Tale Tuesday: the Chow at Chou

Martha Hoover thanks a New York childhood and a courtroom career as the keys to her successful Hoosier restaurants. Having never worked in a kitchen or even waited tables, Martha opened her first Indianapolis cafe in 1989 confident that she already had all the tools she'd need to succeed. Today her Patachou empire brings crowds to the tables at nine locations.

Her food-obsessed family in New York taught Martha how to find the best ingredients. When she moved all the way to Indiana, she found the best closer than she expected. From produce to proteins, the freshest, most delicious and naturally raised goods were just down the road instead of across the pond.

As a public prosecutor trying sex crimes and domestic violence cases, Martha worked through her enormous case load juggling a shoestring budget and a crammed schedule. "You had to learn to use everything in the place," writes Martha. "It was excellent, if unorthodox, training for the restaurant business."

From neighborhood breakfast joints to French-inspired cafes and Old World pizzerias, Martha's nine eateries all share her commitment to using delicious and local ingredients. Sourcing that kind of quality and quantity isn't easy, but multitasking Martha can easily check ingredients off her list thanks to Smoking Goose. Since we put as much love into our handmade sausages, hams, and salumi as the folks just down the road who raise our animals, Martha knows putting Smoking Goose meats on her plates is the best.

Stop by her Petite Chou in Clay Terrace or Broad Ripple for an Indiana--French connection that's an outta this world bite. The Croque Petite Chou layers Smoking Goose City Ham--cured with allspice, clove, juniper and bay leaves then smoked over fruit wood and hickory--with mushrooms, imported brie, and dressed field greens.