Walking into Ruby Ladle feels surprisingly ordinary. If you read up on it beforehand, maybe to check the updated menu, you’ll find the name Chef Michael Smith followed by a lengthy trail of certifications: Certified Executive Chef, Certified Culinary Administrator, Member of the Epicurean World Master Chef Society and on and on. At one point, Smith was the most certified chef in the state.
However, rather than his elite chef status translating into an upscale fine dining establishment with exotic specialties, Smith’s vision fits better under a different definition.
“We’re casual fine dining on a poor man’s budget,” Smith said. “Our intent is to be that neighborhood eatery that’s here 25 years from now, [where] people have enjoyed their birthdays and anniversaries and family get-togethers. We wanted a place that we would love to go to, get a good dinner and talk. We want to be part of the community, part of the neighborhood, and not be just a restaurant.”
After almost 30 years making a home for himself in kitchens across Corpus Christi, Chef Smith now finds himself running his own. In a project spearheaded by his wife, Chef Jessica Chappell, the two chefs spent the last year training wait staff, tweaking menu language and making Ruby Ladle as approachable as possible. Drawing on years of fine-dining experience, the pair have created a restaurant where a guest can order either pan-seared duck or a bowl of gumbo without any hesitation.
Smith’s career began in the back-of-house of family friends’ restaurants in his hometown of Victoria at age 12. Cooking was simply the trade he fell into, the job he had to work, and he would be foolish not to work hard to become better at it. His drive made him executive chef at the country club in Victoria at only 17 years old, potentially becoming the youngest executive chef in the state. Even then, it took a few more years until he considered culinary school.
“I was probably in my early 20s when I had a general manager come up to me and said, ‘You’re better than you think you are. You need to go to culinary school,’” Smith remembered. “I didn’t have any money; I was a broke kid. The members of Victoria Country Club put a fund together and paid for my first year of tuition, some housing for me and actually sent me to culinary school.”
Smith credits mentors for much of his success, but his competitiveness fueled the rest. Determined to be “better than the guy next to me,” he sought work in kitchens across Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, knocking on the doors of chefs with printed features in the local paper and begging them for a job—or even to let him come in and work for free, just to pick up on techniques. He started culinary school with five years of industry experience and continued working full-time at the Austin Country Club throughout his two-year degree.
Arriving in Corpus Christi in the late 1990s, Smith quickly became a familiar figure in the culinary community through his work with the Texas Chefs Association, Texas Restaurant Association and local kitchens. Across decades, Smith built lifelong relationships throughout the industry, all of which slowly culminated in the opening of his first truly successful venture in the standalone restaurant world: Ruby Ladle.
Chappell often serves as Smith’s biggest advocate, setting up interviews and pushing him toward the spotlight when possible. Within a week of her setting her sights on a restaurant, they signed a five-year lease.
“We didn’t really think about it, but I had a lot of faith,” she said. “If we can’t figure it out, no one can.”
Since its opening, both Smith and Chappell have fallen into a steady rhythm as business partners: Chappell handling the homely, friendly front-of-house presence, and Smith perfecting each dish that leaves his window. The rotating menu of weekly specials focuses on ingredients indigenous to the Coastal Bend, hoping to uplift and highlight our wild game, native spices and old-school recipes. Throughout it all, their greatest joy remains “to educate the customer and let them experience things without being intimidated,” said Smith. “To expand their horizons and be here to answer questions: ‘What is this, chef? How is it prepared?’”
More than accolades or certifications, Smith hopes Ruby Ladle becomes a staple of Corpus Christi’s dining scene and a place where young chefs can cut their teeth. After a career built on mentorship, he now hopes to pay that investment forward to the next generation of cooks. Success now looks simpler: a neighborhood restaurant still serving its community long after he’s gone.
Contact: facebook.com/rubyladle | 5625 Saratoga Blvd., Ste. 117
