This week in dining

These are the 9 best food and drink events in Houston this week

Wine dinners highlight the food and drink fun in Houston this week, but there are also events for barbecue lovers, local food enthusiasts, and those who want to up their spirits game. We've also included a few suggestions for how to celebrate Bastille Day.

Wednesday, July 10
French Wine Flight at Mastrantos
Through July 14, diners can get a flight of three French wines for $18 in honor of Bastille day. The flight includes pours of Domaine Jean-Philippe Marchand Crémant de Bourgogne, Domaine Gueissard, Cuvée “G” Rosé from the Côtes de Provence, and Château Eugenie Cuvée Pierre Legrand from Cahors. Diners can also opt for two food pairings from the regular menu, with a $2-off discount.

Wine Tasting at Rainbow Lodge
These popular events take place on the second Wednesday of every month in the restaurant's Tied Fly Bar and on the patio (weather permitting). Today's tasting takes place from 5:30-7:30 pm and spotlights the wines of central Italy paired with light bites. Guests can sample glasses of the Marotti Campi Albiano Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico from Tuscany, the Il Feuduccio Fonte Venna Montepulciano from Abruzzo, and the Falesco Tellus Cabernet Sauvignon from Umbria. The cost is $38 per person, and the event is a casual sip and stroll, not a seated dinner. Pro tip: arrive early, because there's no reserved seating.

Aperitivo Italiano at the Italian Cultural and Community Center
Learn about how to recognize light, medium, and full-bodied Italian wines at this casual sipping experience hosted by Riccardo Guerrieri of Vinology. He'll teach guests about how to evaluate a wine and show off examples from some of Italy's lesser-known winemakers. It's a chance to try new things and learn more about finding the right wine for any situation. Doors open at 6:45 pm, and the cost is $25 for ICCC members and $30 for the general public. Purchase tickets online or call 713-524-4222, ext. 7.

Thursday, July 11
BBQ, Beer and Pho at Saigon House
From 5-10 pm, Saigon House and Eaker BBQ host this evening of smoke, hops, and fun. On the menu are selections such as Dragon Beef Rib and kim chi, Korean smoked ribs, Texan prime brisket pho, and smoked pork belly burnt ends with tamarind barbecue sauce.

Bastille Day Wine Dinner at Lucienne
Sure, France's national day isn't until Sunday, but this dinner will put guests in the holiday mood. The five-course meal features pairings of French wines to complement chef Jose Hernandez's cuisine. Geoffrey Prioreau of BBR Imports (French Country Wines) will discuss the wines.

The menu features selections such as foie gras with a cherry sauce paired with Domaine Rouge Bleu's rose from the Rhone Valley, stuffed saddle of lamb with fava beans accompanied by the Domaine de Père Caboche Chateauneuf-Du-Pape, and Peach Melba served with the Domaine Nicolas Brunet Vouvray Brut. Dinner starts at 7 pm, and the cost is $95 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, email Ludovic at the restaurant or call 713-242-8540. The menu, sans wine pairing, will also be available to diners on July 12 and 13.

Saturday, July 13
Grand Hatching Celebration at The Chicken & Rice Guys
This Boston-based restaurant marks its entry onto the Houston dining scene with a grand opening party from noon to 8 pm. The first 100 customers get free food, there are all-you-can-eat deals with a guest's first purchase, free sunglasses, and other goodies. To be entered to win swag and other fun stuff, guests must click the "going" tab on the event's Facebook page.

Spirits Class at Julep
From 1-3 pm, Julep owner and nationally recognized bartender Alba Huerta will host a bourbon class featuring six different varieties, along with paired bites and cocktail samples. The menu items are some of those featured in her book Julep: Southern Cocktails Refashioned, which just won the 2019 IACP International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook award for best Wine, Beer or Spirits book of the year. Seating for the class is limited to 32 guests, and tickets are $65 per person.

One-Year Anniversary Party at Henderson & Kane General Store
Coinciding with Houston Day, the Old 6th Word bodega-cum-independent-grocery store will mark its first year of business with a full barbecue menu, snacks, ice cold growlers, wine tastings, and other samplings, as well as giving away gift baskets as door prizes. Look for drinks from Houston Cider, Great Heights Brewing Company, and 11 Below. It's also a great time to stock up on items from 44 farms steaks, Chilesquiles salsa, local honey from Nando’s, farm fresh bacon and eggs from Three Sister Farms, and gelato from Sweet Cup. Festivities take place from 4-10 pm.

Sunday, July 14
Inaugural Tex-Mex BBQ Block Party at Saint Arnold Brewing Company
From 1-4 pm in Saint Arnold's fully air-conditioned Beer Hall, catch this celebration of the influence Tejano and Tex-Mex cooking traditions have in contemporary Central Texas-style craft barbecue. Think smoked brisket taco with a handmade flour tortilla topped with pickled onions, jalapenos, queso fresco, and guacamole or smoked pork shoulder pozole dressed with pickled radish, cilantro, and lime.

Participants for the event include Eduardo Ortiz of Eddie O's Texas Barbecue, John and Veronica Avila of El Burro & the Bull, Joseph Quellar of JQ's Tex-Mex BBQ, Dom Soliz of Mick Smokin BBQ, Ray and Genesis Dominguez of Ray's Texas Smoke Barbecue, Willow Villarreal & Jasmine Barela of Willow's Texas BBQ, as well as special guests Esaul Ramos of 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio and Tony Salazar of Taste of Texas Tex-Mex BBQ in Beaumont. Tickets are $60 per person and include entry to the event, unlimited samples, and Saint Arnold Beer. All tickets must be purchased online in advance; there are no sales at the door.

Savor the delicious combination of Tex-Mex and barbecue at Sunday's BBQ Block Party.

Courtesy of the Houston Barbecue Festival

Savor the delicious combination of Tex-Mex and barbecue at Sunday's BBQ Block Party.

news-you-can-eat

hail to the chef

Food & Wine's Best New Chef list includes Gulf Coast-obsessed Houstonian

Photo by Ally Hardgrave

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A Houston chef is basking in the national spotlight. Food & Wine magazine has named Josephine’s Gulf Coast Tradition executive chef Lucas McKinney to its 2026 class of Best New Chefs.

Announced Tuesday, September 15, McKinney is one of 14 chefs nationally — and the only Texan — to receive the prestigious award. He joins a roster of local Best New Chef alumni that includes Michael Cordua (Churrascos, Americas), Bryan Caswell (Reef, Latuli), Chris Shepherd (Underbelly, Georgia James), Justin Yu (Oxheart, Theodore Rex), and Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemó), whose win in 2023 made him the first Houston chef to be named a Best New Chef since Yu in 2014.

Open since 2023, Josephine’s is a Gulf Coast-inspired seafood restaurant in Midtown. Named for McKinney’s great-grandmother Althea Josephine, its menu is inspired in part McKinney’s family history in the seafood business. It sources ingredients from across the Gulf Coast, including blue crab, redfish, oysters, and local produce.

Both Josephine’s and McKinney have already earned significant awards, including both Rising Star Chef of the Year and Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year in the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, a Rising Star award from Star Chefs magazine, and a Recommended designation in the Michelin Guide.

“I don't know how to put it into words,” McKinney said in a statement. “Josephine's would be nothing without our team, the farmers and fishermen we’ve built relationships with, and our guests who support us. To be able to do something this big with Gulf Coast cooking – the fish we grew up eating, the crabs we grew up cooking, the oysters we shucked at home – means the world.”

McKinney has come a long way from his time as a line cook at Georgia James and a chef de cuisine at Hay Merchant. He credits Shepherd for pushing him to think about the future and what kind of chef he wanted to be.

"I didn’t know how big a moment that would be," McKinney tells CultureMap about his time at Hay Merchant. "The trust they put in me to have fun and cook. I look back, Chris would say, 'what do you want to cook?' I’d say a 'divey oyster bar.' Seven years later, we’re here in New York on the biggest stage with the best people. I’ll come back home on Thursday to shuck oysters."

In an essay on the Food & Wine website, Shepherd praises McKinney — who worked for him at Georgia James, Hay Merchant, and Georgia James Tavern — for the way the chef has embraced his Gulf Coast roots at Josephine’s. Shepherd praises many of the restaurant’s signature dishes, such as smoked red fish dip, gumbo, and Viet-Cajun crawfish, which sell “a few thousand pounds a week in peak season.” Shepherd notes that McKinney’s talents extend beyond his cooking.

“Chefs, staff, and diners are drawn to McKinney, not just because of how delicious his food is but because he is generous with what he knows,” Shepherd writes. “Spend enough time at Josephine’s, and you may find him pulling up a chair to explain the best way to eat a hard shell blue crab; I’ve seen him do it. In that moment, he’s passing along a Gulf Coast tradition that has been in his family for generations.”

Speaking to CultureMap from New York, Shepherd says McKinney came onto Food & Wine's radar after participating in last year's Southern Smoke Festival. Many of his fellow BNC alumni dined at Josephine's either before or after the festival.

"For me, every time you see someone who worked for you succeed, it’s a beautiful moment. All I want for them is to follow their dreams. It’s pretty amazing," Shepherd says.

Six of this year's BNC recipients, including McKinney, will participate in this year's Southern Smoke Festival, which is taking place at Discovery Green on Saturday, October 3. Southern Smoke shared which chefs are coming and what they're cooking in an email. Tickets for the festival are available here.

Food & Wine has named Best New Chefs since 1988. To be eligible, chefs must have led a kitchen for five years or less. The magazine’s editors travel across the country to scout applicants. Finalists undergo background checks, including anonymous surveys by the restaurant’s staff to evaluate the culture at their businesses. Previous recipients include culinary superstars such as Thomas Keller, David Chang, Tom Colicchio, and more.

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