Former Harvard Chef Serves Up Low-Fat, No-Fat Gourmet

He may not host a Caribbean Brunch or a New England Clambake, but former Harvard Dining Services (HDS) employee Christopher Pappas is putting his skills to use in a kitchen of his own--The Low Fat-No Fat Gourmet Cafe and Juice Bar, his new Watertown restaurant.

"I completed 20 wonderful years for [HDS]," Pappas says. "I primarily cooked in Currier House, and I really got to know the students."

Pappas says he used his experience at Harvard to create the concept for his new restaurant. An avid bodybuilder, he says has always been interested in low fat, healthy eating because he understands the value of proper nutrition for athletic performance.

"I got involved in the bodybuilding thing a while ago. I'm a three time state champion bodybuilder in Massachusetts," Pappas says. "It's a very carefully monitored diet I follow."

Pappas says that his fitness and health level is comparable to what it was when he used to compete regularly, and credits his health largely to his low fat diet and exercise.

It was about five years ago, Pappas says, that he started flirting with the idea of turning his daily diet into a restaurant menu.

"One day at the gym, a friend of mine who worked there says, 'I'd pay you to make my meals for me,'" Pappas recalls. After the encounter, his healthy cuisine appealed to so many hungry customers that he started running a business out of his home.

The seeds of his success were planted during his stint as a HDS chef. Though he was allowed some opportunity by HDS to branch out and create his own dishes, Pappas had more of his own ideas than he could use in Harvard's Dining Halls.

"They have formulas for their entrees," Pappas says. "I have to admit that I wouldn't add that butter or that cholesterol or fat. I would sometimes use egg whites instead of eggs, to make things low fat. Some of the bigger guys would come in knowing that they could get egg white omelets from me."

Pappas also says that he tested some of his ideas while at Harvard, offering them to students to get their opinions.

"In my time at Harvard I started messing around with muffins," he says. "I made these things called power muffins, I would use the students as my subjects."

Pappas says that his dishes were popular both with girls trying to lose weight and with athletes trying to bulk up. He credits his time at Harvard for his wealth of knowledge about cuisine.

"Harvard gave me a lot of opportunities," he says. "When they had visiting chefs in town for special meals, I always jumped at an opportunity to work with them."

Pappas' experimentation has paid off. His restaurant, located near the Arsenal Mall in Watertown, has an extensive menu of chicken, pasta, wraps and smoothies.

For each item on the menu, a complete nutritional analysis including calorie, fat, protein and carbohydrate content is provided.

Pappas says that this information is essential for athletes aiming to lose fat and add muscle with a low fat, high protein diet.

One of Papas' partners, Tim Kurtz, runs a supplement store next door to the restaurant. The store sells products geared towards athletes, such as protein powder and various vitamins and herbs.

His other partner, Joeliana Chin, is a fitness professional. Pappas says that he hopes to someday open a gym adjoining the restaurant. He predicts this combination would attract a large crowd of athletes looking for a healthy snack after the bench press or Stairmaster.

Pappas says that his wife's family's contracting company built the restaurant, which seats 36 people. The restaurant presently has both eat-in and take out options, but does not yet deliver.

The proud owner says that the restaurant has been successful so far, and he hopes to open restaurants at other locations as his philosophy of low-fat, no-fat grows in popularity.

"I love the customer service thing, and I really loved the students," Pappas says. "I've always had a passion for food, cooking and eating."