Houston chef taking Southern foodways flavors to Croatia

Croatia's cuisine very much echoes the food of its neighbors: goulash and stewed meats from Hungary; pizza, pasta and risotto from Italy; schnitzel and strudel from Austria. And, of course, it enjoys the seafood bounty from its 3,600 miles of Adriatic seafront.

But it's safe to say it's a country that probably wouldn't know from a good slab of barbecue pork ribs.

That should change when chef Chris Williams of Lucille's restaurant in Houston's Museum District takes his signature dishes to Zagreb, Croatia. Invited by the U.S. Embassy as the featured chef for its Route 66 Festival, Williams will prepare American Southern food and cook at a Lucille's pop-up restaurant on Friday and Saturday at Zagreb's Museum of Contemporary Art.

The trip to Croatia (he's the only chef the embassy invited) is more than just culinary diplomacy. It presents an opportunity to introduce an international audience to the cuisine of his maternal great-grandmother - chef, educator and businesswoman Lucille Bishop Smith - for whom his restaurant is named. A graduate of Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, Smith gained fame as a home economist, restaurateur, innovator and culinary powerhouse famous in Fort Worth for her chili biscuits that were once served on American Airlines. She published a cookbook, "Lucille's Treasure Chest of Fine Foods," and, according to "Legendary Ladies of Texas" by Francis Edward Abernethy, invented the first hot-biscuit mix on the market.

"It's really a testament to her," the 36-year-old chef said. "I love that her 100-year-old recipes are going global."

For the festival, Williams will make a variety of Southern staples, including fried chicken and barbecue pork ribs. For the restaurant pop-up, he plans to take advantage of the country's abundance of fresh seafood and may create variations of dishes from his restaurant, including whole fried fish with fresh basil maque choux and roasted grouper with Johnnycake and marinated heirloom tomatoes.

He definitely plans to serve shrimp and grits and Lucille's famous hot rolls and chili biscuits.

"We've already started promoting the festival and Chris' cooking and people here are really excited about it, especially the baby back ribs," Elizabeth Blumenthal, cultural affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, said via email. "There is a lot of interest here in American cuisine, but beyond burgers, not much is available in Croatia, so we're looking forward to giving people a taste of real American food."

Williams' invitation to Croatia came about by conversations he had with the embassy, which was looking for a culinary component to add to its annual Route 66 Festival. Williams' brother, C. Brian Williams, had a relationship with the embassy in Zagreb through his work as founder of Step Afrika!, a Washington, D.C., dance company that has toured worldwide. C. Brian Williams suggested the embassy contact his chef brother, and soon Chris Williams was on board.

His participation will go beyond duties for the festival and pop-up. Williams was invited to give lectures, cook at private homes, do television and radio interviews and work with local chefs on special collaborations. After his nine-day visit to Croatia, Williams will travel to Slovenia, Albania and Serbia for other chef collaborations and events. He said "the dialogue just kept going" after the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb announced his visit. "As chefs, we're all connected and all grabbing inspiration from each other," he said. "I'd never turn down this opportunity."

Williams said he's looking forward to his Eastern European tour not just as an opportunity to learn from fellow chefs but to expose foodies in the countries he's visiting to African-American food that his great-grandmother cooked with such skill. Southern foodways, a hot trend nationally, is gaining more interest globally, especially where barbecue is concerned.

Southern food, Williams said, is "more than anything, honest food. There are no tricks. It's honest-to-goodness true food. At the heart, it's the simplicity of the ingredients."

Food and nutrition journalist Toni Tipton-Martin of Austin, co-founder and president of the board of directors of Foodways Texas, said she appreciates that Smith's legacy to African-American culinary history is being recognized. "I'm thrilled, obviously, that Lucille Bishop Smith is getting this recognition and that it's coming through a family member," said Tipton-Martin, whose upcoming publication, "The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks," celebrates the contributions of African-American cooks to American cuisine and culture.

Smith will be honored at the Soul Summit, a gathering of the nation's top African-American chefs, food historians, writers and scholars to be held June 19-21 in Austin. The symposium is being organized by Tipton-Martin, who included Smith in her "Jemima Code" to be published this fall by University of Texas Press.

In July, Williams will hold a special dinner at Lucille's to showcase the foods and flavors from his trip. In August, Lucille's will mark its third anniversary.

The first several days he's in Croatia, Williams said he'll be busy assembling the foods he'll need for the festival events, some of which will already be pre-sourced for him. But he's not taking any chances where his grits are concerned. He's packing his own stone-ground corn.

"They said, 'We have cornmeal here,' " Williams said. "I told them I would be bringing my own."