Chris Shepherd set to debut new restaurant UB Preserv.
No sooner did Underbelly restaurant close than an opening date was announced for its muchanticipated follow-up: James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd will debut UB Preserv, 1609 Westheimer, the week of April 16.
Shepherd shared other big news Monday: He has hired Nick Wong as UB Preserv’s chef de cuisine. Wong, a native Californian, previously worked for David Chang’s vaunted Momofuku group in New York. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, Wong’s résumé includes time at Momofuku Ssam Bar, Danny Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern and Chris Cosentino’s Incanto in San Francisco, Calif.
Shepherd said that Wong was looking for a change and took a road trip across country, which brought him to Houston about three weeks after Hurricane Harvey.
“He said he wanted to see if there was anything he could do to help out,” Shepherd said. “I told him to come and see what you want to do. He spent a couple of days here and we talked.”
Those talks led to others and two weeks ago Shepherd had a new chef de cuisine. In the next few days, Shepherd said he and Wong will begin collaborating on the menu for UB Preserv, which Shepherd said will continue Underbelly’s mission of telling the story of how Houston eats.
But that story, Shepherd adds, has changed from when Underbelly first opened in 2012. It became more expansive.
“You’re starting to see the second generations doing their things,” he said. “I think we want to try to venture out not into just Southeast Asian, but also more into Middle Eastern, African and Mexican. We want to expand our vision of what’s going on. We want to see it all.”
Shepherd and Wong have dumplings on the mind, too. They are conspiring to create the best dumplings in Houston, as well as planning to offer Sunday dim sum brunch, a rarity inside the Loop.
Shepherd and his Underbelly staff have been busy lately. The restaurant hosted its final service over the weekend and threw a party to celebrate its six years in business before work began on transforming the Montrose space into Georgia James steakhouse, set to open mid-July.
Next door, partner Kevin Floyd has temporarily closed the Hay Merchant until April 22, for repairs to the beer cooler. After Shepherd opens UB Preserv, he will have a few months to perfect the menu there before turning his attention to the last day of service at his One Fifth Romance Languages July 31. One Fifth Mediterranean, the third iteration of his yearly changing Lower Westheimer restaurant, will launch Sept. 1.
“Getting through the weekend was key for me — to be able to have closure and now focus on something new,” Shepherd said. “That’s the only way I’m going to be able to do this.”