Meatopia Wrapup

All-star chefs give meat-eaters a lot to gnaw on at Texas-sized feast

This weekend San Antonio's Pearl Brewery complex played host to the first Texas edition of Meatopia, the ode to meat-eating and live-fire cooking conceived by James Beard Award-winning food writer Josh Ozersky.

At Saturday night's kick-off event, a dinner for 300 called The Beefsteak, Ozersky neatly summed up the motivation for and philosophy behind the two-day event. "I came to Texas to eat meat with people who like to eat meat," Ozersky proclaimed to cheers and applause.

Indeed, the meat did flow. Three chefs, Tim Rattray of San Antonio's The Granary, Tim Byres from Smoke Restaurant in Dallas and New York chef Andrew Toscano prepared steak dishes that came out sliced and ready to eat to the communal tables. To quench their thirst, diners had their choice of wine, beer and cocktails from the event's sponsors. Together with live music, excess was the theme; even the small, token bowl of vegetables present to each table had a root beer glaze.

"I came to Texas to eat meat with people who like to eat meat," Ozersky proclaimed to cheers and applause.

Of the dishes, Rattray's steak with barbecue butter had the best crust, which made for an excellent contrast with the fatty, properly medium rare meat. But everything was delicious. Sitting next to a couple other Houstonians, we immediately began plotting our dream team of chefs for an all-steak fest.

Two quibbles. First, there didn't seem to be a system in place for evenly distributing the entrees. After checking in with friends, they never received Tim Byres's coffee-cured steak with relish; since our table had an extra plate, we sent it their way. At my table, we only received one plate of Andrew Toscano's Calabrian-chile rubbed steak. Second, for an event which is inspired by Gilded Age excess, none of us reported being as ridiculously over-the-top full as we expected. A couple more plates of meat per table would have finished us off, although our cardiologists probably approve of the organizer's relative restraint.

Choosing from among 32 chefs

With an extra hour of sleep, I arrived at Meatopia Sunday morning ready to attack the 32 chefs who were serving meat in all its forms across the Pearl complex. For a first-time event, I thought it was extremely well-organized. Only the highest profile chefs, like Austin's Paul Qui, Dallas's John Tesar and San Antonio's Johnny Hernandez, attracted significant lines, and they moved quickly. Also, the model of paying one price that includes all food and beverages is a welcome respite from other festivals that require constantly paying additional money for food or coupons.

Although I made a heroic effort to sample all 32 options, I gave up with five or six to go. Sadly, that meant I missed San Antonio chef Jason Dady's porchetta, which looked absolutely spectacular and attracted a consistent crowd. I also didn't try cookbook author Adam Perry Lang's barbecue sandwich, but his rig and setup were among the most impressive looking displays of the day. There's always next year.

Underbelly was Houston's sole representative, but Chris Shepherd and his crew acquitted themselves well with a whole roasted pig prepared with Korean spices. The restaurant brought enough people, including sous chefs Ryan Lachaine and Lyle Bento and pastry chef Victoria Dearmond, that they were able to sample some of the other dishes between tending to the booth. In particular, Shepherd enjoyed the lamb neck gyro prepared by California chef John Fink.

My Top Six dishes of Meatopia

Johnny Hernandez of La Gloria in San Antonio: There was something almost medieval looking about Hernandez's stretched out, roasted cabrito. He served the tender goat meat on freshly made tortillas with an array of salsas. "Best taco I ever had," Ozersky tweeted.

Rene Ortiz, formerly of Sway in Austin & Ford Fry of The Optimist (among others) in Atlanta: Amidst the beef heart, lamb necks and bison, anyone preparing chicken has to be pretty impressive to be memorable. Ortiz's grilled chicken with chile paste and other spices delivered in a big way: moist, flavorful, spicy. If not for this tweet from Eater National's Paula Forbes, I might have missed it. Although Fry has made his name in Atlanta, he's a Houston native who graduated from Lamar High School. His chicken parts included feet and breast. Asked about how to eat it, Fry told one diner "just gnaw on it." Yes, chef.

Geronimo Lopez of Nao in San Antonio: Lopez serves as both executive chef and instructor at this restaurant that's part of the Culinary Institute of America's campus at Pearl; he made the most of his home field advantage. The large, hanging veal legs cooked at Nao's outdoor kitchen was among the day's most impressive displays, and the side of creamy polenta was so delicious I briefly pondered a second helping.

Andrew Weissman of Il Sogno Osteria in San Antonio: The chef's braised, stuffed breast of veal was tender, juicy and beautifully cooked. Amidst a lot of chefs with bold flavors, Weissman stood out with his subtlety. Well played.

Ned Elliot of Foreign & Domestic in Austin: Which isn't to say there wasn't a place for bold flavors. Elliot's crispy lamb ribs were spicy, intensely flavored and a total mess to eat. Isn't that half the fun of attending an event called Meatopia?

Andrew Weissman's stuffed veal, ready to slice and serve.

Photo by Eric Sandler

Andrew Weissman's stuffed veal, ready to slice and serve.

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Bourdain-inspired chef/writer

Houston chef looks back at barbecue pop-ups with artful new zine

Courtesy of Ryan Grimes

Ryan Grimes has been serving food in bars for more than 10 years.

If you frequent beloved dive bars like Two Headed Dog, Grand Prize Bar or Lil' Danny Speedo's Go Fly a Kite Lounge, there’s a good chance you’ve drunkenly bought food from Knives in Water.

One of several pop-up kitchens that sells and serves bar food on a regular basis, Knives consists of one guy – Baltimore native Ryan Grimes – who knows his way around smoked meats, whether it’s ribs, turkey legs, buffalo wings, or a whole turkey (for Thanksgiving only). When it comes to barbecue, he sees himself as a culinary outlier.

“The art of barbecue can kind of be gatekept by a lot of folks, which is ridiculous,” Grimes tells CultureMap. “I mean, it's three ingredients. It's a lot like punk rock: three chords and the truth, and you’re gonna get it right.

On Saturday, May 24, Grimes will celebrate his 42nd birthday at Midtown bar Two Headed Dog, where he’ll be serving up more than just food. He’ll also debut Papercut, a zine filled with essays, remembrances and, yes, recipes. “A lot of it was taken from previous Instagram posts I had done that I expounded upon,” he says.

With layout and artwork provided by bartender/artist Khrystah Luisa Gorham (who also designed Knives in Water’s logo and T-shirt merch), Grimes included many endearing entries to this brisk read. A 2015 post has him recalling the time he and his father went to the Million Man March when he was 12. A more recent piece has him cooking for his parents and maternal grandparents on Martin Luther King Day. He pays tribute to idol Anthony Bourdain (“I count him as a teacher of sorts, helping me find my own voice through food, culture and adventure.”) as well as an old friend whom he named a wing sauce after.

The issue also runs down the various dishes Grimes tinkered with during the pandemic. “I took a look back at dishes that I had done in the past that I don't do anymore or, for one reason or another, I can't do,” he says. “Maybe they're too complicated or just wouldn't sell well at a dive bar, that kind of thing.”

Papercut is basically a printed primer of the business Grimes has been operating since 2019. “Actually, [The Suffers frontwoman] Kam Franklin was the person that first put the idea in my head to do this, you know, professionally,” he remembers. “I did a dinner party for her. I mean, I can't remember what year it was — 2010, 2012, 2014… She was the first person to say, 'hey, you really got something here. You know, you're talented, your food's good. People seem to dig it.' So I guess you could kind of date it back to that.”

Grimes got the idea for Papercut when he did a pop-up at last year’s Zine Fest Houston, held at the Orange Show. That’s where co-organizer Anastasia “Stacy” Kirages encouraged Grimes to put his thoughts and opinions down on paper. “It took her a while to convince me to do it,” he says. “Stacy's the most personable, likable person on the planet and I admire the hell out of her. So, it was kind of tough.”

After he stopped procrastinating, Grimes found that creating a zine came quite easily to him. “Once I came up with the name, the silly name, it just kind of flew together in the space of maybe two months. I started writing it in February and I was holding a copy of it by late March, maybe early April. But yeah, it didn't take long at all.”

Grimes has a limited number of copies, which he’ll be selling at his pop-ups. Copies will also be available at CLASS Bookstore and Gulf Coast Cosmos Comicbook Co. He isn’t ruling out dropping another volume if demand calls for it. If he does, Grimes assures readers that he’ll have fun with it and not become another culinary clout-chaser. “

Yeah, it's really serious – the business of being a foodie, posting on Instagram and likes and all this stuff,” he says. “The competition is real and this is just a way to say it doesn't have to be that way. You know, you can do all of this yourselves. You and your friends can start a pop-up.

“Starting a restaurant is something that will likely never happen for me,” he continues, “but that doesn't mean that I don't believe in my food and don't believe in my friends that do it as well. Umbrella Fellas, Annie’s Sammies, Tacos Bomberos. These are all pop-ups that are deserving of brick-and-mortar restaurants. They're deserving of all the accolades that we just don't get overshadowed because we're small-time, hanging out in dive bars, serving the people. But that's fine. No one I know is doing this for the laurels. It's just this punk rock DIY ethic that anyone can do this. Yeah, that's the beauty of it.”

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