Southern Smoke expands, delivers culinary firepower
The smoke and live-fire cooking event that brings some of the nation’s top culinary talent to Houston is ready to spark up again. Southern Smoke, a fundraiser created by Underbelly’s Chris Shepherd, has set a date for 2017: Oct. 22.
And James Beard Award winner Shepherd is again leaning on his top toque buddies to help make Southern Smoke a high-profile affair. Last year’s event attracted more than 1,200 people to the Underbelly “campus.” In fact, its popularity has prompted Shepherd to expand the Southern Smoke brand.
There will be an additional Southern Smoke in spring 2018. Details have not been set yet, but it will be called Southern Smoke Spring and offer more intimate culinary experiences with exclusive chef ’s table dinners in private homes throughout Houston. So far, the Houston chefs who have signed up for Spring include recent James Beard Award winner Hugo Ortega of Hugo’s, Kata Robata’s Manabu Horiuchi, Southern Goods chef Lyle Bento and chef Brandi Key, who has multiple restaurants under the Clark Cooper Concepts umbrella. More details and visiting chefs will be announced in the fall.
In the meantime, the lineup for Southern Smoke 2017 is formidable.
This year’s chefs — all of whom will cook using smokers or live fire — will include returning favorite Aaron Franklin, the James Beard Award-winning pitmaster at Franklin Barbecue in Austin; Rodney Scott, pitmaster for Scott’s Barbecue in Hemingway, S.C., and Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, S.C.; Mike Lata, the James Beard Award-winning chef/partner of FIG in Charleston, S.C.; James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Stanhope of FIG; superchef Ashley Christensen, the James Beard Award-winning owner of Poole’s Diner and numerous other restaurants in Raleigh, N.C.; and one of New Orleans’ most beloved culinary ambassadors, John Besh, the James Beard Awardwinning owner of August and other top restaurants in the Crescent City.
The Southern Smoke experience would not be complete without the participation of the HOUBBQ Collective, involved since the inaugural event two years ago. The collective includes chefs Ryan Pera of Coltivare, Seth SiegelGardner and Terrence Gallivan of The Pass & Provisions, James Beard Award-winning chef Justin Yu, late of Oxheart, and Shepherd. Collective members also will participate in Southern Smoke Spring.
Shepherd created Southern Smoke to honor his friend and former sommelier Antonio Gianola, who got a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2014. To date, the event has raised $464,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Tickets go on sale at noon Aug. 7 at SouthernSmoke.org. VIP tickets that include early admission, premium wines and a gift bag including participating chefs’ cookbooks, will be $350; general admission, $200.
As in past years, the event will be held on the grounds of Underbelly, Hay Merchant and Blacksmith on Westheimer in Montrose.