Cooking on his own terms

When the restaurant Soper’s on M in Washington closed about 10 years ago, it seemed one of D.C.’s great chefs dropped out of sight, only to re-emerge briefly as executive chef at Arlington’s now-defunct Gaffney’s Oyster and Ale House (since relocated to Bethesda). Again, Soper went off the culinary radar.

But the good news is Executive Chef Michael Soper definitely is back in charge, this time overseeing the kitchen at Alexandria’s Union Street Public House, an old-timey place down by the waterfront that draws in locals and tourists alike.

Tall, lean and walking with a slight limp, Soper comes from a line of modest chefs who eschew the limelight and earn their street credibility by dint of hard work and great cooking skills. Arriving in D.C. in the late 1960s to attend Georgetown University, Soper decided he preferred restaurant work to studies and got his first local job at Chadwick’s down by Washington Harbor.

“I really enjoyed the restaurant work as a waiter and a bartender,” he said. “But I got interested in cooking. It was a different era then. I contacted the Post’s reviewer, Donald Dresden, about where I could get a job and he put me in touch with the Culinary Institute of America.”

That was back in the mid-1970s, just when the CIA was making its name in the food world, and its year-and-a-half program gave students credit for work experience.

“I worked there in its fancy dining room that served classic French food,” Soper said. “To me, the best thing was I was a bit older [than fellow students], so I was more focused and the chefs were happy to impart their knowledge.”

With his diploma in hand, Soper started on the first of many jobs, and he remembers his first Thanksgiving dinner when he cooked for an inn in upstate New York.

“I had 30 turkeys, and I had to break them down, roast them and make stock,” he said.

Stressed and running out of time, he remembers augmenting the whipped potatoes with instant mashed potatoes for extra volume. Yes, he said, “I made many mistakes, but I learned a lot.”

Fortunately, Soper was contacted by several Washgintonians with job offers, and he headed back to D.C, where for several years he was a chef at a little saloon in the West End. Serving Italian food and Soper’s own hand-made pastas, the restaurant was a big hit, and it garnered a rave review by Phyllis Richman.

After that stint, Soper moved on to a modern American grill in Georgetown, where he proved his culinary mettle by cooking and serving a flamboyant array of seafood and Southern specialties.

“We served fish, quail, and lamb racks and country ham from Kentucky,” he says. “We even did a gravlax steak, grilled rare,” adding that the place was a bit ahead of its time.

Now years later, and having owned his own restaurant, Soper said he can relax a bit and relish his successes. While Soper is not a culinary hotshot standing in the media’s glare, he definitely can take credit for cooking and serving some of D.C.’s most interesting and creative meals.

As he concludes, “I am now here part time as executive chef,” he says. “Or maybe that is chef emeritus.”

Q&A with chef Michael Soper

What’s your comfort food?

That’s a tough one. Personally probably some good pasta with gravy or meat sauce cooked with a chunk of pork. Then I put ricotta cheese with it and mix it all together.

What’s your approach to cooking?

It’s hands-on, no cans and all fresh. You have got to get into cooking to cook. It drives me nuts to see chefs buy meat that is already broken down. Why else would you be a cook unless it’s to cook? You have to derive some pleasure. I don’t want to raise or catch it, but I do want to do it from scratch

How do you get your inspiration?

Most of what I do are the classics, old-time recipes that have been here so long in the mid-Atlantic region with a few changes.

Which is your favorite cuisine?

French and Italian … but I really like the coastal cuisines where you can get fresh seafood, from New England down to the Chesapeake.

What’s in your fridge?

Not counting leftovers, pickles, ketchup, mayonnaise, water, wine, vegtables, lettuces, but nothing fancy. I make dinner four to five nights a week.

From the Chef’s Kitchen

Plum Tomato Sauce

Chef Soper reports the kitchen still makes this sauce at Union Street Public House; it is delicious over pasta.

Serves 4

12 fresh plum tomatoes, quartered

2 tbsps. olive oil

8 oz. piece pork roast, loin, butt or shoulder

1/2 cup minced onion

2 tbsps. minced garlic

1/2 cup red wine

1 tbsp. dried basil

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

6 oz. tomato paste

1 (28 oz.) can good quality tomatoes, chopped or hand-squeezed

1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and roast the plum tomatoes for 40 minutes. Puree them with 1 cup water. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and brown the pork. Add the onions and garlic and saute until golden. Add the seasonings and the wine and continue to cook for two minutes. Add the pureed tomatoes and the tomato paste, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pork and reserve for another use.