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    hot dog!

    Popular New Orleans hot dog chain picks Rice Village for first Houston location

    Eric Sandler
    Jan 8, 2018 | 10:30 am
    Dat Dog New Orleans hot dog trio
    Dat Dog is coming to Rice Village.
    Photo courtesy Katie Sikora Photography

    A popular New Orleans restaurant has found its first Houston location. Hot dog restaurant Dat Dog announced Monday that it has signed a lease in Rice Village.

    Slated to open in time for the start of the 2018 academic year, construction will start soon on the 2,900-square foot restaurant that will be located at 5504 Morningside Drive, just down the street from the Rice Village location of Hopdoddy.

    “Dat Dog is different. It’s a fresh concept, and we’re very excited to bring a little bit of offbeat New Orleans to Rice University,” said Greg Hamer, CEO of B&G Food Enterprises, the franchisee group that will own and operate the Houston locations, in a statement. “Dat Dog’s vibrant atmosphere, late-night hours and, of course, its hot dogs will no doubt bring additional vibrancy to the campus and introduce students to an entirely new dining experience.”

    Known for its diverse array of sausages — everything from a range of traditional pork and beef options to more exotic fare like alligator, crawfish, and duck and even vegan options — and a wealth of toppings — classics like mustard, relish, and onions as well as crawfish etoufee, blackberry sauce, and sriracha mayo — publications like The New York Times and USA Today have touted the restaurant's family-friendly atmosphere and creative combinations as some of the best hot dogs in America.

    “Everything that we serve is in the shape of a hot dog, including our burgers, which are rolled from freshly ground beef, and chicken, which is cut into strips and grilled or fried,” added Dat Dog President and COO Bill DiPaola. “At Dat Dog, you can come in and watch the game, drink a local craft beer, play trivia or corn hole. You can hang out and be loose and easy. I believe that our quirky culture and crazy delicious dogs will be welcomed with open arms on campus.”

    While DiPaola and Hamer are focused on Dat Dog as a destination for Rice students, the area remains a popular dining destination for all Houstonians. In addition to recent openings like Hopdoddy and SusieCakes, the area will become home to Houston's second location of New York-based burger chain Shake Shack later this year.

    Dat Dog has three locations in New Orleans. B&G intends to open up to 25 across the city. That sounds like a lot, but B&G knows something about growing brands. The company operates 100 Yum Brands franchises in Texas and Louisiana (Taco Bell, KFC, etc).

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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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