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    Rising Star Chefs

    Tastemakers Rising Stars: Meet 7 chefs who will shape the future of dining in Houston

    Eric Sandler
    Apr 22, 2015 | 9:37 am

    The Tastemakers Rising Star Chef of the Year category recognizes promising individuals or chefs who are newly established in their own kitchens. In the collective opinion of our panel of restaurant industry experts, these are the chefs who will shape the future of dining in Houston.

     

    James Beard Award winner Bradley Ogden recently tapped last year's winner, Triniti chef de cuisine Greg Lowry, to revive his Houston concepts — a challenge worthy of his prodigious talent. Who will join Lowry as a Tastemakers winner? Find out at our awards ceremony May 13. The VIP section has already sold out, but general admission tickets still remain.

     

    Our nominees are a strong group with a diverse set of skills. All of them participated in at least one high-profile opening in 2014, and two are associated with some of 2015's most anticipated newcomers. Get to know them now so you can sound smart when you discuss their careers later.

     

     Adam Dorris, Pax Americana
    With stints at Stella Sola and Revival Market on his resume, Adam Dorris had already established himself as a chef on the rise, which earned him a Rising Star nomination last year. Last summer, he announced he had partnered with Glass Wall owner Shepard Ross and Dan Zimmerman to launch Pax Americana. Despite that status as a chef on the move, few people expected Pax to emerge as one of the most well-regarded restaurants, but Dorris has erased any misplaced nostalgia for Thai Sticks. Pax's constantly evolving menu draws upon a bevy of global influences while utilizing high-quality local product. With most dishes under $20, Dorris's cuisine isn't just delicious — it's an affordable luxury.

     

     Patrick Feges, Southern Goods
    Patrick Feges worked as a line cook at Underbelly for two years, but he nurtured a passion for barbecue with a series of well-regarded pop-ups. To further his skills, he moved on to Killen's Barbecue, where he immersed himself in all aspects of the restaurant — everything from manning the smoker to ordering to keeping the line moving by cutting meat — all the while continuing to pop-up and serve preparations that are a little different than Killen's. Before he commits to barbecue full-time, Feges has reunited with two of his former Underbelly colleagues, Lyle Bento and J.D. Woodward, to open Southern Goods in the Heights. If a pop-up last week that featured biscuit gnocchi and a substantial, honey-glazed ham hock is any indication, Southern Goods will be one of 2015's most inventive newcomers.

     

     Adam Garcia, Coltivare
    Adam Garcia established Washington Ave cocktail bar as a legitimate food destination with a series of cold seafood small plates and some of the best fried hush puppies in Houston. That Garcia's food is delicious and well-executed should come as no surprise to those who were familiar with his work at both Revival Market and The Pass & Provisions (the work that earned him a nomination last year), but executing at a high-level in Julep's confined environment is still praiseworthy. He recently took a job as the A.M. sous chef at Coltivare, where he'll contribute to executive chef Ryan Pera's Italian-inspired cuisine that uses incredibly fresh local ingredients.

     

     Graham Laborde, The Kipper Club Test Kitchen/Bernadine's
    Graham Laborde may have been a surprise pick to lead the restaurant next to former Feast chef Richard Knight's upcoming Hunky Dory at the Treadsack "mothership" on Shepherd and 18th, but, as owner Chris Cusack explained in November, Laborde is the "Slumdog Millionaire" of the restaurant that's intended as a "love letter to the Gulf Coast" in the sense that "everything he’s done in his life leads up to this awesome project." That includes growing up in Louisiana, traveling along the Gulf Coast, working for celebrated chefs like Scott Boswell and serving as operations manager for Black Hill Ranch. Prior to turning his attention to Bernadine's, Laborde organized Treadsack's Kipper Club pop-up space, which included recruiting talented out-of-town chefs like Dan Heinze from McCrady's in Charleston, SC that made Kipper the home for some of the city's most exciting meals.

     

     Gabriel Medina, Soma Sushi
    Two-time Rising Star nominee Gabriel Medina has already earned a reputation as one of Houston's most underrated chefs. Before the recent ramen boom, Medina already earned favorable reviews for his fusion soups that utilize ingredients like smoked barbecue brisket. Recently, he's been integrating flavors from different Asian countries and giving them a little Japanese twist, as with some recent dishes that are inspired by Singapore. If Medina keeps up this pace, he'll be a Chef of the Year nominee in no time.

     

     Brandon Silva, Uchi
    Brandon Silva had an interesting 2014. He left Uchi to help his mentor Mark Holley open his buzzed-about Midtown seafood restaurant. Once Holley's had found his footing, Silva returned to Uchi. At a recent pop-up with fellow Uchi chef John Gross, Silva showed dishes like sweetbreads with oyster mushrooms and parsnips that demonstrate his abilities beyond seafood. Whether he gets to serve some of those experiments to Uchi's demanding customers remains to be seen, but knocking out 400 covers on a Saturday night is its own reward.

     

     Martin Weaver, KUU Restaurant
    Martin Weaver is the unsung hero of KUU: the modern Japanese restaurant that's emerged as one of the most intriguing destinations in west Houston. Where executive chef Adison Lee brings a global perspective and training from sushi temple Nobu to KUU's menu, chef de cuisine Weaver brings a more local perspective. He's an almost weekly presence at the Saturday morning Urban Harvest farmers market where he can be found selecting produce for nightly specials. That's how ingredients like green strawberries wind up on KUU's menu.

    Adam Dorris, Pax Americana.

    Adam Dorris Pax Americana
      
    Courtesy photo
    Adam Dorris, Pax Americana.
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    roll out

    Self-taught chef slices into Houston with high-quality sushi to go

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 17, 2025 | 5:57 pm
    Kaisen Sushi Houston nigiri
    Courtesy of Kaisen Sushi Houston
    Each order of nigiri comes with a house made sushi sauce.

    The ghost kitchen phenomenon may have diminished somewhat since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the idea of a delivery and to-go-only restaurant still draws talented chefs who want to focus on food at a lower overhead than a traditional brick-and-mortar. One of those chefs is Sunny Bertsch, whose restaurant Kaisen Sushi Houston is already drawing buzz from inner loopers looking for a more affordable, at-home sushi experience.

    Located at the Blodgett Food Hall in Third Ward, Kaisen Sushi serves typical nigiri, maki, and temaki (hand rolls), along with a steak bowl. Prices are a little lower than what someone would find at a typical sushi restaurant, with an eight-piece nigiri set priced at $18.99 when ordered through the Blodgett Food Hall website (expect to pay more if ordering via a third-party delivery service such as Uber Eats or DoorDash).

    While Bertsch’s food may be familiar, his story is not. The diners who’ve rated Kaisen with 4.9 stars on Google may be surprised to learn that he’s only been cooking professionally for two years. As Bertsch tells CultureMap, prior to becoming a professional chef, he worked in fields as varied as aerospace and dog walking.

    “I’d always been interested in cooking,” he says. “I was blessed to be born into a great Korean American family. My dad and my grandparents always cooked great food. I learned by osmosis.”

    Bertsch began his career as a private chef by working for friends. He built his business by catering lunches to powerhouse law firm Vinson & Elkins. Eventually, his clients asked for private sushi dinners, and he had to figure things out.

    “I got an opportunity to do a sushi omakase. It was brutal. It was messy. But I knew once I did that, I wanted to dedicate my life to sushi,” he says. “Since then, I have studied and practiced. I threw a lot of money and time and fish at it.”

    Bertsch improved his speed and knife skills by taking a $13-per-hour job at Japanese grocery store Seiwa Market. While there, he says he made thousands of pieces of nigiri, rolls, and sushi bowls. That experience, along with meals from similar to-go-only concepts in New York and San Francisco, convinced him to open Kaisen as a ghost kitchen.

    “So far, I’ve spent $90,000. That’s more than the average investment for a food hall kitchen,” Bertsch explains. “I’m a clean freak. I’m a technology freak. I’m an authenticity freak. I outfitted my kitchen in the way I thought was necessary for long-term success.”

    Just as he spared no expense in specing out his kitchen, Bertsch puts thoughtful touches into his food, too. For example, every order of nigiri comes with a dipping sauce Bertsch makes himself from low sodium soy sauce, kombu, vinegar, and sake.

    “It’s a complex sauce that’s less salty and tastes good,” he says. “You know when you don’t have it and you’re given cheap soy sauce.”

    Similarly, his California rolls use imitation crab (as do most restaurants), but it’s seasoned with a housemade, Japanese-style kewpie mayo, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and sesame oil for more umami and less sweetness. Since the chef uses more crab mix than other restaurants do in their rolls, Kaisen’s California roll not only tastes better — at $11.99, it’s a better value, too.

    The chef showcases Japanese techniques and Korean influences with his $25 steak bowl. A USDA Choice ribeye or strip is cooked sous vide with a marinade made from garlic, tamari, and seasoning salt. Once a diner orders the entree, the steak is seared in a pan, basted with Kerrygold butter, seasoned with furikake and sesame oil, and served with short-grain sushi rice and microgreens from local farm Zero Point Organics.

    Word of mouth has been building. Even though it’s only been open for a month, Kaisen already has over 2,000 followers on Instagram. Once he’s able to hire a full roster of cooks, Bertsch plans to expand the menu and offer lunch service. Despite some challenges, he’s pleased with the restaurant’s progress.

    “The support I've gotten on social media has blown me away,” he says. “It’s been amazing. I could not have done it without Instagram. It blows my mind.”

    Kaisen Sushi Houston nigiri
      

    Courtesy of Kaisen Sushi Houston

    Each order of nigiri comes with a house made sushi sauce.

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