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Darkhorse chef crowned Houston's "Prince of Pork," upsets favorites to take title

Cochon 555, the nationwide 10-city pork festival that made its first ever stop in Houston Sunday night, has a simple premise: five pigs, five chefs, five wineries. Over 500 people turned out for Sunday's event at the new JW Marriott downtown to sample the food, wine and cocktails.

While every chef portrayed the evening as a friendly competition, all the teams clearly came to win. In addition to the first place prize, which includes a trip to Aspen to compete against the winners from nine other cities, the winner earns bragging rights from having set the bar for future Cochon 555 competitors.

While every chef portrayed the evening as a friendly competition, all the teams clearly came to win.

That competitive fire resulted in a range of creative dishes that had attendees lining up for seconds. Each chef received a heritage pig from a local farm and has the task of creating up to six dishes.

On the culinary side, some of the highlights included Main Kitchen pastry chef Sharon Gofreed's bone marrow custard, Punk's Simple Southern Food executive chef Brandi Key's deviled egg, Ronnie Killen's Korean-style pork rib and the ham, egg and chesse biscuit from Coltivare's Marcelo Garcia.

Judges for the event included a Who's Who of Houston chefs, including Reef's Bryan Caswell, former Haven chef Randy Evans, Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan from The Pass & Provisions and Oxheart's Justin Yu, who did double duty by serving beef tartare made with three cuts of high quality Creekstone beef. The crowd also voted for their favorite, with the winner coming from a combination of the judges and people's choice.

After three hours of feasting, organizer Brady Lowe revealed the winner. Among all the big names, it was the darkhorse, Down House executive chef Mark Decker, who took the title. Of course, Decker had support from the full Treadsack team, which included two men with butchering experience in Hunky Dory's Richard Knight and Bernadine's Graham Laborde. Bar director Leslie Ross supplied Decker with a pork-washed bourbon satsuma cocktail to further bolster his entry.

Watch the video above for more from the scene. Lowe's already promised he'll come back next year. If the reaction of last night's crowd is any indication, Houston can't wait.

Erin Smith shows off the charcuterie plate that the chefs at Main Kitchen created for Cochon 555.

Cochon 555

Photo by Joel Luks

Erin Smith shows off the charcuterie plate that the chefs at Main Kitchen created for Cochon 555.

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Chopnblok food spread

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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