CLAIRE SMITH
Shade
Houston, TX
A Houston native, Claire Smith recognized a passion for cooking in her teens and began pursuit of her goal of becoming a chef/owner. After graduating from Rice University, Claire moved to San Francisco and completed the Culinary Arts program at the California Culinary Academy. While living in the San Francisco Bay Area she worked at San Francisco’s legendary vegetarian restaurant, Greens, as well as at the highly acclaimed Oliveto Restaurant in Oakland.
Claire returned to Houston in 1994 and opened the Daily Review Café, where she received national recognition and numerous awards, including Best Up and Coming Chef of 1997 in My Table Magazine, winner of the First Annual Dinner and a Movie Super Chef Cook-Off hosted by Cooking Light Magazine and TBS Superstation, and Esquire Magazine’s Best New Restaurants list.
Claire’s latest venture, SHADE opened to rave reviews in December 2003. SHADE has provided the historic Houston Heights neighborhood with its first serious dining destination. The restaurant is located in a completely renovated classic commercial building in the heart of the 19th Street Business District. It is a contemporary comfortable eatery that highlights a new level of what has been described as “global home cooking”. The menu of well crafted seasonal dishes is attracting supporters to the Heights from all over Houston and beyond. Claire received the Restaurateur of the Year Award from My Table Magazine for 2004 and Shade was named one of the 10 Best New Restaurants in the State in the Texas Monthly February 2005 issue.
