Imagine you were a chef and received a flattering letter from Craig Claiborne. Imagine if, after you published your second cookbook, Roy Blount Jr. said, “I knew the author could cook; now I know the cook can write.” A reviewer for The Village Voice wrote, “Miss Ruby’s is in some ways my dream restaurant … instantly familiar, comfortable, and at the same time, exciting and unexpected.” All of this was commentary on Ruth Adams Bronz, chef par excellence, who died Sunday, September 10, 2023 at her home in Housatonic at the age of 83.
Perhaps, no one was exactly born to cook, but, certainly, Ruth Bronz was born in a time and place uniquely suited to interest her in American cooking: the Gulf Coast of Texas near the Louisiana border. West Stockbridge was home to Miss Ruby’s Café (1977–1981), Ruth’s first restaurant. Miss Ruby’s Café in Manhattan followed from 1984 to 1991. The restaurants changed their menus every two to three weeks from Deep South to Texas Country to Cape Cod to the Pacific Northwest, just to name a few of the regional cuisines that she presented nightly. “Ruth prepared and promoted American regional food long before it was ever fashionable to do so” (Restaurant Business, July 4, 1990).
In addition to her restaurants, Ruth published two cookbooks: “Miss Ruby’s American Cooking” and “Cornucopia: The Best Recipes From America’s Natural Harvest”. She wrote and starred in “Miss Ruby’s Southern Holiday Dinner,” a PBS Special featuring Craig Claiborne, Pearl Bailey, Annie Potts, and Roy Blount Jr. She starred in videos on American regional cooking for Videocraft and engaged in decades of radio broadcasts on various stations on an eclectic variety of culinary topics.
“It seems to me that eating well is part of one’s birthright,” she said, “and I just love feeding people.”
Donations in memory of Ruth may be given to the Berkshire Humane Society. A Celebration of Life will be scheduled later.
