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    Foodie News

    Bon Appétit falls in love with a Houston "dream dessert"

    Sarah Rufca
    Mar 19, 2012 | 10:58 am
    • Raymond Vandergaag's pistachio pound cake at The Tasting Room
    • Chef Raymond Vandergaag
      ChefRayV/Twitter

    When it comes to dessert, the Bon Appétit staff has seen — and eaten — it all.

    So when associate photo editor Susan Getzendanner describes the pistachio pound cake from The Tasting Room in CityCentre as her "dream dessert," that's a pretty big compliment.

    Getzendanner also includes the recipe from Tasting Room chef Raymond Vandergaag, which includes orange and lime zests, plus whipped cream and truffled honey, which Getzendanner describes as "an unnecessary but welcome gilding of the lily."

    Try the cake at The Tasting Room or bake it yourself with the recipe below:

    Ingredients:

    Nonstick vegetable oil spray
    2 cups all-purpose flour plus more
    1½ tsp. kosher salt
    1 tsp. baking powder
    1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
    2 cups sugar
    5 large eggs
    2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
    2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
    2 tsp. finely grated orange zest
    1 tsp. finely grated lime zest
    1 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped, divided

    Arrange a rack in the middle of oven; preheat to 325 degrees. Coat a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Dust pan with flour, tap out excess.

    Whisk two cups flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, two to three minutes. Add sugar; beat until well incorporated, one to two minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions. Add juices and zests, beat until well combined (mixture will look curdled), two to three minutes. Add dry ingredients; reduce speed to low and beat just until blended. Fold in ¾ cup pistachios. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup pistachios over.

    Bake cake, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about one and one half hours. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely in pan. Run a sharp knife around sides to loosen; unmold cake. Can be made one day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

    unspecified
    news/restaurants-bars

    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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