What's Eric Eating Episode 219

Meet Houston's newest rising star chef, plus smokin' new BBQ in EaDo

Warren Luckett Reginald Scott Shakti Baum Oxtail Mash Up

Chef Reginald Scott, center, with Oxtail Mash Up organizers Warren Luckett and Shakti Baum.

Photo by Emile Browne Media

On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," chef Reginald Scott, the recent winner of the Oxtail Mash Up cooking competition, joins CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler to discuss his career. Formerly the executive sous chef at Kulture, Scott is currently engaged in a number of projects, including selling food at the Braeswood Farmers Market, consulting, and participating in the Black Chef Table pop-up series.

The conversation covers a range fo topics, including how Scott got started in the food business, how he conceptualized the winning dish — a suya-spiced, smoked oxtail with peanuts and crispy tripe puff — and his experiences working for James Beard Award nominee and Top Chef finalist Dawn Burrell at Kulture.

"I learned so much. I learned that the standard way of doing things is not standard anymore," Scott says about what he learned from Burrell. "The French way of doing things, I was trained under classic Italian chefs. It rattled my brain about what was 'normal.' She had a style that brought the African diaspora mixed with a lot of Asian influence . . . It broadened my mind to where [I thought] 'man, I can get creative with this.'"

Prior to the interview, Sandler and co-host Matt Harris discuss the news of the week. Their topics include: all of the changes Chris Shepherd announced to his operations, including closing UB Preserv; the opening of the Post Market food hall at downtown's Post Houston development; and chef Martha Wilcox joining Indianola restaurant as its chef de cuisine.

In the restaurants of the week segment, the duo share first impressions of J-Bar-M Barbecue, the ambitious restaurant that's the new home of pitmaster Willow Villarreal and his fiancee, chef de cuisine Jasmine Barela. Then, they discuss a recent meal at Lao Sze Chuan, the acclaimed, Chicago-based Chinese restaurant that opened in Katy this summer.

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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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wave goodbye, Wooster's

Midtown bar with creative cocktails and craft taps will close in February

Photo courtesy of Wooster's Garden

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A staple Midtown cocktail bar will soon serve its last drink. Wooster’s Garden will close on February 12, co-owner Jeff Barati announced on Instagram.

He paid tribute to the bar in an emotional post about its legacy.

Since 2014, Wooster’s Garden has been so much more than a place to grab a cocktail – it’s been a second home, a meeting place, a celebration spot, a refuge after long days, and the backdrop to countless memories. Truly my favorite of all our concepts. So many great memories that are very difficult to put into words. I’m getting emotional typing this.

We’ve watched first dates and engagement parties turn into lifelong partnerships, strangers become regulars, and regulars become family. We’ve shared laughs, tears, milestones, cigar nights, and late nights. None of this would have been possible without the community that showed up night after night – your support, stories, and loyalty are what gave this Midtown haven a heartbeat.

Barati tells CultureMap that he and business partner Andy Aweida have leased the space to a new operator who will announce its plans soon. Still, he has some hope that Wooster’s will be revived in the future.

“Our tentative plan is to reopen elsewhere if we can find the right location,” he writes a in a text. “The staff wants to stay together and reopen.”

Opened in 2014 by the Kirby Group, Wooster’s Garden offered a compelling mix of craft cocktails paired with an extensive tap wall of beer and wine along with creative, upscale bar food. Its format and indoor-outdoor design served as a template for a number of the group’s later concepts, including Heights Bier Garten and Bayou Heights Bier Garten.

Closing Wooster’s Garden follows the Kirby Group’s recent decision to shutter Verde Garden, its Mexican-themed bar in Montrose’s Harlow District development. It will be replaced by Exilio Latin Flair, a pan-Latin restaurant from the owners of Bari Ristorante.

cocktails closings wooster's garden