{"id":629,"date":"2015-12-04T20:41:20","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T01:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/?p=629"},"modified":"2025-07-26T17:28:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T21:28:21","slug":"qa-monica-pope-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/qa-monica-pope-85\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Monica Pope \u201985"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goucher Magazine: Briefly describe your career (what you do, where you do it, why you do it).
\n<\/strong>Monica Pope: From Goucher College, I worked for a year in the kitchens of The Belvedere Hotel and saved money to backpack around Europe for 3 years. I opened my restaurant in Houston, Texas, my home, in 1992, having said when I was 17 I was going to open a restaurant and change the way Houston eats. I have been given credit for inspiring and realizing a local food scene in Houston.<\/p>\n

What has been your biggest professional accomplishment?
\n<\/strong>I’ve had lots of career awards and accolades such as Beard Awards and F&W Best New Chef award but my greatest career achievement will be my memoir (memories, stories of the last 53 years) called Eating Hope.<\/p>\n

Personal accomplishment?
\n<\/strong>My daughter, Lili.<\/p>\n

How did Goucher prepare you for your career?
\n<\/strong>My major at Goucher was English Lit with an emphasis in creative writing. I got honors on my thesis. I use that degree everyday!<\/p>\n

What is your most vivid Goucher memory?
\n<\/strong>My most vivid memory is making bread in the dorm kitchenette, cottage cheese and pizza, and drinking toasted almond liqueur by the stables!<\/p>\n

How do you stay connected to the college?
\n<\/strong>Lots of Goucher girls down here keep me in the loop.<\/p>\n

When in Houston, stop by Sparrow Bar<\/a>. Elsewhere, follow @monicapope<\/a> on Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chef and owner of Sparrow Bar and Cookshop<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":312,"featured_media":508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[54973,56332],"tags":[55802],"ppma_author":[87524],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","category-women-of-goucher","tag-web-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nQ&A: Monica Pope \u201985 | Goucher Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/qa-monica-pope-85\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&A: Monica Pope \u201985 | Goucher Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chef and owner of Sparrow Bar and Cookshop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/qa-monica-pope-85\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Goucher Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-05T01:41:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-26T21:28:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2015\/10\/Lola_Spotlight_500-300x300-e1449251689324.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kristen K. Pinheiro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Landers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/qa-monica-pope-85\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/qa-monica-pope-85\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Landers\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.goucher.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ef504ed2ab0c7dbae6f691953a48467\"},\"headline\":\"Q&A: Monica Pope 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