Ed Moore, is a retired business executive, and his grandson, Jeffrey Moore, is a just getting started, up-and-comer. Ed managed and owned well-known restaurants, and Jeffrey is a chef and partner in a brand new restaurant. Ed remembers the past; Jeffrey looks to the future.
1n 1975 Ed owned a truck stop at the dead end of I-430 when he was asked by a banker, Bill Cravens, to manage one of the most sophisticated restaurants in Arkansas, Jacques & Suzanne. Unfortunately, Jacques and Suzanne Tritten had moved from Switzerland, opened the restaurant and then decided they wanted to go back to Switzerland. The restaurant was 100-percent financed by the bank.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., Ed was raised in Dallas, educated at Hendrix College in Conway in 1954, and married Carolyn, also a Hendrix graduate. They took their son, Mike (now an attorney with Friday, Eldredge & Clark), and moved around a bit with Ed’s position at Humble Oil Co. (Exxon), eventually finding their way back to central Arkansas to be closer to friends and family.
Ed took one look at the restaurant and said yes. The top floor of what was then First National Bank (now Regions Bank) had (and still has) breathtaking views of the State Capitol and the Arkansas River. The banker advised Ed to manage the money and the hiring of kitchen help, and let Paul Bash (a top-notch chef from Montreal) reign over the food and the chefs.
Ed and Paul made good business partnerships. Sensing a decline of J & S in the early 1980s the two opened another restaurant, Graffiti’s, in 1984. They closed J & S in 1986 and opened Alouette’s in 1986, opened 1620 Restaurant in 1988, and opened Purple Cow in 1989.
They made some wrong turns, but they also recovered and sold several of the restaurants they started. Many of the chefs and even the kitchen workers from J & S ended up running their own restaurants, continuing to bring exquisite food and wines to Little Rock. Ed has so many fond memories.
Jeffrey Moore is a chef, trained at The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago; and he is a partner with Nancy Tesmer at the new breakfast and brunch restaurant, B-Side, that they both created. Jeffrey can only imagine the future.
When Jeffrey was just a kid he wanted to be a pro football player (middle linebacker). Football’s loss was the culinary world’s gain when the 12-year-old’s first job was working at King’s One Stop out on Highway 10, stocking shelves and making sandwiches and such.
“Going to culinary school wasn’t really a decision as much as something that just came somewhat naturally to me,” Jeffrey said. “I had been working in kitchens in high school and after, and figured that if I wanted to accelerate the pay grade, I needed to go to culinary school.”
What did his grandfather, Ed, say when Jeffrey told him? “When I told him I wanted to cook for a living, he told me I was insane,” he said. “But I’ve learned (from his grandfather) that if you take care of all the little things, the big things have a way of taking care of themselves.”
“I love to see the satisfaction on the customer’s face. There are not many jobs where you can complete or create something and actually get to see its impact on the consumer of your product,” he says. “My culinary focus is tasty food.”
Moore on Your Plate
Soirée: What is your favorite restaurant in the world? What do you order there?
Jason Moore: Villa Palermo in Chicago. 18″ thin crust pepperoni with a side of giardiniera.
Ed Moore: Tarantino’s Restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Abalone steak was my favorite.
What dish most reminds you of home and why?
JM: Banana nut bread. My dad made a ton of it every holiday season.
EM: Pecan pies and butter cookies at Christmastime.
What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten?
JM: Durian fruit. Stinkiest thing on earth.
EM: Steak tartare.
Is there anything you never, ever want to eat again?
JM: Durian fruit.
EM: No.
Favorite dish to make and eat? Do you have a signature dish?
JM: My favorite thing to make for myself is swordfish and potato curry. I don’t like the idea of “signature” dishes so, no, I do not have one.
EM: I don’t like to cook at all, never have. Carolyn is a very good cook; everything she cooks is good. I cook hamburgers out on the grill and that’s about it. I’d walk a mile for oysters on the half shell though. The thing I liked the most at J & S was the chateaubriand with an escoffier sauce. It was a treat, plus the maitre d would carve it table side, which made it special.
Favorite kitchen tool?
JM: Spoons. Big spoons.
What are three things you always have in your refrigerator at home?
JM: Beer, water, and empty space.
What are your favorite foods to work with?
JM: Herbs. Someone once told me, “when in doubt, herb it out”. I took that to heart.
Is there anything you absolutely refuse to cook with?
JM: White pepper. It smells like a dirty horse in a zoo.