Over his 30-year culinary career, Mark Pulich has learned that, in a turbulent industry rife with fiscal constraints and creative demands, the greatest impediments are often environmental. He has seen opportunities washed away twice by hurricanes before the pandemic dealt a universal blow to the food service industry.
As his restaurant Roasted Clove celebrates one year since opening its brick-and-mortar location, it stands not only as the culmination of Pulich’s ascent to chef-patron, but as a testament to the resilience any gastronomic ambition requires.
Born in South Texas before his family moved to Austin, Pulich started dreaming of being a chef at a young age. He would come home from school and pore over Emeril Lagasse’s shows and the “Great Chefs” series before joining his mother in the kitchen, where they would experiment with a cornucopia of ingredients.
Despite his burgeoning interest in food, Pulich chose business school instead of culinary school—perhaps a prudent decision for anyone who intends to have total control of their kitchen one day. After graduating, Pulich matriculated into the food chain, rising through managerial positions across the Coastal Bend and New Orleans. But in 2005, while he served as assistant general manager at a New Orleans-area outfit called Sun Ray Grill, Hurricane Katrina hit. In the aftermath, he moved to Port Aransas, forced to abandon a promising career trajectory in one of America’s gustatory capitals. “I think about what would have been sometimes,” Pulich said. “But three months after moving, I met my wife, so I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Back in Texas, Pulich settled in as the chef at the Venetian Hot Plate, an Italian restaurant in Port Aransas opened by Maurice and Linda Halioua. There, he broadened his increasingly European palate and business horizons. In 2013, he partnered with Linda to purchase a Portland-based catering company and incorporated it as VHP Catering.
Four years later, Hurricane Harvey devastated the coastal area, grinding everything to a halt. Pulich responded by cooking up a pizza and pasta delivery concept to keep his catering staff employed. “You have to be able to adapt in this business,” Pulich said. “You have to anticipate the worst-case scenario and plan for that. Katrina and Harvey made me more diligent about that.” Adversity can be a necessary seasoning.
Soon after helping the Venetian Hot Plate reopen its doors, Pulich decided to buy out Halioua’s share of VHP Catering so he could focus on it full time. 2019 was not the best time to take full control of a business reliant on large communal gatherings. Pulich seemed incapable of evading natural disasters, regional or global.
By the time society slowly crept back into dining spaces, Pulich had already been thinking about opening his own establishment. He ran the idea by his wife, Kate, who was supportive, and when a spot opened up in Meadowbrook Plaza, he knew he had found a home. “I live right in this neighborhood,” Pulich said. “I’d always looked at this location, so I said, ‘I’m not going to let this pass me by.’”
Twelve months in, Roasted Clove has proven just as hard for locals to pass by. The menu’s offerings are robust and showcase the taste profiles (French and Cajun, Italian, South Texas specialties) inculcated in him at his previous stops. A remoulade and wild rice jambalaya, both honed in New Orleans, complement the blackened drum, and his pizza panache informs a wide selection of pies.
Pulich’s most popular dish changes by the week, as a variable features card often proves irresistible. Even the most practiced pescatarian will likely encounter a fresh arrival regularly, like prawn flown from Hawaii or halibut freighted from Alaska. Whether an entrée originates from land or sea, it arrives with a heavenly flourish born out of curiosity and flexibility. “I like textures and colors on plates,” Pulich said. “You have to be willing to trust your gut and try different presentations.”
In a timeline oversaturated with delivery apps shuttling fast food to doorsteps in record time, Roasted Clove reminds patrons what fine dining brings to the table: elegance imbued with a local ambiance and a menu that pops through Pulich’s refined touch behind the stove and on the plate.
His dishes—some meticulously crafted, others spontaneously shaped—are the product of years of setbacks, scrapped ideas and scraped plates, offering a distinct flavor distilled over decades of navigating a fickle and fitful industry.
“Once I fell into the restaurant industry,” Pulich said, “I thought, ‘Give me the sweat and the rising fire over anything else.’”
Contact: 4705 S. Alameda St. | roastedclovefoodco.com | @roastedclovefoodco
