behind you

Chris Shepherd brews a new beer to raise money for mental health

What’s happening, team!

Last year at Southern Smoke’s wine-based Decanted fundraiser, we auctioned off a trip to Jackson Hole — two tickets to Jackson Hole Food & Wine, beautiful hotel accommodations, and the winner would make a beer with me at Roadhouse Brewing to benefit the Southern Smoke Foundation. I was very excited to see who Lindsey and I would hang out with in beautiful Wyoming!

To our surprise, a winemaker raised his paddle and got into the bidding with a few other folks but in the end, Tegan Passalacqua won the item. Tegan is one of the most unbelievable and talented winemakers in California. He has been with Turley Vineyards since 2005 and has his own label Sandlands. Both of these wines are some of the most sought after and delicious wines I’ve had — I’ve written about both of them for this column. He is a true talent in this industry, and I was so happy that we got to take a trip and learn more about each other.

Lindsey and I met with Tegan in Jackson at Roadhouse Brewing the first morning and got to work tasting the beers they made and touring the brewery. They make some very delicious beer of all styles but have a focus on IPA and Hazy IPAs, all of them well in balance and beautiful. We talked through and smelled different flavor profiles of hops, other aromatics, and thought processes of what would be the best style for this beer.

It’s tempting to brew a beer that’s unique and different like a barrel-aged sour, an overly hopped beer with wild ingredients, or a stout of some sort, but Tegan and I, without speaking about it, were on the same page — we wanted a light refreshing lager. A beer that’s perfect for everyone at a tailgate or a party. A beer you want to drink after a long day of work or a Friday night when you are having some fajitas with the family, because it won’t overcomplicate anything. A lighter style lager with just a hint of coriander seed and sprinkle of sea salt.

Why those ingredients? Coriander rounds out the very light hop flavor, and salt just brings everything to the front of that palate. Quite frankly, if we didn’t tell you it was there, you probably wouldn’t notice. What happened when we made a small run of this? Delicious happened. Two people that don’t drink a lot of beer made a beer for all the people that want a crisp, refreshing beer that’s easy to drink a few of.

Some of the biggest brands in the world have followed this same thought process. Why did we make it this way with Roadhouse? We want people to drink a lot of it, since the money from the sale of this beer goes back to helping folks in the food and beverage industry in their times of crisis.

The Southern Smoke Foundation funds people from farmers to brewers to cooks and waiters in their times of crisis. Whether they need help to pay rent, a medical bill, getting out of a domestic violence situation, paying for a prosthetic arm after accident, spinal reconstruction, or mental health care.

Why did we call the beer Behind You? This term is used in restaurants and kitchens all over the world. It is said when walking past someone on a kitchen line, behind a bar, or in the dining room. It’s to let someone know that you are there and for them not to step back. You will randomly hear this in your day to day like at the grocery store or really anywhere — when you hear it, you know someone from the F+B industry is there. When I hear it out, it always makes me smile.

Behind You is also the name of Southern Smoke’s mental health program. We developed this program with the University of Houston back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. UH’s doctoral degree students weren’t able to get their clinical hours to graduate since their clinic was closed. Mental Health America, who knew we were looking for a mental health solution for our F+B workers, introduced us to the students.

We didn’t know at the time that there are university psychology clinics all over the country, but once we realized that, we created a plan to fund university clinics in exchange for counseling for F+B workers. Behind You is now in 10 states and D.C., and we’re expanding to three more states this year. Each F+B worker in our program gets 20, no-cost sessions, and then they can move to a sliding scale. Taking care of your mental health, whether you’re in the food and beverage industry or not, is so important!

Southern Smoke Roadhouse Brewing Behind You lager can Look for these cans at Houston-area H-E-B stores.Courtesy of Roadhouse Brewing

This is why drinking this beer is more important than most — it literally helps the people that make it and serve it. Behind You lager is available at most H-E-B stores — if your local H-E-B doesn’t have it, ask them to carry it. It’s also available in bars and restaurants like Nonno’s and Josephine’s on draft. With the addition of this beautiful can, you will start to see it more often.

Want to try it? Lindsey and I will be at The Flying Saucer downtown tonight, April 9, from 5-7 pm.

If you are a restaurant, bar, club or retailer, the distributor is Dynamo and they have it in stock as we speak. If you need a connection with them, reach out to me at Chris@chrisshepherd.is because together we can make a difference in someone’s lives without ever putting our beer down. Love you all.

Courtesy of Chris Shepherd

Chris takes a sip.

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Have you tried Behind You yet? Tell Chris how he did via email at chris@chrisshepherd.is.

Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. The Southern Smoke Foundation, a nonprofit he co-founded with his wife Lindsey Brown, has distributed more than $11 million to hospitality workers in crisis through its Emergency Relief Fund. Catch his TV show, Eat Like a Local, every Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2.

craft-beer fundraisers southern smoke foundation chris shepherd

Roll With It

9 Houston restaurants luring diners with fluffy, buttery dinner rolls

Photo by Bear Media Co

At the Green Room, diners can opt for a side of caviar to elevate the dinner rolls.

Dinner rolls are having a moment in Houston.

Perhaps it's because comfort food is necessary when life can feel so chaotic, or that ordering a basket of rolls for the table is more financially approachable than, say, a seafood tower — whatever the reason, rolls are back on the menu at some of the city's most exciting restaurants.

At Latuli, the Memorial restaurant by chef Bryan Caswell and Allison Knight, the bread service consists of house yeast rolls with jalapeño and roasted poblano jelly, alongside a gruyère corn bread with whipped sorghum butter.

“It’s our No. 1 seller every day, which is surprising given all the gluten-free diets and GLP-1 trends right now—it’s almost like its power is trend-immune,” Caswell tells CultureMap.

The same is true at Fielding’s Steak, where the restaurant’s in-house bakery delivers brioche dinner rolls served with cultured butter, honey, and sea salt from Galveston.

“Guests have always loved fresh-baked bread, even during the time when it was frowned upon,” CEO Cary Attar says.

Dustin Teague, executive chef and co-owner of Relish Restaurant & Bar, recalls when free bread service was a constant on tables around town throughout the majority of his industry experience.

“That was back in the good old days when rent, insurance, labor, and cost of goods were at reasonable numbers,” Teague says. “Now we don’t have any room for anything free but we still want to have it available for guests.”

The Parker House rolls at Relish are accompanied by compound butters, with the current creation featuring a garlic confit, fresh herbs, and red pepper flakes.

“Serving bread signifies welcoming guests into a home or establishment, hence the term ‘breaking bread.’ So it’s a must for any upscale dining experience,” Teague says.

The cowboy butter rolls at western-themed restaurant Long Weekend are a no-brainer pairing on a menu with hearty fare like hickory-smoked quail and a 24-ounce porterhouse. It’s also an easy order for the family-focused restaurant that is likely to have tiny, pickier eaters as patrons.

"We took a Texas staple and elevated it with duck fat, our house sourdough starter, and locally sourced Kelley’s Honey,” executive chef German Mosquera says.

At Star Rover, every entree is served with a basket of milk rolls, along with salad, fries, and onion rings. Diners who want to participate in the “I Ate the 76'er” challenge have to consume a 76-ounce steak and the sides — yes, including rolls — in under an hour.

“They are your fairly standard buttermilk yeast rolls,” executive chef Bobby Matos says. “We serve them because they’re delicious and a bit of a nod to Texas Roadhouse and that kind of vibe.”

Speaking of Texas Roadhouse, the chain restaurant's complimentary rolls helped propel its rise to America's highest-grossing casual dining restaurant. The fluffy buns are baked every five minutes, enticing diners with shiny butter-basted tops and cinnamon butter that's made in house.

The dinner rolls at surf-and-turf destination Truluck’s emerge from the kitchen as pull-aparts — brushed with butter and finished with a hefty dusting of parmesan.

The dinner rolls at The Green Room undergo an overnight bulk fermentation process. The next day, the dough is rolled and portioned by hand before resting and proofing at room temperature for four hours, then slid into the oven.

The newly opened 26-seat restaurant adds daily butters to the experience, with both a sorghum-and-sea salt butter, and a charred scallion butter currently in rotation. To make the dish even more luxurious, diners can add a caviar supplement to the bread service.

Chef and owner Shawn Gawle offers another elevated version of the dinner roll at Camaraderie. Here, the 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas has put his pastry expertise on display with pain au lait, which involves laminating together a regular Japanese milk bread with a purple sweet potato variation into a delicate, colorful roll.

“We wanted something where we could show value, substance and technique, but it also completes the meal,” Gawle says. “To share a meal with warm bread and butter is a universal, comforting experience.”

Photo by Bear Media Co

At the Green Room, diners can opt for a side of caviar to elevate the dinner rolls.

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