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