Fine dining in a wood-fired oven at Crown Point Square? Find out more here

Cook of Steel: Chris Pappas

Title: Chef/Owner of Provecho in Crown Point

Location: 110 S. Main St., Crown Point, IN 46307

No wonder Chris Pappas is so dangerous in the kitchen. He was trained by the CIA.

That, of course, is the Culinary Institute of America. Pappas studied at the institute's Hudson Valley campus in Hyde Park, NY, interned in the Bay Area and returned to NWI to take over the family restaurant business.

Today he is the chef and owner of Provecho Latin Provisions, one of the most exciting restaurants on Crown Point's historic downtown square.

The wheels were already turning when photographer John Watkins and I visited Pappas in Provecho’s kitchen.

Visible from the dining area, these visually striking wheels are part of an impressive and exquisite Argentinian charcoal grill. Pappas rotates the mechanism to raise and lower the cooking grates depending on the desired heat level.

Pappas is fascinated by the history of regional foods and cooking styles, and he said many of the more familiar dishes on Provecho's shareable menu — like habanero guacamole or short rib tacos — are designed to allow diners to slowly ease into the more extensive offerings.

“A lot of people come in and have no idea what to expect,” Pappas said. “You can lure them in with a familiar ingredient.”

A guest, Pappas says, may not be familiar with tamales, but sees that it contains pork or beef, and so is willing to try it. And if they end up enjoying it – Pappas is certain of this – something special is happening.

“My favorite thing as a chef is to give people their first experience (with a dish),” Pappas said. “You expand their palate and their ideas (about food).”

It didn't take much to entice me to expand my own palate. The afternoon we visited Provecho, we had freshly prepared Spanish octopus cooked over the fire.

It's Pappas' favorite dish on the menu, and Provecho's octopus is served with colorful finger potatoes, grilled zucchini, and a sauce mix based on almond and tomato picada and salsa de molcajete with saffron olive oil, garlic, parsley, and cilantro.

I developed a lasting aversion to squid when I first tried some just over 10 years ago, in a self-service restaurant in Sydney, Australia, that was something of a tourist trap. The sauce couldn't overcome the feeling that I was chewing on a rubbery squid toy.

The food Pappas prepared was definitely not like that. He won me over. The tentacle meat marinated in mojo de ajo had a nice crust and was firm but tender, almost like swordfish. Definitely not rubbery, and the juice from the grilled lemons on the plate was definitely worth squeezing.

The key to grilling a good octopus, Pappas explained, is not to rush it. Provecho's octopuses go through a slow process until they're ready to serve. The meat is first braised at a low temperature and slowly for at least 45 minutes.

“It's ready when you can take a tentacle and pierce it with just two fingers,” Pappas said.

When the octopus – and all meat at Provecho – is ready to grill, it is placed in a circulating hot water bath to speed up the cooking process.

And then the fire is fueled with cherry and oak wood.

Pappas, who has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, said he loves seeing how similar ingredients, like plantains, are used in different countries. Often, “cool things happen with geography,” depending on how mountainous a country is, whether it has no access to the sea or a lush coastline.

“I really like the history,” Pappas said. “Rice, beans, salsa: Those three ingredients didn't exist before (the Colombian era). Latin America would never be what it is without (the cultural and historical influence of) food.”

And thanks to chefs like Pappas, the dining landscape of Crown Point and NWI will never be the same again.

Papas On cutting his (pork?) chops in California: “I got the opportunity to work with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. I basically put off going back to school because I ended up enjoying it so much. I was there unpaid for a year and did a few jobs on the side to pay for room and board. I lived across the street from the restaurant in a room in an old woman's house.”

Pappas' Favorite food country: Belize. But Pappas says he has traveled all over Latin America, including Mexico. Next, he plans to visit Costa Rica later this year.

Pappas on his role as part of the renaissance of fine dining in Crown Point: “There was nothing here a few years ago. It's been fun to be part of a new movement, of changing the place. It's rewarding to have a restaurant where I was born and raised. There were some teething issues. But Crown Point is a great place to have a business and raise a family. The downtown area attracts a lot of people moving to NWI.”

PaOther projects by ppas: Pappas operates three restaurants, a food truck and a catering company under the Meraki Hospitality Group umbrella.

When Pappas returned to Crown Point with his CIA degree, he took over his father's Crown Point restaurant, Pappas Restaurant and Bar, which had originally been founded in 1971.

After opening Provecho, Pappas also opened a more casual Japanese noodle cafe, Ramen District, housed in Crown Point's historic courthouse, right in the middle of the square.

Pappas Catering now offers all catering services, including weddings, at Crown Point's historic courthouse.

Over the past decade, Pappas' company has grown from 30 employees to over 250. Although Pappas says it's “not ideal” to be moving further and further away from the kitchen itself, he loves his employees and is proud to have created a sustainable business amid the often fickle restaurant scene.

“There can be chaos,” Pappas said of the culinary world, “but there can also be fun times.”