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    Sneak Peek at Toulouse

    The French Cowboy rides again at River Oaks District's first restaurant

    Eric Sandler
    Mar 30, 2016 | 10:02 am

    After months of feverish anticipation, the first of eight restaurants at the luxurious mixed-use development River Oaks District is getting ready to make its debut. Toulouse Café and Bar, a French brasserie concept from Dallas-based restaurant group Lombardi Family Concepts, will open for dinner April 4. It's the first of two Lombardi Family restaurants to come to ROD; Italian restaurant Taverna will open in May.

    While the restaurant may be from out of town, diners will find familiar faces in the dining room and the kitchen. Owner Alberto Lombardi has hired Philippe Schmit as executive chef and former Smith & Wollensky general manager Giorgio Ferrero to run the dining room.

    "I asked around which one was the best chef in Houston, because we like to hire local people. They told me there was a famous chef, Philippe; they call him the 'French Cowboy,'" Lombardi tells CultureMap. "I call him. We have a meeting. I took him out to talk about philosophy. We say, 'Let’s do it. Let’s try.' As an Italian, we say, we make him an offer he couldn’t refuse."

    Working at Toulouse marks Schmit's return to full-time restaurant cooking for the first time since his abrupt departure from the Galleria-area restaurant that once bore his name (now La Table). Of course, he's remained busy. After splitting with Philippe in 2013, the chef organized a Houston visit by the Master Chefs of France, consulted on the menu for Highland Village restaurant Drexel House, and helped bakery/cafe Flo Paris turn into one of 2015's most pleasant surprises.

    "I’m happy to go back to real life as a chef," Schmit says. "I still have my hands full, but at least it’s in one kitchen."

    Expect that one kitchen to be very busy. Toulouse has what may be River Oaks District's most desirable location: right in the middle of the complex, adjacent to Dior. A climate-controlled patio looks out onto a courtyard, which should become an excellent place for people watching. Inside, both the large bar area and expansive dining room look into the open kitchen. The room itself recalls Thomas Keller's casual Bouchon Bistro with a pressed-tin ceiling, wood-paneled walls, marble table tops, and a tile floor.

    To fit its location, Lombardi says that Houston's Toulouse will be a little fancier than its Dallas counterpart. "In Dallas, it’s much more bistro, easygoing. This is more brasserie, meaning the layout (with the larger bar area). Even the menu is a little bit different. We emphasis a little more on steak, seafood, besides the classic things you expect to find in a French restaurant: escargot, beef bourguignon, duck confit, steak frites, le moules."

    Schmit and corporate chef Renato Di Pirro are working to finalize the menu, which will blend dishes that have worked at Toulouse with some of Schmit's classics like bouillabaisse and escargot. Specifically, Lombardi notes that the restaurant has become known for its "mussels on steroids" (due to their size), which will come in three varieties with or without pommes frites.

    Entree prices at dinner start in the mid-20s and run up to $44 for lamb chops, but most items are clustered from $28 to $34.

    In addition to lunch, dinner, and brunch, Toulouse will serve breakfast during the week. Lombardi says he expects breakfast to appeal to businesspeople who want something a little more elegant than what they might find at a hotel or coffee shop. Look for omelets and other egg dishes, pastries such as croissants, coffee, and fresh-squeezed juices.

    Taken together, Toulouse looks to be a combination of a number of successful Houston restaurants. The French-inspired menu (including cold seafood options), lively bar scene, and expansive patio have all been components of Brasserie 19's success. All-day utility is something recently introduced as part of La Table's transformation.

    Both Schmit and Ferrero are veterans at giving Houstonians what they want, and their experience should help Toulouse get off to a strong start. If everything comes together, Toulouse will both kick start River Oaks District as a dining destination and earn the title of Houston's first significant restaurant opening of 2016. No pressure.

    Croque madame will available at breakfast and brunch.

    Toulouse Cafe and Bar croque madame
      
    Toulouse Cafe & Bar / Facebook
    Croque madame will available at breakfast and brunch.
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    he finished the job

    Houston chef Tristen Epps dishes on his Top Chef victory — and what's next

    Eric Sandler
    Jun 13, 2025 | 9:05 am
    Top Chef Tristen Epps
    Photo by David Moir/Bravo
    Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

    Houston has played a leading role in America’s culinary scene, but the city has never been home to a Top Chef winner — until last night. In the final episode of season 22, chef Tristen Epps earned the title and a $250,000 cash prize.

    Epps secured his victory by remaining true to the Afro-Caribbean cuisine that helped him secured an impressive four Elimination Challenge wins and $35,000 in additional prize money from two Quickfire wins and as a member of the team that won the show’s signature Restaurant Wars challenge. His four-course menu took a panel of celebrity judges on a journey that also referenced the finale location of Milan, Italy.

    In particular, Epps wowed the panel with his second course — Chicken “Durango” with injera shrimp toast and shellfish jus — that referenced both the Ethiopian chicken stew doro wat and the Italian dish pollo durango, a sly nod to the history of imperialism between the two countries. He finished his savory offerings with Oxtail Milanese Crepinette with Carolina Gold rice grits, curry butter, and bone marrow gremolata, which earned praised from the panel.

    “Historically, we’ve been underserved oxtail,” Top Chef alum and James Beard Award winner Gregory Gourdet said during the episode. “Tristen took the time to pull it, create that beautiful, huge, maybe too big, portion of oxtail. And cover it with that gremolata. He did not forget the bone marrow. That’s very, very smart.”

    Throughout Top Chef’s run, Epps has been holding a series of pop-ups devoted to everything from hot dogs to steakhouses. Now, he can turn his attention to Buboy, a tasting menu concept that will celebrate the Afro-Caribbean cuisine he championed throughout his time on the show.

    CultureMap caught up with Epps on Friday morning for a brief chat about his victory and what’s next.

    CultureMap: What do you remember from the day you cooked that final dinner?
    Tristen Epps: It was an extreme amount of focus. A lot of writing in my notebook. I didn’t want to laugh. I didn’t want to cry or do anything except finish the job, regardless of whatever the outcome would have been. I remember wanting to call my mom. I really wanted to talk things out so I could calm myself down and stay within my focus. Once I got into cooking, I felt so much at ease. It’s my happy place. It’s my serenity.

    CM: How did you feel when you saw Gregory Gourdet on the panel? Did you feel like you had an advocate in the room?
    TE: I’ve cooked with gregory before, a long time ago. It was really fun. I loved what he was doing.

    I felt like I had kind of an advocate. I was worried my food wold be too spicy or too overpowering [for the European chefs]. Seeing Gregory was really good, especially with what I was doing.

    CM: Other chefs, including Gregory Gourdet and Houston chef Dawn Burrell, have done well on the show with Afro-Caribbean cuisine but they didn’t win. How important was it to you to finish the job and use those flavors to win the title?
    TE: To me that was super important. There’s adventurous people who make phenomenal food. They’ll go once because it’s interesting, bu they’re usually skeptical. When you don’t nail it, they say, that’s why I go to the regular places that are familiar.

    Finishing the job was really important to me. People have come up short on this. I wanted to get this right for everyone who’s made that step forward and created the ladder.

    CM: What have your last 12 hours been like since the episode aired? Have any celebrities reached out to you?
    TE: A lot of calls, a lot of good luck. A lot of everything. It’s been amazing.

    A lot of past Top Chef winners reached out to me, giving me a lot of support and telling me what they did after they won.

    [ESPN football commentator] Mina Kimes did, which was really cool.

    CM: What are your plans for the prize money?
    TE: It’s going to go to Buboy. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it can go a little faster.

    CM: You’ve been holding a series of pop-ups that range from tasting menus to hot dogs? What’s next?
    TE: Part of getting the restaurant open has been introducing myself to all of Houston. These pop-ups represent my interests and my fun. They’re the things that Buboy is going to represent. It can be fun, it can be a conversation, it can be educational, it can push the limits of cuisines we know. It’s an expression of culture in whatever way I see fit that day.

    The hot dog concept will probably be a separate venture, but who’s to say there’s not a hot dog at the end of that meal?

    Top Chef Tristen Epps
      

    Photo by David Moir/Bravo

    Kristen Kish, Tristen Epps, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio.

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