Foodie News

New downtown hotel lures a hot chef to the hospitality business: Will creative food follow?

Erin Smith, the former chef at Plonk! Bistro and current culinary director for the Clumsy Butcher group, has landed a new job as the executive chef at the still under construction JW Marriott hotel downtown. Smith will head up the hotel's restaurant as well as room service and catering options.

Smith tells CultureMap that she'd been looking for a new option for a couple of months when she happened to meet the new hotel's managing operator Germain Gallardo and started to consider the possibility of working for a hotel.

"This was a great opportunity in the heart of Houston," Smith says. "Not just in Houston, but downtown specifically. It's a really exciting thing to be a part of the development down here. I'm not just running a kitchen but running a food program for the entire hotel . . .

"It's something I think is going to push me out of my comfort zone a little. That's thrilling."

"We really want to create something that stands alone; that doesn't feel like it's in a hotel."

Hotels typically aren't known for their creative menus. To appeal to a wide range of guests, there's always a steak, a grilled salmon and some sort of pasta, but Smith says the JW Marriott wants to set itself apart.

"Our goal with the restaurant here is that we really want to create something that stands alone; that doesn't feel like it's in a hotel . . . ," she says. "If it does, then we haven't succeeded."

Other hotels have tried that in the past. For example, the Hotel Icon partnered with celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten on Bank for three years, but, when chef de cuisine Bryan Caswell left to launch Reef, the restaurant closed. Smith isn't worried. "We're not looking to compare ourselves to anything that's been done before. I have a lot of faith that it's a great opportunity and a great option."

Since the hotel won't open until this summer, Smith isn't ready to talk specifics, but she says "there are a lot of ideas in play."

Did she get permission to bring the biscuit recipe she created for Montrose coffee shop Blacksmith with her?

"It's not that I didn't get permission. I didn't ask," Smith responds with a laugh. "I would never take them away from Blacksmith . . I plan on eating a lot of biscuits and drinking a lot of lattes at Blacksmith while planning the menu."

Finally, will she try to convince boyfriend Patrick Feges to leave his position at Underbelly and join her in the new venture? The two did serve a lovely meal together last fall at a dinner that benefited Recipe for Success.

"He keeps asking, but I haven't made any of those decisions yet . . . I have mentioned, just sarcastically, with him if he really wants to be involved, he can bring his trailer and provide family meal while we're in the pre-opening," Smith says. "He didn't seem as interested in that."

The 80-story building is set to open this summer on Main Street.

JW Marriott downtown Houston May 2013 rendering

Courtesy rendering

The 80-story building is set to open this summer on Main Street.

unspecified

NYT best dishes

Houston Mediterranean restaurant makes NY Times' best desserts list

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen is the only Houston restaurant on either list.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025. Divided into two lists — The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 — the dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.KSayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

In Austin, Krishna praises the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit, Krishna singles out a honeybun at Mercado Sin Nombre. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

The picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the San Antonio restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

news-you-can-eat media lists desserts