Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Hicks.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Erin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I owned and operated a Tex-Mex restaurant in Corpus Christi, in my twenties. I had never worked in the restaurant industry before that. It was the hardest work I ever did. I used to jokingly say that it was punishment for something bad that I did, in a prior life. Lol. Since then, I’ve had an interior design business, that focused mostly on residential work, in the beginning. I started writing cookbooks about seven years ago, that feature recipes from Houston chefs, and as I was spending lots of time in restaurants, my design business focus has changed to hospitality.
My work encompasses wearing many different hats. I love designing and the restaurant ‘families’ I pick up along the way. There’s special bonding that happens when you build something together. Because I also do a little food and wine writing, and have done so many cookbooks, I also get to be involved in lots of the tasting (food, wine, and cocktails) along the way. That doesn’t suck. I wrote four books in just a few years, and then the last book, Houston Soups & Sips, took almost as long to complete as the first four (because of my restaurant design jobs).
My books are collections of my favorite recipes, from all over the city, which I scale down, and home-kitchen test, (if I can do it, you can do it)! And the books are a ton of work, it’s not near as simple as just getting a chef’s recipe and putting it in a book. Recipes come in I love the pairing aspect of my last two books. In Houston Small Plates & Sips, I pair each recipe with wine, beer, and cocktail, and all of the cocktail recipes are in the back of the book. Soups & Sips includes just wine and beer pairings – why wouldn’t you want to have the perfect accompaniment to go with the dish you’ve labored to prepare??
Of all of my books, I think my small plates and sips book is my favorite. It’s the first book that I self-published, and I was divorcing my photographer husband at the time, so I bought a camera on eBay and shot a good amount of the book myself. It was frightening, but also very liberating. Each recipe has a wine, beer, and a cocktail pairing. There’s often a lot of drinking that goes on during a divorce, so it was kind of perfect timing, in that regard. Let’s just say, there are definitely some extra cocktail recipes in that book.
I ventured into restaurant design after writing a few of the cookbooks. I’d had a design business before I started writing the books, but that was mostly residential focused. My restaurateur ex-boyfriend had signed a lease on a space but was so busy with his other restaurant, he had little time to get the design going, so I just jumped in. That space became Brooklyn Athletic Club.
Probably the most fulfilling design project so far is Helen Greek Food & Wine in Rice Village. It’s the first space that I did that got national attention, and I did the job in just thirty-one days. That’s never happened before, and I’m sure will never happen again. One of my best friends died in the middle of it, and one of my best girlfriend’s mother died, too. It was a very emotional time and I just prayed that all the design decisions I made were good. Luckily, they worked out.
The restaurants that I have worked on are: Brooklyn Athletic Club, El Big Bad, Glass Wall, Helen Greek Food & Wine, Arthur Ave., Helen in the Heights, FM Kitchen & Bar, Lowbrow, and a few others. I’m currently working on a board game cafe that will be opening in the Heights next year.
I’ve been in business for myself for twenty-five years now, and have recreated myself several times. It hasn’t always been easy. People think that owning a restaurant is glamorous. That cracks me up. It’s one of the hardest businesses to make money in and it’s not in any way easy. I’ve had a couple of businesses that have failed but have finally parlayed my work to encompass all the things I love: food, wine, and design. I tell my clients that I’m a better designer, if I have a glass of bubbles in hand. One of them says my slogan should be ‘Pour me a drink and give me a hammer’. Lol.
I truly believe that food is medicine, and everything you put in your mouth either fights disease, or feeds it. I’m a super freak about what I eat – no GMOs, sustainable, mostly organic, only grass-fed/pastured meats, wild-caught seafood – and so I super appreciate the folks that go above and beyond to source that way. I love that many chefs are committed to using higher quality ingredients – you can taste that in the food.
In my spare time (spare time? ha!), I enjoy yoga, and drinking champagne.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.erinhickscooks.com
- Phone: 361-290-9029
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