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    Unexpected Chef Change

    Hot Houston restaurant suddenly fires "triple threat" chef as it plans expansion

    Eric Sandler
    Sep 19, 2014 | 11:48 am

    "Puzzle piece didn't fit..."

    That's how restaurateur Shepard Ross describes Plinio Sandalio: the well-regarded pastry chef who was fired (not "parted ways," as the Chronicle first reported) this week from his role as co-chef at Pax Americana. The recently opened Montrose restaurant has emerged as one of 2014's hottest openings and much of that heat came from Sandalio's union with rising star chef Adam Dorris.

    When Pax first announced it was opening, Ross called Sandalio a "triple threat" thanks to his abilities with savory, pastry and cocktails. For his part, Sandalio told CultureMap he was looking forward to preparing savory dishes. "When I come home, I cook a lot of savory stuff, a lot of comfort food, a lot of braising. I wanted to switch back to savory and do that again and do that in a restaurant environment, not just at home," Sandalio said at the time.

    Even before Sandalio broke his arm this week in a car accident, they decided to move on without him.

    He did not respond to a request for comment about his current situation.

    Ross tells CultureMap that once the restaurant opened, Sandalio devoted his attention almost exclusively to pastry, which received raves from diners. With patio weather looming, Pax expects to expand its seating. Both Ross and Dorris realized the chef would need more help on the line to deal with the additional diners. Even before Sandalio broke his arm this week in a car accident and underwent surgery to repair it, they decided to move on without him.

    As long as Dorris is in the kitchen, Pax will continue to be one of the city's most interesting new restaurants. A search has already begun to find a "bad-ass sous chef," per Ross, who can assist Dorris on the line.

    Sandalio's future is less clear. He remains supremely talented. Whether he finds a kitchen in Houston that fits his talents remains to be seen.

    With Sandalio gone, Pax is looking for a new sous chef to assist Adam Dorris.

    Pax Americana Houston restaurant June 2014 logo
      
    Courtesy photo
    With Sandalio gone, Pax is looking for a new sous chef to assist Adam Dorris.
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    What's Eric Eating Episodes 456 and 457

    Meet the Houston chef serving an affordable tasting menu in the Heights

    CultureMap Staff
    Apr 8, 2025 | 5:42 pm
    Camaraderie restaurant exterior
    Photo by Arturo Olmos
    In-the-know diners are flocking to Camaraderie.

    On the most recent episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” chef Shawn Gawle joined CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss Camaraderie, his new restaurant in the Heights. It’s the first solo project for the chef, who’s best known locally for his time as the executive pastry chef for Goodnight Hospitality (March, Rosie Cannonball, etc.).



    The conversation begins with Gawle explaining how time spent working in his father’s Boston-area deli inspired him to pursue a career in cooking. Eventually, he worked at some of America’s most acclaimed restaurants, including three-star Michelin establishments such as L20 in Chicago (two stars) and two, three-star restaurants in San Francisco, Saison and Quince.

    Lured by Goodnight Hospitality partner June Rodil to Houston, he worked alongside chef Felipe Riccio to develop the menus for Rosie Cannonball, March, and Montrose Cheese & Wine. After four years with the company, the time had come to make a switch from pastry to savory and open his first solo restaurant.

    “I like cooking, whether it’s with sugar or salt, flour or pastries. Whatever the ingredient is, I like the technique and the cooking and getting my hands in it. And also sharing it with people,” Gawle says about being both a savory and pastry chef.

    Camaraderie has an unusual format. In the main dining room, Gawle is serving a three-course, $75 prix-fixe menu that’s built around shared, mostly vegetable-based appetizers with a choice of four entrees and a couple of desserts. In the bar and lounge, the restaurant serves an a la carte menu of snacks and entrees. For Gawle, serving both bridges the gap between the tasting menu restaurants where he’s spent much of his career and the more casual restaurants he likes dining at when he’s not working.

    “I’m trying to think of restaurants a little differently. How can I think of the restaurant where I can do similar quality and experience but with a price point that’s more approachable and the time spent in the restaurant, too,” he says.

    “The food style, I don’t think guests want to dine for three-plus hours, of if they do, it’s once a year. I want people to come more often than that. We can give people a full experience in an hour or an hour-and-a-half and have that same Michelin-quality food but very approachable.”

    Listen to the full interview to hear Gawle discuss creating the salt-baked celery root that earned a shout out from former Chronicle critic Alison Cook in her recently-launched newsletter. He also shares how Austin’s acclaimed restaurant Birdie’s inspired some of Camaraderie’s direction regarding wages and work-life balance.



    In another recent episode, Sandler and co-host Mary Clarkson visited Chardon, the new French restaurant in the Thompson Hotel. They found a lot to like about chef E.J. Miller’s menu, including Dover sole served tableside, Miller’s creative uses for Texas wagyu beef, and a mostly French wine list overseen by sommelier Renato Bringas.

    Camaraderie restaurant exterior
      

    Photo by Arturo Olmos

    In-the-know diners are flocking to Camaraderie.

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