semester to Chemistry with a minor in History but said, “I couldn’t see myself as a professor or teacher or sitting in a lab.”
And then his girlfriend, who lived in Houston, took him to the Galleria mall over spring break.
Well, sort of.
“She was driving, which was a bit strange,” Evans recalls. “And then she pulled into the Art Institute of Houston (a school of culinary arts). I was sold hook, line, and sinker. I loved the cooking labs and tasting. I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”
So he went home, put a pork roast in the oven, and delivered the news to his parents that he wanted to leave Baylor for cooking school.
“I thought it would be a slam dunk, but the conversation didn’t go well,” he said. “Keep in mind this was the mid-90s. There were no cooking shows, no rock-star chefs. My dad kept saying I was going to be a cook. He didn’t get it when I said I was going to be a chef; he thought I should just come to work for him.”
Randy learned the business over 13 months at the Macaroni Grill in the Woodlands before moving to the upscale Brennan’s creole restaurant in Houston, taking a $2 per hour pay cut to prepare salads. He was living at home, driving an hour to school early in the morning before going to work at 3 pm and getting home around midnight.
After being there four years, fate intervened with his plan to move to Las Vegas to work at a new Brennan’s. The Houston restaurant’s sous chef was leaving and he was quietly grooming Randy to take his place. By age 28, he was the executive chef at Brennan’s, earning local acclaim for lightening up the menu at the family-owned restaurant and was named a semifinalist for a James Beard regional “Rising Star” award.
In 2006, he wrote award-winning cookbook “The Kitchen Table”, which took him out of the kitchen for six months (“I thought they were giving me a ghost writer; that was not the case.”).
And then, two years later, Hurricane Ike swept through Houston and Brennan’s was gutted by fire. Faced with the prospect of a 16-18 month rebuild, Evans decided to start his own restaurant called Haven that would embrace the growing Farm to Market concept. Haven composted its green waste and had gardens out back with citrus trees.
“There’s nothing better than pulling something out of the ground, cleaning it off, and cooking it. We were butchering whole pigs – nose to tail – and using our own oranges and lemons right after we picked them.”
Haven made a number of top new restaurant lists, but that came at a price to work-family balance. He was rarely home, even with a newborn and 3-year-old. And then in 2014, his partner became ill and started liquidating everything.
He offered Evans the chance to buy the restaurant, but Randy decided a $3-5 million loan would add “too heavy a burden” to his already full plate. After consulting for a while on new restaurant concepts, he accepted a full-time job offer from one of his clients, H-E-B, to be the director and executive chef of restaurants.
In that role, Evans oversees the operation and menu development for five H-E-B restaurants throughout Texas, including: Austin (Café Mueller), Houston (Table 57), San Antonio (Oaks Crossing), Lakeway (Table 620), and Schertz (3 Double-o 9 Restaurant). Each store restaurant has slightly different menus to reflect regional preferences.
After this interview, Evans was headed downstairs to H-E-B’s test kitchens in San Antonio where 20 chefs – a few of them well-known thanks to TV cooking shows – were testing recipes.
“H-E-B is serious about food, about being more than a retailer,” he says. “We want to be part of the future of culinary arts.”
Even though he didn’t get his Baylor degree, Evans still sees himself as “a Baylor guy.”
“My time at Baylor made me a better chef because I learned how to study. The research on old methods of cooking and traditional dishes has been a cornerstone to my cooking style,” he says.
His nephew earned his Baylor degree and is working on his master’s; his two nieces are attending. And his daughters, now ages 10 and 7, talk about Baylor saying “when I go there…”
And as for his parents, as concerned as they were about his decision to leave Baylor, they’re proud of all he has accomplished.
“My dad used to make reservations for the [acclaimed Brennan’s] Kitchen Table because he liked to watch me cook,” he says. “I used my mom’s baking recipes at Haven.”
As for that girlfriend who changed his life direction, Melanie has been his wife of 19 years. And when she complains about his hours, he reminds her all this was her idea.
“She saw I was happy cooking,” he says. “I wasn’t talking about school; I was talking about cooking shows. And she wanted me to be happy. And I am.”
When I’m at home, I normally cook … Pretty normal everyday eats. Most people think chefs cook these elaborate meals on a daily basis for their family. I cook a variety of things from burgers to Japanese style Tare Chicken with fried rice. I cook at home based on my mood and cravings. When the first cold snap hits, I always want braised short ribs and when spring rolls around I fire up a crawfish boil.
The lessons I’ve learned over the years that I’ve brought to both my work and home cooking are … Season and taste. I think this is where the home cook usually makes a mistake. Cooking is all about understanding the palate and how our five senses of taste plays an essential role in how we decide if a dish is good or bad. It is about a balance of salty, sweet, sour and bitter as well as the idea of umami, that elusive fifth taste that is seldom discussed.
The thing most people notice first about my kitchen is … The size of my island. When we moved to Boerne the first remodel project was to install a single 4’x11′ single slab island. I have room to do my cut work and still interact with my friends and family sitting on the other side. I can have an entire spread of snacks while still preparing for the main course.
The kitchen tool I can’t live without … I love my Kunz spoon! The spoon was created by a well-known chef Gary Kunz. It is the perfect size for all of the jobs in the kitchen from stirring, mixing, tasting and even turning fish and meat in the pan.
In my pantry, you’ll always find … Salt …. I mean all kinds of salt from different types of sea salts, truffle salts, herb salts to the go-to Kosher salt. Salt is the most necessary ingredient in cooking flavorful food. I collect … cookbooks and chef knives. I love looking through old books from the early 20th century. I believe the way a culture eats is a perfect window into the true expression of that group of people.
On weekends, I like to cook … Outside. I have an offset smoker, a kamado grill and a gas grill. I will throw a brisket or pork shoulder on the smoker early morning for dinner that night or cook burgers. Our family loves spending time outside enjoying the Hill Country weather.
When I entertain, I like to make … A bunch of small bites so people can graze while I am in the kitchen cooking. Chicken liver pate and pepper jelly are amazing together on a piece of crusty baguette. I typically do not follow a style of cooking when I have people over.
My favorite cooking “trick” is … Hollandaise in the Vita-Mix blender. I think this sauce is one of the most difficult for home cooks to execute, but the Vita-Mix make it a no-brainer.
The books I cook from over and over again are … Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen from 1984. It is the basis for many of the techniques and methods I still use today. My daughters always want me to cook a dish from my book, The Kitchen Table. On Valentine’s Day, which is my 10-year-old’s birthday, she wanted the duck confit pot pie for dinner.
The one thing I HAVE to serve at every family get-together or party is … Grilled okra. It is so simple, even folks who hate okra love this dish. (Recipe on page 25)
What’s the most difficult thing for you to cook/create in the kitchen? Cooking in small portions. I have grown accustomed to cooking in batches of several gallons, so two quarts of soup is always difficult.
My favorite person to cook with … My daughters Delaney and Sadie. I love watching their palates grow and see their knife skills progress. I taught them how to use a knife at s years old. It is all about technique and the right size knife. I have a 4″ chef knife that they use.
My favorite cooking show on TV is … I do not watch many cooking shows anymore, but I do like Mind of a Chef. It really taps into the history of food and what gets a chef excited about cooking. You can tell it is about the chef not about the producer.
