What's Eric Eating Episode 200

Houston's Top Chef star teases hot new restaurant, plus smokin' Spring Branch BBQ

Chef Dawn Burrell is this week's guest.

Photo by Jenn Duncan

On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," chef Dawn Burrell joins CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler to discuss both her appearance on Top Chef and her upcoming restaurant Late August. Burrell, who earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for her work at Kulture, made it to the finals of Top Chef season 18.

The conversation touches on many aspects of Burrell's time on the show, including her motivation for joining the cast, her favorite challenges, and how her life has changed with her expanded celebrity. She also responds to those who have said she should be named Top Chef after sexual harassment allegations emerged about winner Gabe Erales.

After breaking down the show, Burrell and Sandler move on to Late August, the restaurant she'll open in partnership with Lucille's chef Chris Williams later this year. Sandler asks the chef to elaborate on the "Afro-Asian" cuisine she plans to serve there.

"What I like to say is that this is going to be food from the African diaspora with Asian techniques or flavor profiles, but we will also discover those cross sections where cuisines are similar like the useage of rice, the useage of specific vegetables, and the uses of very similar sauces and fermentation processes," Burrell says. "We're going to develop a new style, which is Afro-Asian cuisine. A lot of cultures like Guyana, they have all those flavor profiles because of migration."

Prior to the interview, Sandler and co-host Michael Fulmer discuss the news of the week. Their topics include: the upcoming closures of Spanish Village and Tony Mandola's; the deal that will keep over 30 locations of Luby's open statewide; and chefs Angelo and Lucianna Emiliani's plans to open Cafe Louie in the East End.

In the restaurant of the week segment, the two hosts discuss the new, Spring Branch location of Feges BBQ. They discuss when a restaurant crosses from being a barbecue joint to being a restaurant that serves barbecue.

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Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. Listen to it Saturday at 1 pm on ESPN 97.5.

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Affordable Texas burger joint reaches major milestone for inner loop store

P. Terry's Burger Stand Facebook

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Austin-based burger joint P. Terry’s Burger Stand provided an important update on its first inner loop location. In a post shared on social media on Wednesday, September 2, James Overton, construction manager for P. Terry’s, shows that the site at 4815 Katy Fwy has been cleared and is ready for building to begin.

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A post shared by P. Terry's Burger Stand (@p_terrys)

“If you’re driving by soon, you may see a brand new P. Terry’s pop up overnight,” Overton says in the clip. “We’re incredibly excited to bring P. Terry’s into the heart of Houston.”

First announced last year, the new location at the intersection of Durham Dr. and the Katy Fwy will be the restaurant’s first inner loop outpost and fifth Houston-area store. It is expected to open in early 2027.

Founded in 2005, P. Terry’s has built a devoted following for its burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, and milkshakes. The restaurant is known for its high quality ingredients such as hormone-free Black Angus beef, Idaho potatoes, and cage-free eggs. Prices are affordable, with a single-patty cheeseburger starting at $3.65.

P. Terry'sP. Terry's is opening near the Heights. P. Terry's Burger Stand/Facebook

Inner loopers with a taste for P. Terry’s Burger Stand will eventually be able to satisfy their cravings without leaving their geographic safe space. The Austin-based fast food restaurant announced it will open a location near the Heights in 2027.

Located at 4815 Katy Fwy., the restaurant will feature a double-drive-thru lane and the brand’s signature retro design. It will be the fifth P. Terry’s to open in the Houston area.

The company made a splash earlier this summer when it announced it would transition into an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), giving its workers a stake in the company through an independent trust. Employees with at least two years of tenure are also eligible for profit sharing.

P. Terry’s opened its first Houston-area location in 2024 in Richmond. The restaurant recently debuted in the Village Green at Bridgeland Central development in Cypress.

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