Kathryn Schmitz (Photo by Jay Paul)
With a resume that includes serving as opening manager at Longoven, helming the line at Alewife, cooking at a winery in California’s Napa Valley, studying hospitality in Florence, Italy, and graduating from culinary school, Kathryn Schmitz is an epicurean ace. We caught up with the mind behind the produce-powered pop-up VegTable, who also doubles as the kitchen manager and “sauce boss” at meal planning service Kate UnCorked.
Richmond Magazine: Where are you from and how did you get into the food and beverage field?
Kathryn Schmitz: I’m from Richmond; I grew up in Midlo, and I went to UVA. I threw dinner parties all the time for my friends, always wanted to cook new things, a lot of experimentation. I’ve always been in the hospitality/restaurant industry, for 20 years, basically. I got really into wine, so after college I went and studied wine in Italy, which is the place to do it. In Charlottesville, I worked at Fleurie and Petite Pois, where I was the wine manager. It was such a small space and such a small staff that they started having me do prep and then eventually cooking on the line. If someone called out, I would put a dishwasher shirt on over my server dress and cook, and they were the ones who really encouraged me to go to culinary school. I went to CIA Greystone in Napa, and once I graduated I worked at a farmstead and winery for two years, and then I came back east.
RM: What is the vision behind VegTable?
Schmitz: Whole-vegetable utilization — with vegetables there are so many different ways to play with the flavors; that’s part of why I really got into fermentation. We had all these radish greens that we weren’t using, so I fermented them and dehydrated them, and they taste like seaweed. I make furikake with it. I always like to take something and find another purpose for it, that’s part of the creative aspect I love — any kind of preserving, pickling, jams, hot sauces. I try to be as minimal waste as possible in my own life and businesswise. My food has a lot of herbs and a lot of lemon, and anything with nasturtiums.
During the pandemic I did a lot of cooking with my brother. We would get a bunch of food and cook and drink and hang out. A lot of what we experimented with was different vegetable flavors. We’re such nerds, we would plate it and take pics for fun. It was definitely very inspirational in the direction I’m trying to go with VegTable. I still eat meat and I’m not vegan, and I don’t want it to be exclusively a vegan, vegetarian moment, but just highlighting seasonality and what’s available and working with that.
RM: Do you have any other pop-ups lined up?
Schmitz: [Bartender] Danny [McDermott] and I have another pop-up on Sept. 10 at The Smoky Mug. I’ve always been inspired by places like Lazy Bear in San Francisco, and that kind of setup of almost this underground supper club where it’s this shared experience for everybody. We want it to be very communal and convivial, and cookingwise I’ve always really liked that model. That idea of showing up and no decisions, you just get to sit and enjoy everything from the meal and meet people.
RM: What are some of your goals looking ahead?
Schmitz: I’m still in the journey of figuring out how I transition this into a digestible business model. I would really like to have a retail side. I got my food manufacturing permit from VDACS, so my beet ’nduja is good to sell, and I need to send in more recipes. I like the idea of doing different things with vegetables but having them still be approachable, stuff people can take home and enjoy, but not something you can find everywhere. I love dips, and I want to do some sort of line of dips. The beet ’nduja is great on pasta, toast, pizza, potato salad; it’s very versatile. I get most of my produce from Shine Farms, Tomten Farm or Lopez Farms at the Lakeside Market. I’ve made a charred onion green salsa verde, which would be really good on trout or roasted chicken, and a marigold mustard. I also have a curried tomato jam that I’m making for the ICA; that’s definitely something I want to get out.
