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Charity Challenge spotlight: Working to promote healthy eating habits among children

Recipe for Success children cooking from MacGregor Elementary School

Recipe for Success is combatting childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate and eat their food.

Recipe for Success Foundation / Facebook

Houston's a city of great giving and the CultureMap Charity Challenge aims to highlight that. CultureMap selected 12 deserving nonprofits to compete for a grand prize as they all raise awareness for worthy causes. Today: Recipe for Success.

Recipe for Success Foundation, launched in 2005 by Gracie and Bob Cavnar, envisions a world where healthy eating is the norm and a culture where nutritious food is shared, appreciated, and celebrated, and they're doing a lot to make that happen. The foundation is leading the way in combating childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate and eat their food and by helping the community provide healthier diets for kids.

The organization has developed a comprehensive experiential learning program that makes healthy food fun and promotes healthy eating with books, contests and public awareness campaigns.

Recipe for Success' hands-on curriculum has grown to the largest outreach of its kind in the nation, empowering over 4,000 children each and every month with their evidence-based, signature Seed-to-Plate Nutrition Education. The only initiative in the country of it's scope, the chef-inspired program introduces children to the entire cycle of food — starting in the garden — along with taste and flavor combinations, techniques, nutrition awareness and skills that will serve them for a lifetime, while also empowering them to prepare healthy meals and snacks for themselves. In fact, 30,000 children participated during the first 10 years of the program.

Other initiatives — including the VegOut! Challenge, Farmers MarKIDS, Hope Farms and Eat It! Food Adventures — promote a culture where nutritious food is celebrated.

Vote now for Recipe for Success — or one of the other worthy local nonprofits — in the CultureMap Charity Challenge.

fundraisers

firing up Montrose

New Houston seafood restaurant adds live-fire flair to Japanese flavors

Photo by Becca Wright

Spanish sea bass, scallop crudo, nigiri, bluefin binchotan, and bluefin crudo.

An ambitious new seafood restaurant is coming to Montrose next week. Casa Kenji will open on Tuesday, December 9.

Located in the former Andiron space (3201 Allen Pkwy), Casa Kenji is the first Houston project for New Orleans restaurateur Malachi DuPre, a former LSU standout who played briefly in the NFL before establishing Kenji and Kenji Kazoku restaurants in New Orleans. Together with former LSU teammate John “B-John” Ballis and Houston chef Bigler “Biggie” Cruz, Casa Kenji will blend Latin and Japanese influences while also incorporating live-fire elements into the restaurant’s dishes. Cruz, whose resume includes a lengthy stint at Uchi as well as working at critically acclaimed Houston seafood restaurant Golfstrømmen, tells CultureMap that Casa Kenji’s approach is the first time he can be himself in the kitchen.

“My perfect restaurant was always based on the live fire and sushi combination,” Cruz says. “My mom cooked with wood for my entire life. The live fire creates completely different flavors. The smoky flavors, the sear from the charcoal — they create a different type of memory for me.”

The use of live fire techniques will permeate Casa Kenji’s menus in ways both big and small. For example, diners will be able to feast on prawns grilled directly on charcoal and served with yuzu chili garlic, or savor lightly seared Japanese wagyu tataki paired with mushrooms. Even raw dishes will benefit from the restaurant’s wood-burning grill and stove.

“Every vegetable we peel, we make into an ash that’s a topping for the dishes. It adds a different layer of flavor,” Cruz says. Look for it in the scallop aguachile, among others.

Even vegetables get a smoky component, as in a cabbage dish that’s braised with dashi and soy sauce before being roasted and served with an onion soubise that Cruz says he developed based on techniques he learned from Golfstrømmen chef Christopher Haatuft.

“It’s rich, super savory, with smoky layers, and you get brightness from the shiso gremolata. I think it will be a signature dish for us,” the chef says.

One change to the interior is the addition of a six-seat omakase counter that looks into the kitchen. Cruz promises those diners will have an even more elevated experience than the restaurant’s regular menu, including ingredients such as Japanese wagyu and premium fish flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market.

Beyond its cuisine, Casa Kenji hopes to stand out with its spacious outdoor patio. Since very few Japanese-inspired restaurants in Houston offer outdoor seating, it should appeal to diners who want a little vitamin D along with their tuna crudo.

“We’re proud to showcase the craft and creativity that defines Casa Kenji,” co-founders Cruz, Ballis, and DuPre said in a statement. “With chef Bigler Cruz at the helm — blending live-fire technique with the discipline of Japanese tradition — we’re equally honored and excited to share a unique concept that is truly rooted in passion, culture, and community.”

Casa Kenji will be open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday beginning at 4 pm. Reservations are available on Resy.

Photo by Becca Wright

Spanish sea bass, scallop crudo, nigiri, bluefin binchotan, and bluefin crudo.