10 Questions With Marcia W. Smart

Katie Kime recently attended a Presenter's Dinner at a Southern C event in Round Top, Texas hosted by none other than Marcia W. Smart. Marcia is a talented culinary instructor, owner of Smart in the Kitchen School, and author of the cookbook Dinner is Done. Her goal is to help you make good, seasonal, and simple meals for your family and friends. Originally a California girl, she's now living in Houston with her husband and three children.

Hi, Marcia! Tell us a little about you and what you do.

I’m a professional culinary instructor, write a newsletter on Substack, maintain my website Smart in the Kitchen, and run an online cooking school. I occasionally host brand events and retreats at my event space, Kitchenette Farm. I started my career as a journalist working for magazines in New York and eventually moved to San Francisco and attended a professional culinary program. I wanted to work as a food editor and needed a culinary degree. During culinary school, I realized I loved to assist the visiting chefs. I started working part-time, assisting with cooking classes at the school I attended and eventually co-teaching a six-week Basics course there. I’ve been teaching cooking classes ever since, while also working as a food editor, restaurant critic and on-camera food expert over the years. Besides my cookbook, Dinner is Done, I’ve published articles and recipes for Cooking Light, Sunset, Parenting, Robb Report, The Houston Chronicle and others.

When did you first fall in love with cooking?

With my grandparents. They had a small vegetable garden in the back of their house. Making a salad with them meant walking out back to pick whatever looked good. I took the assignment very seriously and would style the vegetables in intricate patterns; my grandmother would take photos with her little camera and send them off to Walgreens to get developed. We lived a couple of hours apart, so she’d always mail them to me after a visit. I joke that it was like the snail mail version of Instagram. I always wear a gold chicken bone charm around my neck that reminds me of her. It was our thing. She would send me a perfectly cleaned and gently tissue-wrapped chicken bone wherever I lived: Athens on my semester abroad, New York, San Francisco. It was a message of good luck. I hope I have that relationship with my grandkids one day.

What’s your go-to meal to make right now?

I never have one go-to meal because I teach dozens of new recipes weekly and always develop new recipes for my Substack and Instagram. One recent favorite is the Baked Chicken Meatballs I shared with Substack subscribers. They are SO good and fast.

Top 3 restaurant meals that come to mind?

A candlelit Italian dinner at Racines the last night my daughter lived in Paris during college, a sumptuous Indian dinner and gin cocktails at Gymkhana for my 50th birthday in London, and dorado-style Carnitas tacos piled with guacamole at La Taqueria in San Francisco’s mission district.

What is your business superpower? 

Loving what I do.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Hire A+ employees. Marie Flanigan told me that once. It takes your business from chugging along to skyrocketing.

What is a skill you’re currently working on? 

Systems that will make me work smarter, not harder. For example, a color-coded content spreadsheet that maps out cooking class themes, sponsored post deadlines for Instagram, recipes mapped out two months in advance for Substack, and general newsletter themes.

Where is your favorite place to be? 

I have a severe case of wanderlust and love to travel. I share travel guides on my Substack, as well as recipes and cooking tips. If it’s not Paris or the South of France, it’s my farm near Round Top or the mountains of Idaho.

What is the last book you bought…cookbook or otherwise?

I love to read and I share my latest finds in a weekly email called Friday Favorites on Substack. I’m savoring Ina’s memoir while also reading Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.

What inspires you right now?

Travel. Hands down. It keeps me sharp, inspires me to try new flavors and recipes, and gets me out of my routine. I just got back from a quick work weekend in New York (I wrote about it here) but I was able to sneak in time with my family at jazz clubs and try new restaurants. I want to recreate a simple tri colore salad from San Sabino with a green garlic dressing and crunchy toasted breadcrumbs and nori. Next up, Nola for Taylor Swift and then Paris in January with my husband. Can’t wait!