City’s restaurant acclaim keeps growing
From local chefs to restaurants to a groundbreaking cocktail bar, Houston made an unusually strong showing on the list of 2016 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists announced Wednesday.
Making the “long list” — as the roster of semifinalists is known in formally — is a distinction in itself. The long list functions as an annual honor roll in the universe of American food and drink, so it’s significant to see Houston well-represented. The city’s better-than-usual showing can be attributed at least in part to a recent surge of positive national coverage for its thriving culinary scene.
In the all-important regional Best Chef Southwest category, a record five Houston chefs were named: Hugo Ortega of Caracol; Manabu Horiuchi of Kata Robata; Justin Yu of Oxheart; and co-chefs Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence G all ivan for their work at The Pass, the upscale tasting-menu com--
ponent of their dual-concept restaurant, The Pass & Provisions.
On the national level, Evan Turner’s Helen Greek Food & Wine in Rice Village won a coveted spot on the Best New Restaurant slate.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted,” Turner said. “I’m sort of staggering around like I’ve been hit by a pan. And I couldn’t be happier for chef William (Wright), the kitchen team, our designer, Erin Hicks, our coowners Sharif and Tim (Faiola), and everybody who works here. I’m just some shmuck who loves Greek wine and food, and I’ve met a lot of really talented people here who have changed my life.”
Bobby Huegel’s pacesetting Anvil Bar & Refuge — Houston’s first serious modern cocktail bar — earned a slot on the Outstanding Bar Program list, the only Texas establishment to make the cut.
Tracy Vaught of Caracol, Hugo’s and Backstreet Cafe — wife of fellow semifinalist chef Hugo Ortega — won a place for Outstanding Restaurateur, a singular achievement in a category that usually tilts heavily male.
“It is so satisfying to see all these Houstonians on the semifinalist list,” Vaught said. “Finally Houston is ‘on the map’ in a big way. I want Hugo to bring it home this time; he really deserves it. My nomination is a total surprise and a great honor, especially given the quality of my colleagues in Houston and beyond. Even if it’s just the ‘semis,’ it feels awesome to be in such great company.”
Outstanding Service nod
And, in an encouraging development, The Pass snagged a second semifinalist slot for Outstanding Service, a national category in which Houston restaurants long have been overlooked.
At The Pass, co-chef SiegelGardener expressed surprise and delight at the double nod. Of the Outstanding Service citation, he said he and Gallivan “wanted to have all the things we loved about fine dining and get rid of everything we didn’t like; we were going for an elegance of service but also making it fun at the same time.”
As semifinalists, these Houstonians must wait until March 15 to find out whether they’ll be among the final five nominees in their categories. In the meantime, judgment will be passed in all 21 categories by James Beard Foundation voters — a group comprised of past winners and a judging panel handpicked by the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant & Chefs Award Committee. Panels members include members of the national food media, educators and other qualified diners, all of whom sign a pledge not to vote for restaurants where they have not eaten.
When committee members come through town, it helps to ensure the city will be part of the discussion when the list of semifinalists is compiled. Committee members including Washington Post critic Tom Sietsema, Eater national critic Bill Addison, Food & Wine’s Kate Krader, former Southern Living deputy food ed- itor Jennifer V. Cole and Texas Monthly critic Patricia Sharpe all have been in and out of Houston in the past several years covering the latest culinary developments.
Sietsema’s magnum opus rating America’s best food cities ranked Houston No. 5 — ahead of Chicago, Philadelphia and mighty New York. It may have been a shock to people elsewhere, but to Houstonians who’ve been immersed in the city’s dazzling multicultural culinary exploits of recent years, it felt like recognition long overdue.
Fittingly, then, the Houston chefs slotted into the foundation’s semifinalist list hop all over the cultural map.
Mexico City native Ortega has spent much of his professional career in Houston showcasing the foods of Mexico. Horiuchi has been a pioneer at coaxing su- shi, sashimi and contemporary Japanese dishes into the world of Houston fine dining. ChineseAmerican Yu is busy finding the best and most seasonal local ingredients, then shaping them into deeply layered exemplars of modern Gulf Coast cuisine. And at The Pass, Siegel-Gardner and Gallivan are delivering luxurious modern American ideas at a very high and finely detailed level.
The appearance of Helen Greek Food & Wine likewise speaks to the modern Houston melting pot, with the menu’s deft twisting of Gulf Coast ingredients into updated Greek dishes, and its ambitious all-Greek wine list that is one of the few such lists in the country. (That wine list, in future years, should make Helen a contender for a Outstanding Wine Program, another national category in which Houston restaurants have long been shut out.)
Houstonians will also be interested to note that Houston native Ford Fry, who recently opened State of Grace here, has made the semifinal list for a topof-the-heap national award, that of Outstanding Chef. So has Tyson Cole of Austin, whose Houston outpost of his flagship Uchi is much loved here. Similarly, Sam Fox, the Phoenix-based restaurateur whose True Food Kitchen and North Italia have been such hits here recently, appears with Vaught on the long list for Outstanding Restaurateur.
And it’s fun to see former Houston chef Daniela Soto-Innes named in the high-flying national-level Rising Star Chef category for her work at Enrique Olvera’s new Cosme in New York City. Soto-Innes won her spurs here while working at Brennan’s of Houston, Triniti and Underbelly.
Dallas, Austin chefs
Elsewhere in Texas, those named to the Best Chef Southwest semifinalist slate include Bryce Gilmore of Austin’s Barley Swine; and from San Antonio, Steve McHugh of Cured at The Pearl. Four Dallas chefs made the cut: Omar Flores of Casa Rubia; Matt McCallister of FT33; Teiichi Sakurai of Tei-An; and David Uygur of Lucia.
Texas chefs compete for Best Chef Southwest with chefs from New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Oklahoma. It’s a region with so many big cities and thriving food scenes that competition even for the long list is fierce.
Once the final five nominees in all categories are chosen and voted upon, the winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant & Chefs Awards Gala. This year, for the first time, it will be held in Chicago, on May 2 at the Lyric Opera theater.
Maybe this is the year the floodgates finally will open — just a crack would be fine — after the absurdly long drought between Houston’s Best Chef Southwest winner Robert del Grande in 1992, and Chris Shepherd of Underbelly in 2014.