Rising Star Chefs of the Year

These 11 rising star chefs truly shine in Houston's dynamic dining scene

Presenting the nominees for the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Rising Star Chef of the Year. As selected by our panel of restaurant industry experts, these are the culinary minds to watch in the future.

Collectively, these 11 nominees represent a diverse array of influences, experiences, and culinary perspectives, but they are united by a relentless spirit of creativity that’s pushing Houston’s dining scene forward. Fittingly for a city as diverse as Houston, their work covers genres that range from barbecue and burgers to elevated tasting menus.

Look for them at their restaurants; most importantly, try their food. The results of their work speak for themselves.

Who will win? Find out July 22 at the Tastemaker Awards party. We’ll dine on bites from this year’s nominated restaurants before emcee Bun B reveals the winners. Buy tickets now.

AJ Ede - Brasil
Brasil has been a Montrose staple for close to 30 years, but it’s never exactly been known as a food destination — until chef Ede took over the kitchen. A veteran of some famous New York kitchens (he doesn’t like to name drop them), Ede knows that even casual food benefits from good ingredients and precise technique, as in his Cheeseburger in Paradise that lifts up a double cheeseburger with 44 Farms beef and a housemade jalapeno sauce or the weekly specials that utilize seasonal produce. Beyond the dishes he creates, Ede also serves as a mentor for Brasil’s cooks, teaching them the skills they’ll need to further their careers.

Benchawan Painter - Street to Kitchen
After working at Salt Air Seafood Kitchen and Theodore Rex, chef Benchawan Painter turned the following she developed with pop-up dinners and a weekly presence at the Urban Harvest Farmers Market into a well-regarded new restaurant in the East End. Known to friends and diners as "Chef G," her “unapologetically Thai” dishes blend family recipes with carefully selected local ingredients, as in Thai krapow basil from local urban farm Plant It Forward. Street to Kitchen’s recent launch of dine-in service should allow Painter to showcase even more of her talents.

Chase Voelz - Bludorn
One of the reasons Bludorn has been such a smash hit since day one is its rock solid consistency, which is a testament to the skills and discipline of both chef-owner Aaron Bludorn and chef de cuisine Chase Voelz. After working for chef Bludorn at New York’s acclaimed Cafe Boulud, Voelz spent time at Roister in Chicago where he learned the techniques necessary to prepare the prime rib that has become one of Bludorn’s must-order specials. As chef Bludon begins to travel to culinary events, count on Voelz to serve as the steady hand who keeps the kitchen operating smoothly.

Christine Ha & Tony Nguyen - Xin Chao
Having established their reputations separately — Nguyen at Viet-Cajun restaurant Saigon House and Ha as a Masterchef winner and James Beard Award nominee for The Blind Goat — the two chefs teamed to create one of 2020’s most exciting new restaurants. Xin Chao mixes traditional Vietnamese flavors with Texas touches in dishes such as bo luc lac with American wagyu beef, smoked duck salad, and flat rice noodles paired with smoked beef rib. Recent additions like soft shell crab with tamarind gastrique demonstrate that this dynamic duo is just getting started.

Cuc Lam - Yelo
"The only person I would consider is Cuc Lam," her business partner Alex Au-Yeung said when they announced Yelo last year. "If she wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t do it."

Clearly, Au-Yeung knows how to pick a collaborator — just ask all the people flocking to Katy to sample Lam’s creative banh mi. The chef nails both the classic varieties and puts her own spin on the form with new tastes like the "Pho-Rench Dip" with pho vegetables and dipping sauce and an innovative take on Vietnamese meatballs (xiu mai) that carry the flavors of Chinese BBQ.

Jordan Economy - Dak & Bop
From fine dining to food trucks, this chef has worked at just about every class of restaurant, but Economy seems to have found a home at this Korean restaurant. Working in collaboration with owner Jason Cho, Economy’s kitchen turns out creative mashups that blend Southern, Italian, Korean, and other flavors to create dishes such as a bulgogi French dip, smoked kimchi fried rice, and a Nashville hot tofu sammy. Economy will take another step forward later this year when Cho and his business partners open Karne, a modern take on a Korean steakhouse.

Michelle Wallace - Gatlin's BBQ
If Wallace had done nothing else than create the smoked seafood gumbo that occasionally shows up on the Gatlin’s menu, it would have been enough to earn this nomination. Add in the restaurant’s creative sandwiches, first weekend catfish specials, and other innovative fare, and it’s easy to see why her culinary partnership with Gatlin’s pitmaster-owner Greg Gatlin is generating so much buzz. As the Gatlin’s brand grows beyond barbecue, Wallace will have an even more essential role to play.

Niki Vongthong - Hidden Omakase
The talented chef started turning heads during stints at Uchi and Aqui, but she really came into her own over the past year. Her Sen pop-up — named for the word that means “noodles” in Thai and Lao — showcased her ability to create traditional Thai dishes like boat noodles and larb, fitting for a member of the family that established legendary Houston restaurant Asia Market. Vongthong took over the kitchen at Hidden Omakase in March, where she’s been hosting sold out seatings for 12-plus course tastings that bring all of her influences together.

Peter Nguyen - Riel
After working for some of the best chefs in Boston, Nguyen is making his mark on Ryan Lachaine’s Montrose restaurant. The chef is responsible for some of the menu’s most exciting new dishes like the honey walnut crawfish that puts a Texas spin on the Cantonese classic. Nguyen’s steady presence in the kitchen also allows Lachaine to supervise his restaurant at the Virgin Hotels Nashville with the confidence that Riel is in good hands.

Travis McShane - Ostia
The Kingwood native spent 10 years working for celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman in New York and Nashville before coming home to open his first solo project. At Ostia, McShane showcases the Mediterranean flavors he loves — including his version of Waxman’s celebrated roast chicken with salsa verde — made with ingredients that speak to the season. McShane’s homecoming has been a smash hit, and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Michelle Wallace - Gatlin's BBQ.

Photo by Darren Lafferty

Michelle Wallace - Gatlin's BBQ.

tastemakers

eat real food

Houston DJ-turned-TikTok star cooks up a cult following one recipe at a time

Courtesy of Uncle Dibbz

Uncle Dibbz, a.k.a. A.H. Bowden, has built a devoted following for his viral recipes.

For the past month, Uncle Dibbz has been, shall we say, going ham on social media with the myriad videos of alternative Thanksgiving dishes. He’s dropped how-to clips for such recipes as Cajun-roasted turkey, honey-baked ham/hens, oven-bag turkey, and six-piece fried turkey (to go). Basically, if you don’t want to cook a bland ol’ Butterball this Turkey Day, Dibbz has you covered.

Who is Dibbz, you say? Well, he’s a North Jersey-born, Georgia-bred, Houston-based chef who’s been building quite the foodie rep online. Several videos across his TikTok, Instagram and YouTube pages, from his Cajun-boiled fried chicken (2 million on IG) to his “Propose to Me Pasta” (12.3 million on TikTok), has amassed millions of views. But Dibbz (government name: A.H. Bowden) wasn’t always a culinary content creator. He used to spin music back in Atlanta as DJ DiBiase, named after retired wrestler Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase. “DiBiase is a mouthful to say, so people just always call me ‘D’ or ‘Dibbz’ for short,” says Bowden, 37, during a Zoom interview.

@uncledibbz PROPOSE To Me PASTA 💍 🍝 Trust your Uncle! This SEAFOOD Pasta will seal the deal 👌🏽 Get my recipe below ⬇️ or on uncledibbz.com [@uncledibbz Link in Bio] 🌐 **Ingredients:** - 8 ounces spaghetti - 1 lb mixed seafood (shrimp, scallops, crab meat, etc.) - 2 tablespoons olive oil - Fresh chopped basil - 2 cloves garlic, minced - 1/2 cup white wine - 1/4 cup heavy cream - 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - Salt and pepper to taste - Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust [link in bio] - Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish) - Grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish) **Instructions:** 1. Cook the spaghetti pasta according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside. 2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, chopped basil and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant. 3. Add the mixed seafood to the skillet. Season with Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust to taste and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Remove the seafood from the skillet and set aside. 4. Pour in the white wine to the skillet and let it simmer for 2 minutes, allowing the alcohol to cook off. 5. Stir in the heavy cream, butter, Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. 6. Add the cooked spaghetti and cooked mixed seafood to the skillet. Toss everything together until well coated with the sauce. 7. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. 8. Serve hot and enjoy the flavorful Seafood Spaghetti. That's good Shawty! #UncleDibbz #ThatsGoodShawty #Pasta #marryme #proposal #bride #wife #husband #relationshipgoals #datenight #easyrecipe #seafood #cajun #cooking #fyp #foryou #viral #houston ♬ original sound - Uncle Dibbz 🍴

He was making a nice living as a DJ, even serving as rapper Big K.R.I.T.’s touring DJ for a while. But when the pandemic hit, the gigs obviously dried up.

“I was living in Miami at the time,” he says. “And, you know, when you have a lot of time on your hands to think – but also need to figure out a way to, you know, sustain an income and everything like that – the ideas start coming,”

Like most DJs at that time, he was doing live mixes on Instagram. But his days throwing cookout parties in Atlanta inspired him to start doing his cooking videos, where he used his very own seasoning. Of course, he had a lemon pepper blend, which he used in a lemon pepper hot wings video that currently has over a half-million views on TikTok.

“I'm about to go live to DJ later that night, and my phone was just going off with orders,” he recalls. “So I'm like, where are these orders coming from? And it's not from my friends. I'm seeing the cities and the states. I don't know these people.”

Thanks to his videos, which usually end with him saying his signature line “That’s good shawty!” (that’s also the name of his cookbook he released last year), Dibbz went into the seasoning business full time. He eventually hired another person to help send out the piles of orders he was receiving.

He even got an order from former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, one of his favorite athletes. “I remember doing a book report on him when I was in fourth grade,” he boasts.

Although Dibbz has a flair for making meals that border on decadent, he’s an ardent practitioner of cooking with natural ingredients, especially in his seasoning. He has several low-sodium seasoning, including Bebe’s Salt Free – named after his mother, who had open-heart surgery a few weeks before the pandemic started.

“I don't think a lot of people understand the amount of toxins and chemicals that go into a lot of these seasonings,” he says. “You're starting to see it in the news now. A lot of the foods with certain dyes are being taken off the shelves and things like that.’

Soon, Dibbz moved himself and his new business to Houston, a favorite place to perform as well as a town whose hip-hop got him into music. He cites local chopped-and-screwed gods DJ Screw, Michael 5000 Watts, and OG Ron C as his holy trinity of influences. To give props to the music of his new home, he created a hot sauce – called HXT Sauce – whose uncharacteristically large bottle resembles Promethazine cough syrup (aka the key ingredient in lean, the preferred purple cocktail for the city’s rap community).

“It's not necessarily about promoting that usage,” he says. “But, at the same time, it’s just a homage to one of the factors and influences of screwed-and-chopped music.”

Dibbz still indulges in spinning records from time to time. The Waxaholics’ DJ Big Reeks has gotten him to break out the vinyl a few times during his Thursday-night sets at Alley Kat Bar & Lounge in Midtown. But creating new recipes, dropping delicious content and proving you can eat and live in a hearty, healthy fashion still remains his full-time mission.

“I’m not just talking about eating cauliflower rice all day and every day, but just eat real food,” he says. “We're eating fake food. That's the bottom line. We're eating fake food and my whole purpose is to inspire people to eat real food and that starts with real ingredients, real herbs, you know – real natural seasonings.”

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