Foodie News

Food Day shines the spotlight on collard greens as top chefs throwdown at thefarmers market

Monica Pope cooking her winning "Greens and Beets."

Photo by Sarah Rufca
Greens and Beets

Photo by Sarah Rufca
Crowds gathered at Hermann Plaza outside City Hall for the first-ever Food Day.

Photo by Sarah Rufca
The Mediterranean Quick Bite from Houston Food Bank's Jose Montoya.

Photo by Sarah Rufca
Randy Evans

Photo by Sarah Rufca
Peter Garcia's colorful clam dish

Photo by Sarah Rufca

Earth Day was founded 40 years ago to bring attention to the nascent environmental movement. On Wednesday, Houston celebrated the first-ever national Food Day event, meant to bring the same energy to the SLGT and healthy food movements.

Nationally, Food Day was Oct. 24, but Houston officials celebrated it two days later during the weekly City Hall Farmers Market by adding a celebrity chef competition, a town hall meeting and the city's largest communal luncheon, with tables set up around the downtown reflecting pool.

Spanjian encouraged everyone to grab a seat at the long, horseshoe-shaped configuration of tables to commemorate the occasion.

The highlight of the festivities was the Recipe 4 Success-sponsored Collard Greens Throwdown between Monica Pope of t'afia, Haven's Randy Evans, Peter Garcia of El Meson and Houston Food Bank chef Jose Montoya. Working with local ingredients sourced at the market and from locals like Atkinson Farms, chefs created mini-plates judged on taste, simplicity, presentation, texture and the use of local ingredients.

Montoya admitted he didn't often work with vegetarian food at the food bank — he said they get about 15 requests a week out of thousands served — but he presented a flavorful mix of greens, squash and tzatziki sauce on pita bread dubbed the Mediterranean. Garcia spent the 15 minutes it took to prepare his fragrant clam and collard green dish talking to eager students from St. Catherine's Montessori School about ingredients like bay leaves and saffron as well as the origins of collard greens. (Did you know it's the same species as kale, cabbage and broccoli?)

Evans stewed his collard greens in a light roux for a spicy taste and added collard-greens-wrapped pork shoulder and some crispy slaw to the mix. But Recipe 4 Success founder and throwdown organizer Gracie Cavnar announced that it was Pope who won over the judges (including me) with a dish dubbed "greens and beets," which included mustard, black pepper and cinnamon for a mix of sweet and bitter flavors.

After crowds had sampled dishes from each chef and the farmers market booths, City of Houston director of sustainability Laura Spanjian encouraged everyone to grab a seat at the long, horseshoe-shaped configuration of tables to commemorate the occasion.

Will Food Day grow to be the hallmark of a movement like Earth Day has? It's still early, but the City Hall crowds showed that interest in healthy, local foods isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

unspecified

What's Eric Eating Episodes 569 and 570

Meet the man behind Houston's affordable new Chinese restaurant

Photo by Clay Grier

Fortune Eight's menu includes dishes such beef with broccoli and mapo tofu.

On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” CultureMap editor Eric Sandler talks to Allen Lin about Fortune Eight, his recently opened Chinese restaurant on Washington Avenue.

The conversation begins with Lin explaining how Covid restrictions and political turmoil in Hong Kong prompted him to close his four restaurants and relocate to Texas. Whereas his Hong Kong restaurants were full service, Fortune Eight is an affordable, fast casual concept.

“If I could do Chinese restaurants all over again, how could I streamline it so I wouldn’t have to be faced with so many inconsistencies in how we produce the food. I started looking at Chinese restaurants across America. Why is there only one restaurant that’s been able to do it on a wide basis? It’s Panda Express,” Lin says.

“I wondered if I could modernize Chinese food but make it with better ingredients. I wanted to create something that’s comfortable and familiar, but I want to elevate it a bit to make it taste better. You don’t feel so bloated and greasy afterwards. That’s what we’ve tried to focus and lean in on to create that consistency and taste.”

Towards that end, Fortune Eight uses automated cooking tools to saute the meats and vegetables in some of its dishes. Not only do these methods help Lin achieve the consistency he’s aiming for, they allow him to charge almost fast food level prices for Fortune Eight’s dishes. Diners can expect to pay about $13 for an entree, drink, and tax.

The tidy menu includes a greatest hits-style menu of Chinese and Chinese American fare, including Mongolian beef, beef with broccoli, walnut shrimp, sauteed green beans, chow mein, and, of course, General Tso’s chicken.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about Lin’s time in China. He also discusses his plans for marketing the restaurant and adding additional locations.

In this week’s other episode, Sandler and co-host Felice Sloan discuss the news of the week. Their topics include chef Justin Yu’s plans to open House of Louie in Montrose, Barnaby’s Cafe opening a new location in Garden Oaks, and Uptown Italian restaurant Tavola closing just shy of its three-year anniversary.

In the restaurant of the week segment, Sloan and Sandler share first impressions of Galaxy Pizza, chef Anthony Calleo’s neighborhood pizzeria in Spring. Both of them find a lot to like about the casual eatery, including its crispy crust and plentiful toppings.

-----

Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hear it Sunday at 8 am on ESPN 97.5.

news-you-can-eat interview podcasts