• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Houston First
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Baking On Stage

    Cake Boss Buddy Valastro wants to make Houston cry like little cupcake babies

    Tyler Rudick
    Nov 10, 2011 | 10:42 am
    • Buddy Valastro with one of his creations
      Photo by Thomas Kosa
    • Inside Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey
      Photo courtesy of Carlo's

    How’s he do it? For 11 months of the year, celebrity baker Buddy Valastro is busy filming not one, but three different television shows — including the TLC mega-hit Cake Boss. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also added a traveling theater show to his repertoire, visiting nearly 40 United States cities.

    The Cake Boss hits Houston on Friday night for show at Jones Hall as his frenzied run continues. Valastro took time out from his baking duties one morning to speak with CultureMap about the tour and how he’s officially “living the dream.”

    “Seriously . . . I always wanted a TV show about the bakery,” Valastro says. “This is a family business and, let me tell you, there’s a lot of great material going on all the time.”

    “It’ll definitely make you smile, maybe even cry — it depends," Valastro says.

    “Almost out of the blue, TLC approached me one day,” he recalls. “I rushed them a quick home video I’d made and, luckily, they loved it.”

    Set in Hoboken, N.J., Cake Boss premiered in the spring of 2009 and has enjoyed four popular seasons. Valastro and family will begin taping the fifth season this January. While the Cake Boss was relatively tight-lipped about the upcoming shows, he did reveal that he and his wife would be renewing their vows on a Bahamas cruise.

    The live tour started after Valastro was asked to give a motivational speech at a local New Jersey culinary college.

    “The school wanted me to do something onstage," he says, "so I came up with a fun and entertaining show that eventually premiered at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey.

    “I was so nervous at first, but the show’s a well-oiled machine at this point. I love to play off the crowd — it keeps each show fresh and a little different from the next. It helps me stay in touch with our fans.”

    “I really want to people to be dancing in the aisles, to have a great time. I like to randomly pick people out of the audience and have them go head to head against each other in a cupcake competition. It’s funny to call kids up onstage too.”

    My own mother, who caught Valastro’s show earlier this month in Pennsylvania, noted that the baker was comically brutal to the adults — and incredibly kind to the kids.

    “I want to theater show to give a positive message, something that makes people want to follow their dreams," Valastro says. "It’s a great night, really. You can bring your entire family, even your mother-in-law.

    “It’ll definitely make you smile, maybe even cry — it depends." Valastro laughs.

    “You’ll have fun, guaranteed.”

    Buddy Valastro appears at Jones Hall Friday night at 7:30. Ticket are available online and at the theater box office.

    unspecifiedseries568664011
    news/restaurants-bars
    series/good-eats-2011
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.

    on the block

    Houston chef wins $20,000 at prestigious restaurant pitch competition

    Eric Sandler
    May 19, 2026 | 3:30 pm
    Ope Amosu Chopnblok Utility prize
    Photo by Eric Kleinberg
    Ope Amosu poses with his $20,000 check

    A high-flying Houston restaurant is once again basking in the national spotlight. Chef Ope Amosu of West African restaurant ChòpnBlọk won $20,000 at Utility, a “progressive, community-first hospitality trade show” that took place last weekend in Chicago.

    The event’s Restaurant Pitch Competition provides financial support and increased visibility for independent restaurant concepts. ChòpnBlọk plans to use the money to grow “the concept's footprint and bring this cuisine to a national platform,” according to press materials. More than 100 restaurants submitted pitches to win the prize, which is sponsored by Chase.

    Amosu impressed a panel of celebrity judges and hospitality experts that included TV host Andrew Zimmern, James Beard Award winner Alon Shaya, Top Chef season 15 winner Joe Flamm, Arjav Ezekiel, a James Beard Award-winning sommelier and co-owner of Austin’s acclaimed restaurant Birdie’s, and June Rodil, CEO of Houston's Goodnight Hospitality.

    Of course, neither Amosu nor ChòpnBlọk are strangers to national attention. Recently named Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year in the 2026 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, ChòpnBlọk has been named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants, received a two-star review in the New York Times, earned a Bib Gourmand designation from the Michelin Guide, and a 2026 James Beard Award finalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas.

    Founded in 2024, Utility is a two-day conference that draws more than 1,500 attendees from across the country. In addition to the Restaurant Pitch Competition, it hosts panels created by the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the Houston-based Southern Smoke Foundation, chef throwdowns, a pastry showcase, and more. Attendees can also browse wares from more than 30 vendor selling everything from cookware, to technology, to footwear.

    awardschopnbloknews-you-can-eat
    news/restaurants-bars
    series/good-eats-2011
    Loading...