There’s an old idiom that warns us about having “too many cooks in the kitchen,” but out in Marfa—with all that room to breathe (and cook)—sometimes some extra perspective is welcomed. Because even when you decide to up and do your own thing, like Rebecca Bockelie, a chef who started and runs the Water Stop restaurant in Marfa with her sister, Luci—doing your own thing still requires collaboration. Beautiful and bold, Rebecca had worked as a sous chef in LA and New York for years, but decided to open up her own joint in a place where creativity—and damn good food—wouldn’t be stifled.
“Have I been able to be true to who I am since I've gotten to Marfa?” muses Rebecca. “I believe I have. Marfa’s a lot like the Wild West of West Texas. I mean, it seems like untamed and wild and hard to get to, but personally, my landing in Marfa was easy and gentle compared to living in a big city. It's just a dream because you can do things that you want to do like open your own restaurant. You can't always do that in big cities or other areas.”
A true maker and entrepreneur, certainly, it’s this very gumption and heart that eyebobs is attracted to and embodies. But seriously…can you really not have too many cooks in a kitchen? “Oh, that’s just part of the creative process at a restaurant,” laughs Rebecca “It involves everybody, and everyone gives their input on everything that happens. Sure, sometimes, I'm like, ‘That's enough,’ or ‘It's my restaurant still!’ But it's a really great way to do it because everybody's so proud of the product that we put out since it involves all of them.”