Pasta Party

Popular local chef plots pasta party for new downtown food hall

The Bravery Chef Hall is starting to take shape. The new downtown food hall, a project that unites Prohibition owners Ahn Mai and Lian Nguyen with partner Shepard Ross, will feature five stands operated by local chefs.

Already announced are Nuna Nikkei Bar, a Peruvian concept from Andes Cafe owner David Guerrero, Blind Goat, a Vietnamese restaurant from Masterchef winner Christine Ha, and Cherry Block Craft Butcher and Seasonal Kitchen, a steakhouse from Black Hill Meats owner Felix Florez. Next up is BOH Pasta, an Italian concept from local chef Ben McPherson.

Although McPherson is known for his work at Batanga, Prohibition Supper Club, and, most recently, Krisp Bird & Batter, he's always had a passion for Italian cooking. Childhood trips to Italy cemented a love for the country's cuisine.

“I was in college by the time my dad moved to Italy," McPherson said in a statement. "My love for food had already started. Everyone in culinary school wanted to cook Southern and I had this thing for Italian I couldn’t shake.”

Named after both the industry term for kitchen workers (back of the house) as well as an Italian phrase meaning "I don't know," BOH will serve handmade pastas as well as Italian charcuterie and cheeses. A wood-burning Marra Forni oven will produce both Neapolitan-style pizzas and wood-roasted entrees.

McPherson has always had a commitment to sourcing great ingredients, and BOH is no exception. Pasta doughs will be made with heirloom flours from Texas' Barton Springs Mill, Hayden Flour Mills or Southern legend Anson Mills. Farm fresh eggs and seasonal produce are also on the agenda. Of course, Ross will contribute wine pairings for the various dishes.

Diners can get a preview of what the chef is working on at a special pop-up on April 10. The meal will include appetizers like artichokes alla Romana and bruschetta, two pastas, pizza, and porchetta with salsa verde. Tickets are on sale now for $50.

McPherson tells CultureMap that he'll spend most of April and early May in Romagna, Tuscany, Rome, and Piedmont conducting additional "research" in the form of eating and drinking. Tough work to be sure, but one that Houston diners will benefit from when Bravery arrives this summer.

14-layer lasagna bolognese.

Ben McPherson BOH Pasta lasagna bolognese

Courtesy photo

14-layer lasagna bolognese.

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

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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