Best Chef Texas names 2 Houston finalists
Two Houston chefs have been named finalists for the James Beard Foundation’s first-ever Best Chef Texas award. A drinking establishment is the only other Texas finalist for this year’s awards.
Anita Jaisinghani, chef-owner of the all-day Indian diner Pondicheri, and Trong Nguyen, chef-owner of the Vietnamese classic Crawfish & Noodles, are among five Texas chefs who will compete for the title in the newly designated standalone region. The others are Kevin Fink of Emmer & Rye in Austin; Michael Fojtasek of Olamaie in Austin; and Steve McHugh of San Antonio’s Cured.
Anvil Bar and Refuge, the groundbreaking Houston cocktail bar founded by Bobby Heugel, is in the running for a national-level award for Outstanding Bar Program. Contenders in that category are Trick Dog in San Francisco; Lost Lake in Chicago; Kimball House in Decatur, Georgia; and Expatriate in Portland, Oregon.
“I wasn’t focused on it,” Heugel said of the finals announce
ment Monday. “I hope that doesn’t sound bad. It’s hard to focus on awards this year. It’s hard to contextualize that in the midst of everything going on when you’re so focused on making every day work.”
Heugel’s observation is a reminder that the country’s restaurant and bar industry has been devastated since the coronavirus pandemic found traction in the United States. Restaurant and bar owners have been grappling with layoffs, lost income and the pressures of figuring out how to rescue their businesses.
Other than Anvil, no other Texas establishment, chef or producer made the cut in the awards’ highly competitive national categories. Houston had 14 total semifinalists.
The nominees for one of the American food world’s most prestigious honors were announced on a day originally meant to mark the foundation’s 2020 Awards Gala at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. Instead, the pandemic altered those plans — the gala has been postponed until Sept. 25 — and disrupted life for the chefs and restaurants who are in the running.
Jaisinghani’s restaurant remains open for takeout, delivery and no-contact pickup at curbside, with ingredients, masala mixes, T-shirts and more available from Pondicheri’s online shop. Jaisinghani has been hosting online virtual cooking classes from the premises, having closed her New York outpost in late January. Her streamlined takeout menu offers a constellation of the inventive flatbreads, seasonal curries and breakfast items that have won her a following here.
Jaisinghani, a five-time semifinalist, said she was thrilled to get to the finals for the first time. “I finally made it through,” she said. “I’m very proud.”
Like Heugel, Jaisinghani said she has been focused on keeping her business afloat during the shutdown. “I’ve been in the kitchen cooking every day,” she said. “That’s what we do.”
Crawfish & Noodles, where two generations of Houstonians learned to love Trong Nguyen’s pace-setting garlic-buttered Vietnamese crawfish and spicy braised turkey necks, is now open seven days a week for takeout and curbside pickup. The restaurant catapulted into the national consciousness two years ago when it was featured on Season 1 of celebrity chef David Chang’s “Ugly Delicious” series on Netflix.
Nguyen said he has been working without much success to obtain a PPP loan. “It’s still in the air. I have no answer of it’s yes or no whether I have it or not,” he said.
Which is why Monday’s news brought some much needed happiness to the chef/owner of the 12-year-old Chinatown restaurant.
“It’s a great honor for us,” Nguyen said through tears. “It’s something I never expected. I was just doing my thing. I never worked for that recognition. You have no idea what this means to me and my family.”
Meanwhile, in the James Beard Foundation’s media awards, Houston chef Chris Shepherd — who already won a James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest in 2014 — added a nomination in the cookbook division for “Cook Like a Local: Flavors That Can Change How You Cook and See the World,” authored with Kaitlyn Goalen.
The 2019 cookbook is a valentine to Houston, including the Korean, Vietnamese, Indian and Mexican flavors that inspired Shepherd’s career as a chef.