Chopped Chef On The Move

After Chopped experience, rising star chef moves to iconic Houston restaurant

Martin Weaver is the new executive sous chef at Brennan's.

Photo by Kimberly Park

Martin Weaver is having a pretty good week. In addition to coming within an overcooked cake of winning $10,000 on Chopped, he has started a new job.

Weaver, who earned a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Rising Star Chef of the Year nomination for his work as chef de cuisine at upscale Japanese restaurant Kuu, has taken on a new role as executive sous chef at iconic Creole restaurant Brennan's of Houston. Weaver began his new job on Wednesday, one day after the popular Food Network show aired.

The new position gives Weaver the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of a kitchen that's served as a training ground for any number of prominent Houston chefs including Underbelly chef/owner Chris Shepherd, Holley's chef/owner Mark Holley, and State of Grace executive chef Bobby Matos. The time had come to move on to the next stage in his career.

"I’d been with Kuu for about two years. I felt like I’d learned as much as I needed to learn there. Adison (Lee, Kuu's executive chef) taught me a lot," Weaver tells CultureMap. "I had heard about the position opening here from one of my purveyors. I saw it as a good opportunity for me to grow and learn for my eventual goal to own my own restaurant someday."

The Chopped Experience

On Tuesday night, Weaver competed against three other chefs on a episode of Chopped that centered around a series of challenges designed around the Chinese New Year. The contestants included another Houston connection with Vanarin Kuch, who worked at Tiny Boxwood before moving to New York. California chef Kathy Fang took home the $10,000.

Weaver says Kuu's publicist first alerted him to the Chopped casting call. After a couple of Skype interviews, he earned a trip to New York. Although he only watched a couple episodes of the show, Weaver says his previous experience with mystery basket-style competitions had him feeling well-prepared.

"As a chef, you get customers who want something off the menu," Weaver says. "Coming up with something on the fly is something we do on a day to day basis. On the show, you’re doing it in on a national competition level."

Weaver regularly shops at the Urban Harvest farmers market on Saturday mornings. He compares creating specials using fresh produce to the challenge of the show, although a chef at the market gets longer than 30 minutes to develop a dish.

Mixing things up

Brennan's executive chef Danny Trace tells CultureMap he hired Weaver because "I wanted to mix things up a little bit. I knew about Martin through some other chefs. Word of mouth is always the best way to hire. I knew Adison through different events and know he got good training under Adison. Speaking with Martin, I figured it was a good fit."

Trace says he hopes Weaver will bring his experiences from Kuu to the restaurant's recently introduced cold seafood platters in the form of crudos and other dishes. Even Brennan's realizes that diners want to eat lighter, and the cold station has enabled the restaurant to offer its customers more options.

While Weaver's new role will keep him busy, the chef hasn't given up his dreams of reality TV stardom. He'd like another shot at Chopped but has his eyes on an even more prestigious prize.

"One of the shows I most want to do is Top Chef. If I got the opportunity, I would take it," he says.

news-you-can-eat chefs

Meet the Tastemakers

Houston's 10 best pastry chefs conjure sweet and savory treats

Cafe Louie/Facebook

Lucianna Emiliani

“Sweet” may be the first word that comes to mind with desserts, but it certainly isn’t the only one. “Tart,” “comforting,” “herbaceous,” and “satisfying” all have their roles to play, too.

The nominees for the 2023 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Pastry Chef of the Year understand that sweetness needs to be balanced. They know that a sprinkle of salt makes any chocolate dessert taste more chocolatey or that roasting strawberries brings out their sweetness. With their diverse skills, they produce savory items that leave people wanting more and sweets that are, if we’re being honest, better than anything grandma ever made.

This year’s nominees produce cookies, cakes, breads, kolaches, doughnuts, pop tarts, ice cream, and more. Their inspiration comes from both childhood favorites and culinary traditions the span the globe. Even people who claim not to like dessert will probably find something to devour from this distinguished group.

Who will win? Find out April 13 at our Tastemaker Awards ceremony. Dine on bites from this year’s nominees, sip cocktails from our sponsors, and witness as we reveal the winners. Buy your tickets now.

Alyssa Dole - LuLoo's Day & Night
After a extensive career that’s seen her work everywhere from Coltivare to Pinkerton’s Barbecue, Dole has found a home at this bakery and cafe in Garden Oaks. Working in partnership with Blood Bros. BBQ, LuLoo’s serves sandwiches on Dole’s bread and a range of sweet and savory pastries, including Australian-inspired sausage rolls and barbecue kolaches. Upstairs, Dole leads LuLoo's Bakeshop, a wholesale bakery that supplies breads to Blood Bros. and a number of other Houston restaurants.

Kelly Helgesen - Nancy's Hustle
After a successful career in Chicago that included a Zagat “30 Under 30” award for her work at Lula Cafe, Helgesen moved to Houston to reunite her professional relationship with Nancy’s executive chef/co-owner Jason Vaughan (both are alumni are legendary seafood restaurant L20). At Nancy’s, she maintains the quality of menu staples like the savory parmesan cheesecake (and those English muffin burger buns Justin Verlander is so fond of) while also adding seasonal specials such as a recently-introduced buttermilk sherbet with roasted strawberries and sesame puff sticks. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that she finds a way to share her bagel-making skills with Houstonians on a more regular basis at some point in the future.

Kripa Shenoy - EaDough Pastries & Provisions
This chef comes to Houston via New York City, where she worked at Marea, which recently held one Michelin star and earned the 2010 James Beard Award for best new restaurant in America. At EaDough, a to-go only kiosk along the Columbia Tap Rail hike and bike trail, Shenoy turns out a breakfast-focused roster of sweet and savory pastries that includes kolaches, muffins, cookies, scones, and croissants. Later this year, Houstonians will experience more of her talents when she opens Auden, a vegetable-forward, globally inspired restaurant, with her husband, chef Kirthan Shenoy.

Lucianna Emiliani - Louie's Italian American
After beginning her career in Houston, Emiliani moved to California, where she worked in L.A. for the acclaimed Tartine Bakery. She returned home to help her brother, chef Angelo Emiliani, open Cafe Louie (named for her), where she earned raves for her croissants, morning buns, and other viennoiserie. When Cafe Louie evolved into Louie’s Italian American, she developed a couple of classic desserts for the menu, including a tiramisu that’s among Houston’s best. Thankfully, her croissants are still available at Saturday morning pop-ups and coffee shops around Houston.

Marie Riddle - Bludorn/Navy Blue
Like so many of the people behind both Bludorn and Navy Blue, Riddle comes to Houston via New York, where she worked for legendary French chef Daniel Boulud and Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi. At Bludorn, Riddle and her team oversee a revolving roster of desserts that includes the restaurant’s signature Baked Alaska. For Navy Blue, the flavors lean a little lighter, with standouts that include a tart Key Lime Pie and the carrot cake she’ll serve at the Tastemaker Awards ceremony.

Rebecca Masson - Fluff Bake Bar
It’s almost hard to believe Fluff started selling pastries at Revival Market 12 years ago. Now firmly established at its location near the Heights, Masson has earned an impressive reputation, and a previous Tastemaker Awards win, for signatures like the Veruca Salt cake, Couch Potato cookie, and the Star Crossed Lover (Rice Krispie treat topped with caramel and covered in chocolate). Fans know to line up early on Saturday mornings, because weekly specials such as croissants, barbecue kolaches, and quiches sell out quickly.

Ruchit Harneja - Musaafer
After learning to cook from his mother and grandmother, this pastry chef traveled the world, racking up experiences in India and Europe before joining the opening team at the Galleria’s fine dining Indian restaurant. In press materials, the chef describes his style as incorporating unexpected ingredients such as fresh green chilies, garlic, ginger, fish, and meat. Those skills have served him well on the current season of the Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship: Easter, where a hickory-smoked honey caked won a challenge — and a temporary spot on Musaafer’s menu.

Shawn Gawle - Goodnight Hospitality
Part of Goodnight’s commitment to offering world class dining experiences included recruiting Gawle, a veteran of Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago and the Bay Area, to come to Houston. Under his direction, the company’s pastry program includes a complex range of sweet and savory items that ranges from cookies and canale at Montrose Cheese & Wine to Rosie Cannonball staples like Focaccia di Recco and Basque cheesecake to March’s elegant plated desserts and diminutive mignardise. Balanced flavors, seasonal ingredients, and refined techniques are the ties that bind all of his efforts.

Stefani Velasquez - Papalo Mercado/Ema
At both the stand in downtown’s Finn Hall that she operates with her business partner, chef Nicolas Vera, and at a weekly booth at the Urban Harvest farmers market, diners count on Velasquez nostalgic desserts inspired by Mexican pan dulce and other traditions. A veteran of Hugo Ortega’s H-Town Restaurant Group, Velasquez’s output covers a wide range, including conchas, pop tarts, her signature horchata-filled Berlinésa, and specials that utilize Vera’s nixtamalized masa. The chef adds that she uses eggs from her father’s farm and as much seasonal produce as she can.

Vanarin Kuch - Koffeteria
The past year has been a busy time for the chef-owner of this EaDo bakery and cafe that’s devoted to serving flavors inspired by Houston’s diverse immigrant communities. By winding down Koffeteria’s wholesale operations, Kuch has been able to expand his output with more sweet and savory offerings that range from a Chinese sausage taco and breakfast sandwiches on housemade buns to matcha latte croissants and Cambodian elote cornbread. In addition, occasional Cambodian dinners and dessert omakase services allow Kuch to demonstrate a diverse set of skills that go far beyond his daily (and very delicious) grab-and-go creations.

Cafe Louie/Facebook

Lucianna Emiliani

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