|
Above:
Porcini “Pot Roast.” Available at
Max's Wine Dive. |
|
Above:
Married three years, Jones stretches his day to include time with his wife, Holly, and 6-month-old daughter, Kyra, who’s eyeing her dad’s St. Arnold’s root beer float. |
|
|
|
|
Above: The Tasting Room's CDC Pizza
chef jonathon jones
progresses from pizza chain to the tasting room wine cafes
and now max’s wine dive
BY janice schindler
Photography by sylvester garza
La Porte native Jonathon Jones, culinary director for the Tasting Room Wine Cafes and executive chef for the just-opened Max’s Wine Dive, has come full circle.
As a teen-ager, he worked a deal with his mom. He could drive her car on the weekends if he would pay for the additional car insurance. Driven by this incentive, he secured a job. “It was with one of the pizza chains, I don’t even remember which one,” says the 35-year-old chef. “I never dreamed at that time I would make a career out of it.”
Now at the sophisticated Tasting Rooms, Jones’ boutique pizzas are the star attraction. “I started with pizzas 20 years ago and look, I’m still doing pizzas,” Jones says with a laugh, although the C.D.C. pizza with its chipotles, dried cherries and duck sausage bears little resemblance to his pizzas of yesteryear.
With the wisdom of hindsight and a culinary degree from Houston’s Art Institute under his belt, Jones recalls his first kitchen experience as not really cooking.
“Everything was processed. We got the big buckets of dough, sausage that looked like rabbit pellets. It was kinda gross. The job was definitely a way to make a living. I never at that time thought it would transfer to a career.”
But Jones was hooked. As his life played out, many seemingly insignificant factors melded together to create his current world-based, comfort-food style that has evolved into the menus at the Tasting Rooms and Max’s Wine Dive.
At one point he found himself working at Mario’s Flying Pizza in Seabrook, where he learned how to make pizzas from scratch. Raised by working parents, Jones spent endless after-school hours with his Spanish-speaking next-door neighbors, so he grew up bilingual. And thanks to his Dutch stepfather, he nurtured an appreciation for ethnic foods.
Here he graciously shares a pizza recipe and a short rib dish with you. Click on the recipes link below.
COOKING AT HOME recipes
The Tasting Room Wine Cafe — Uptown Park
1101-18 Uptown Park Blvd., 713.993.9800
The Tasting Room Wine Cafe — Midtown
114 Gray, 713.528.64020
The Tasting Room Wine Cafe — River Oaks
2409 W. Alabama, 713.526.2242.
The C.D.C. Pizza is currently available only at this location.
Max’s Wine Dive
4720 Washington Ave., 713.880.8737.
The Porcini Pot Roast available only at this location.
For recipes and more information, pick up a copy of the current issue of House & Home magazine.
SUBSCRIBE to House&Home now to receive 12 months of home and garden trends and ideas.
PICK US UP at hundreds of locations in Houston, Dallas or contact your local House&Home for location and subscription information.
|
