Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Fernandez Favreau.
Vanessa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My journey began when my husband Cesar and I got married and decided to start traveling around the world as backpackers, taking some time to breathe about the bad situation in our country Venezuela.
During those years our minds expanded so much, we learn about food, traditions, cultures and the most important, we met people very different than us. But once you start traveling you can’t stop by yourself, so one day, my Cousin and partner Ivan called us and say: guys you need to stop, let’s do something together, what about pizza? And maybe destiny, we received the call while we ate in our favorite pizza place in Italy, so the idea sounds to me like something written in the stars.
I am very passionate about everything I do, so after that decision, my French side awake and I decided to study to be a professional baker, I prepare myself for almost a year and at the same time we worked to get our investment visa and our restaurant ready, we made almost everything by ourselves, since the architecture until the last details, I painted and tiled the walls.
It takes a lot of work to get where we are right now, but I feel blessed every time I see we have more than two hundred five stars reviews between yelp and google, and a recognition from insider magazine as one of the best 25 pizza places in the US, this happening in less than six months is a dream come true…
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Actually, every day is a road full of challenges, but when you love what you do and you really want to do it, you’ll find away. We arrived at the US a year ago, with the project in our hands, ready to deal with a lot of new stuff and also in a different language, but there is no way to grow when things are easy, right? Feels amazing every time you pass a new challenge, no matter what.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Gypsy Poet’s Artisan Pizza is a different option because we try to combine what we like the most from each pizza we tried in our travels around the world, and even when it is pizza, I feel the care that we put in every pie to make it a healthier option. We buy our toppings weekly, everything is really fresh, and we try to offer what we want to eat too. Since it’s our first restaurant we try to accomplish our own needs as clients, we want to offer something different, something that we would die for too.
I use the minimum amount of yeast, to start the fermentation process, then I let the dough in refrigeration for 48-72 hours. The process is called cold fermentation, with the purpose to have amazing flavors, smell and textures. Is also a lighter dough than the regular ones. After eating a whole pizza, you won’t feel like if you had a cheat meal. I do not use any oils in my dough. It is pure rustic bread. I want to keep away the concept of pizza as “cheat food” because if you make it with good products and quality standards, it can be even better than a salad with dressing.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2404 Austin St , Houston TX 77004
- Website: www.thegypsypoet.us
- Phone: (713) 364-3888
- Email: tgp@thegypsypoet.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegypsypoetstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegypsypoetstudio/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-gypsy-poet-houston
Image Credit:
Eugene Drake @eugene_drake
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