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    Foodie News

    The low down on Down House: It's Houston's newest, cutest cult of coffeehousecool

    Sarah Rufca
    Jun 15, 2011 | 3:55 pm
    • Like it or not, Down House is Houston's newest hot spot.
      Photo via Facebook
    • The gouda sandwich: Cheesy, but in a good way.
      Photo by Sarah Rufca
    • My bill, with Down House couches in the background
      Photo by Sarah Rufca
    • The chocolate chip pecan cookie of my dreams.
      Photo by Sarah Rufca
    • The banh mi was a little soggy but the house salad was terrific.
      Photo by Sarah Rufca
    • Down House's cappuccino
      Photo by Sarah Rufca

    There have been a lot of great additions to the Heights in the past year. But I'm currently in love with Down House. It's been a few months since owner Chris Cusack first told me he and his partner planned to blow our minds, and so far they have succeeded in spades.

    Walking into the open, one-room space on Yale it's almost impossible not to let out a perceptible "aww!" When it comes to the pantheon of adorable, Down House is just above a butterfly landing on your finger and slightly below a panda falling down.

    Down House does this not by filling the space with over-the-top, trying-too-hard tchotchkes but by adding character with details: Big, stately couches in the middle of the room, little flowers on every table, a bill delivered in a vintage hardback book (Darwin, of course). The cinderblock walls are a relaxing shade of cerulean blue, with a vintage bicycle mounted on one as the largest visual focal point aside from the spacious bar at the front. It's homey yet refined.

    Down House will eventually expand to dinner service and late night cocktails and coffee, but for now there is breakfast, lunch, brunch, coffee, and a limited selection of wine and beer.

    I haven't tried the weekday breakfast yet (I'm really useless until 9 a.m.), but brunch crowds arrive early and last all day. There are flavorful breakfast tacos, rich omelets, an overstuffed pulled pork torta, and more — not a reinvention of the brunch menu but full of thoughtful takes and local ingredients that really shine.

    For lunch I started with the tomato bisque, which was tasty but somewhat comical when being served with a table spoon instead of a soup spoon. I joked that if you included my bowl-to-mouth spoon lifting it was essentially a calorie-neutral food. I did not give in and drink from the bowl like another member of my party. (Yes, I'm a consummate professional.)

    Next I ordered the gouda, chevre and tomato sandwich with Guinness beer butter on rye, which was spectacular. The goat cheese flavor was front and center, but the firm, crusty rye and the mild sweetness of the beefsteak tomato made a great foil. I also approve of the thin-sliced fries. And did I mention that the menu items are listed with a suggested beer or wine pairing?

    The lemon chicken sandwich was notable first just because of its size: What looks like a full chicken breast is slathered with olive tapenade, feta and spinach on challah bread. The result is thick and juicy, not dry as so many chicken sandwiches are. Aside from the chicken, the tapenade gave the sandwich a hearty, earthy flavor, and the pecans and peach vinaigrette really took the standard house salad it came with to the next level.

    The one sandwich I didn't really care for was the five-spice pork belly, which is actually a Vietnamese-style banh mi. Adding a sriracha-soaked dill pickle rather than crispy cucumber upped the heat too high for me, and the fatty pork belly combined with a soft roll combined to make the whole sandwich feel soggy.

    The cappuncino comes with the foam heart that's become standard, but although the coffee program is operating at a very high level, I would still rank it under the coffee at neighbor Revival Market or Catalina. But the red blueberry iced tea is in a class of it's own.

    One last suggestion: Whether you find yourself at Down House for a meal or a beverage, if they have any of the fresh-baked chocolate chip pecan cookies, get one. Oversized, thin and just crispy enough, they are like the perfect cookies you remember from childhood.

    Frankly, the only issue with Down House is the possibility of too many people liking it and wanting to be there. (The quaint arrangement of furniture doesn't lend itself to high volume.) But when you find a place this worthy, that's just life, I guess.

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    news/restaurants-bars
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    and the winner is...

    Innovative Houston chef is the city's newest James Beard Award winner

    Eric Sandler
    Jun 17, 2025 | 6:00 am
    James Beard Awards 2025 Thomas Bille Belly of the Beast
    Photo by Getty Images for James Beard Foundation
    Thomas Bille is Houston's newest James Beard Award winner.

    Add another Houston chef to the city’s growing list of James Beard Award winners. Thomas Bille, chef-owner of Belly of the Beast in Spring, earned Best Chef: Texas at the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony.

    Held at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday, June 16, Bille was one of five finalists for the award, along with fellow Houstonian Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemo), Emil Oliva (Leche de Tigre in San Antonio), Regino Rojas (Purépecha in Dallas), and Michael Anthony Serva, (Bordo in Marfa). Neither of Houston’s other finalists — Mexico City-inspired cafe Casaema (formerly known as Ema) for Best New Restaurant and fine dining tasting menu restaurant March for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program — earned awards in their categories.

    A Los Angeles native who moved to the Houston area to be closer to his wife’s family, Bille took a winding path to his James Beard Award. He opened the first iteration of Belly of the Beast in 2020 as a chef-driven taqueria that was known for its ceviches and birria tacos. He then spent about a year at Chivos, an ambitious but short-lived Mexican-American restaurant in the Heights.

    In late 2023, he and his wife Elizabeth opened a new version of Belly of the Beast in a Spring shopping center. It showcased a broader array of Bille’s skills, with a wide-ranging menu that pulled from global flavors — lamb shank rendang, anyone? — that included meat, seafood, and pastas. The new restaurant quickly earned wide acclaim, including a Bib Gourmand in the 2024 Michelin Guide and CultureMap Tastemaker Award nominations for both Restaurant of the Year and Chef of the Year.

    “I feel a depth of gratitude,” Bille tells CultureMap in a text message. “Knowing that my wife and I were able to reopen on our own terms. Gratitude for my family, staff, and guests to give us love and support. It is much appreciated.”

    In an interview from the ceremony shared by the James Beard Foundation, Bille paid tribute to his wife, Elizabeth, for her role in the restaurant’s success.

    “The risk that my wife and I took to open this restaurant is more than worth it. My wife left her industry, she was a national director for nonprofit organization,” he said. “I said, ‘We’re going to reopen Belly of the Beast. I need you with me side-by-side the whole time.’ The first iteration she held down her job and supported us. With her at my wide, I’m able to focus on the kitchen, on the food, and mentoring my cooks. Able to see the bigger picture instead of just being in the weeds all the time.”

    Bille is the second Houstonian to win Best Chef: Texas, joining Street to Kitchen chef-owner Benchawan Jabthong Painter, who won in 2023. Since the category of Best Chef: Texas has only been awarded since 2022, Bille is the first man to earn the title. Prior to being its own region, the James Beard Foundation included Texas in the Southwest, where chefs Robert Del Grande (Cafe Annie), Chris Shepherd (Underbelly), Justin Yu (Oxheart), and Hugo Ortega (Hugo’s) all won awards.

    The only other Texas finalist to win his category was Arjav Ezekiel of Birdie's in Austin, who became the first winner of Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, one of three beverage-oriented categories the foundation added for 2025.

    In addition to Bille and Ezekiel, Texam Chad Houser, founder of Cafe Momentum in Dallas, received the Humanitarian of the Year Award. Toni Tipton-Martin, a Houston-based author, scholar, and journalist, received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Houstonian Alba Huerta, who won Outstanding Beverage Program for her bar Julep in 2022, presented one of the night’s awards.

    “It’s with deep celebration that we congratulate the 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award winners — distinguished culinary, beverage, and hospitality leaders whose talent and vision are shaping our dining landscape,” said Clare Reichenbach, CEO, James Beard Foundation, in a statement. “These outstanding professionals are the epitome of ‘Good Food for Good,’ elevating our industry’s standards and redefining what’s possible in American cuisine.”

    James Beard Awards 2025 Thomas Bille Belly of the Beast
      

    Photo by Getty Images for James Beard Foundation

    Thomas Bille is Houston's newest James Beard Award winner.

    awardsjames beard awardchefsthomas billebelly of the beast
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