Foodie News

A surprise at James Beard: A Houston-bound Texan takes top chef, but it's notBryan Caswell

Nominee Bryan Caswell of Houston's Reef on the James Beard Foundation Awardsgreen carpet in 2010.
Uchi's Tyson Cole won Best Chef: Southwest in a rare tie, sharing the stage withLas Vegas' Saipan Chutima.

The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southwest has come back to Texas, but not to Houston — yet.

For the eighth time in the history of the Beard awards, voting ended in a tie between two of the five nominees, with dual victory going to Saipin Chutima of Las Vegas' Lotus of Siam and Austinite Tyson Cole for his restaurant Uchi. Cole plans to open a Houston Uchi in the fall.

Fellow nominee and current Houston celebrity chef Bryan Caswell congratulated the winners via Twitter, thanking Houstonians for their support and the "opportunity to represent," and graciously congratulated Cole on his win.

"Congrats to Tyson Cole, honestly Uchi is my favorite restaurant," tweeted Caswell live from the awards show. Caswell was up for Best Chef: Southwest last year as well.

Accepting her medal, through an interpreter Chutima said she felt like a bride instead of the bridesmaid for once. And Cole seemed struck by the rare tie, thanking his Uchi team and remarking at how no one thought he could make sushi when he started out because he wasn't Asian.

It's the first time a Texan has won the award since Stephan Pyles in 1991 (which was also pointed out first by Caswell), and with Uchi planning a fall opening in the former Felix spot on Westheimer, Houstonians can be excited that soon we'll have another Beard Award winner working in town.

As for Caswell, well, there's always next year.

Update: The most recent Texas chef to win Best Chef: Southwest was Houston's Robert Del Grande in 1992.

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Farewell, ElRo

Creative Montrose pizzeria will shutter after only a year-and-a-half

Photo by Julie Soefer

ElRo Pizza & Crudo

An acclaimed Houston pizzeria will soon serve its final pies. ElRo Pizza & Crudo will close after service on December 31.

In a post on Instagram, chef-owner Terrence Gallivan thanks his staff for their dedication and his customers for their support. “We hope to see you all over the next couple weeks. Come celebrate with us,” he writes.

Open since June 2023, ElRo intrigued diners who enjoyed Gallivan’s work at pioneering Houston restaurant The Pass & Provisions. At ElRo, the chef served a modified version of the Provisions pizza recipe alongside crudos and shareable small plates such as arancini and housemade sausage. It earned four nominations in this year’s CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, including Best New Restaurant and Chef of the Year.

Sadly, Gallivan tells CultureMap that business has seen “a steady decline in business for many months.” Recently, the restaurant had tried a number of initiatives to draw in diners, such as steak night on Tuesday and fried chicken on Saturday.

The early announcement gives diners two weeks to make one more visit (or two) to the restaurant before it closes. Customers may want to time their visit for happy hour, which takes places from 3-6 pm Tuesday-Friday. It includes half-off glasses of wine, $4 draft beers, $9 select cocktails, and food specials.

Gallivan adds that he doesn’t know yet what his next move will be. Hopefully, he’s got one more comeback in him. Houston is a more fun town to dine in when Gallivan is cooking in it.

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