meet the tastemakers

Houston's 11 best chefs of 2024 showcase the city's world-class cuisine

When considering the nominees for Chef of the Year in the 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, there’s an obvious conclusion to draw: Houston has never had more culinary talent than it does right now.

Just look at this year’s nominees. They include a James Beard Award winner, a Food & Wine Best New Chef, and a Top Chef finalist. Our group includes people who have been part of the culinary scene for more than 10 years, as well as some who have only made their mark in the past two or three. They’ve trained at top eateries all over the world and serve a wide range of cuisines that reflects Houston’s diversity.

Beyond their food, our nominees are leaders in their community, who regularly lend their talents to raise money for a range of worthy causes. They recognize the contributions of their staff and present them with opportunities for professional growth.

Who will win? Find out March 27 at the Tastemaker Awards party. We’ll dine on bites from this year’s nominated restaurants and sip cocktails from our sponsors before revealing the winners in our short and sweet ceremony.

Buy your tickets now. VIP passes are already sold out and only a few General Admission tickets remain.

Here are the nominees for Chef of the Year:

Alex Au-Yeung, Phat Eatery
While the chef continues to earn raves for the eclectic Malaysian fare he serves at his Katy restaurant, diners don’t always have to drive down I-10 to experience Au-Yeung’s cooking. Diners can count on seeing Phat Eatery at any number of culinary events, including the recent Truffle Masters competition. Residents of The Woodlands will get to experience an even broader selection of Au-Yeung’s creations when Phat Eatery opens there this year. With more space than the Katy original, the chef will expand his dim sum offering to soup dumplings and also offer Chinese BBQ.

Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Street to Kitchen
After winning both Rising Star Chef of the Year and Restaurant of the Year in the 2022 Tastemaker Awards, Chef G, as she’s known, followed up with an even more dynamic 2023. Not only did she open The Prsrv, a historically-inspired tasting menu concept with Eculent chef David Skinner, she became the first Houstonian since Hugo Ortega to win a regional chef award in the James Beard Awards, becoming just the second person to be named Best Chef: Texas. The resulting recognition paved the way for Chef G and her husband/business partner, Graham, to move Street to Kitchen to a bigger, better location that’s made the restaurant better than ever.

Emmanuel Chavez, Tatemó
After earning Rising Star Chef of the Year in last year’s Tastemaker Awards and a James Beard finalist nomination for Best New Restaurant, Chavez continued his hot streak by being named Houston’s first Food & Wine Best New Chef recipient since Justin Yu earned the title in 2014. Currently in the running for Best Chef: Texas in this year’s Beard Awards, Chavez has embraced his role as a rising star in Houston’s culinary scene by showcasing his cuisine at food festivals and other events across the country. The chef is an entertaining Instagram follow, always quick to credit Tatemó’s staff for the restaurant’s success.

Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu, Jūn
Little about the food they served at markets could have prepared diners for the eclectic fare these two chefs created for their restaurant in the Heights. At what was arguably Houston’s best new eatery of 2023, Garcia and Lu pay homage to their personal histories — hers as the child of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants, his as the son of Chinese parents — with dishes that range from beef tartare with sesame buñuelo to five spice pork ribs. The duo has also been sharing the stage with colleagues by hosting monthly wine diners with many of Garcia’s fellow Top Chef contestants. A semifinalist nomination for Best New Restaurant in the James Beard Awards won’t be the last national recognition these two chefs receive.

Felipe Riccio, March
To create each of March’s regionally-inspired tasting menus, Riccio leads his cooks through weeks of painstaking research. More than looking at cookbooks, they consider a region’s history and culture to develop March’s six- and nine-course progressions. No wonder that March’s output in 2023 — one menu devoted to Greece and another devoted to Sicily — earned wide acclaim. Next up, Riccio will consider Continental cuisine at the Marigold Club, the new restaurant Goodnight Hospitality is opening with chef-partner Austin Waiter.

Luis Mercado and Paolo Justo, Neo
Winners of Best Pop-Up/Startup in the 2022 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, Mercado and Justo have firmly established Neo as Houston’s premier destination for sushi lovers looking for a top-notch omakase. Not only do the Uchi veterans dry-age many of the fish they serve, each piece of nigiri gets a precise topping that enhances its flavors. The chefs travel regularly to take in new ideas, and sometimes those trips yield collaboration dinners such as recent meals with Gaijin, an ambitious Japanese restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark. They’ve challenged themselves in other ways, too, such as partnering with Refuge for a sold-out series of dinners that included cocktails pairings. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, if you have the means, we highly recommend experiencing the chefs’ creations.

Mayank Istwal, Musaafer
After training at top hotels in India, the chef made a 100-day journey through the country’s 29 states to foster inspiration for Musaafer’s eclectic menu. Istwal draws upon his deep knowledge of spice blends to craft both elevated takes on classic dishes for the a la carte menu and more creative fare for its tasting menu. By frequently collaborating with guest chefs, Istwal both introduces his regulars to new flavors and keeps things fresh for his staff.

Terrence Gallivan, ElRo Pizza & Crudo
After taking a couple years off when The Pass & Provisions closed in 2019, Gallivan returned to the food scene with a Montrose restaurant that serves Neapolitan-inspired pizza alongside raw dishes and some quirky shareables. The same attention to detail that made P&P one of Houston’s best restaurants exists at ElRo, where pizzas come out of the oven properly charred and crudos come together thanks to balanced flavors and contrasting textures. After all, it takes a pretty talented chef to serve an equally compelling spicy tuna on housemade bread and a first-rate meatball sub. Gallivan also oversees his wine list, creating a tidy group of well-priced choices that pair well with his food.

Travis McShane, Ostia
Credit the chef for creating a restaurant that feels far more established in Montrose than a place that only opened in 2020. After growing up in Kingwood, McShane worked alongside legendary New York chef Jonathan Waxman before returning home to launch his Italian restaurant in Montrose. The chef’s time in New York has served him well, as demonstrated by the excellent technique on display with Ostia’s signature roast chicken and precisely baked pizzas. He demonstrates Ostia’s hospitality by always serving a core group of classic pastas — such as carbonara, cacio e pepe, and all'amatriciana — even when they aren’t listed on the menu.

Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Street to Kitchen.

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The 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards ceremony takes place 6-10 pm Wednesday, March 27 at Silver Street Studios (2000 Edwards St.).

The Tastemaker Awards ceremony is brought to you by Stella Artois, Rías Baixas Albariño, Topo Chico Sparkling Mineral Water, 8th Wonder Cannabis, Tito's Vodka, CASE Chocolates, and more to be announced. A portion of proceeds will benefit our nonprofit partner, the Southern Smoke Foundation.

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something for everyone

New brewery pours into Houston with craft beer, cocktails, and homebrew

Photo by Ralph Palmer

Farmboy Brewing Company is now open on N. Shepherd.

The tides of craft breweries in Houston and across the country have shifted dramatically over the past five years, marked by closures and a clear softening of the once unstoppable boom, with names like True Anomaly, Elder Son, and Buffalo Bayou Brewing serving as recent reminders of how quickly the landscape can change. What is emerging in its place is a new phase that is far less rigid about labels and more focused on flexibility and meeting customers where they actually are.

For Landon Weiershausen, that evolution is not guesswork. It's the entire business plan.

After more than a decade running Farmboy Brew Shop and working across nearly every space of the beer supply chain, (hops to kegs to fruit) Weiershausen has stepped back into ownership with a new brewery. Farmboy Brewing Company (4816 N Shepherd Dr.) blends a taproom, full cocktail bar, and homebrew retail shop into a single, community-driven space. The location will be familiar to many craft beer fans, as it previously housed both North Shepherd Brewing and Astral Brewing.

“It’s about giving people what they actually want when they walk in the door,” Weiershausen tells CultureMap.

Weiershausen’s roots in Houston’s beer world stretch back to 2014, when he opened Farmboy Brew Shop, a go-to spot for local Oak Forest/Garden Oaks homebrewers looking for ingredients, gear, and advice. With the launch of Farmboy Brewing, that business still exists, but it’s now integrated into the new brewery.

The move creates something unique in the world of Houston beer — a space where hobbyists, beer nerds, and casual drinkers can intersect. In the 9,000-square-foot space, customers can shop for grains and yeast then walk a few steps over and grab a pint or a cocktail.

“The majority of people coming in for homebrew are also interested in drinking,” Weiershausen says. “Now they don’t have to choose.”

Instead of fighting changes in the beverage industry, Weiershausen is leaning into diversification. His brewery operates with a mixed beverage license, allowing for a full cocktail program alongside beer, wine, non-alcoholic options, and THC-infused drinks. That last category, while politically contentious in Texas, represents what he sees as an undeniable shift in consumer behavior. Currently, Weiershausen is stocking a few verities of THC-infused offerings from Eureka Heights Brew Co.

“There’s a huge market for it,” he says. “Whether people like it or not, customers are choosing those products over traditional alcoholic beverages."

Rather than drawing lines between beer drinkers and everyone else, the goal is to make the space work for large groups that have diverse drink preferences.

“If someone doesn’t drink beer, or doesn’t drink alcohol at all, we still want them to have options.”

Despite the brewery name on the door, Weiershausen isn’t rushing his own beer to market. Instead, the tap list currently leans on guest kegs from local and regional breweries such as Great Heights, Spindletap, Saint Arnold, and Lone Pint. This decision is a deliberate move that buys time while new brewing equipment is installed and optimized. It’s a patient approach that prioritizes long-term quality over a fast rollout and reflects lessons learned from years inside the industry. In the meantime, the guest taps double as a nod to relationships that Weiershausen has built over many years.

“A lot of these are people who took care of me over the years,” he says. “This is a way to return the favor.”

Once the brewing program is rolled out in the next few weeks, expect the first batch of offering to include a West Coast IPA, Hazy IPA, Light Lager, and an American Wheat. The program itself will also be led by head brewer Steven Treleaven, formerly of Conroe’s B-52 Brewing.

Weiershausen’s vision prioritizes education. The homebrew shop has always served as an entry point for teaching its customers more about beer, but the expanded space opens the door to something he describes as an “education escalator.” Plans include monthly workshops covering everything from brewing basics to off-flavor detection (a critical skill for anyone serious about improving their homebrew).

Like most breweries, the space will feature familiar weekly staples including trivia nights, but Weiershausen is also looking to mix in less predictable programming. Think dance classes, themed events, and rotating concepts that go beyond the usual bingo-and-beer formula.

On the food side, Weiershausen has chosen not to build an in-house kitchen. Instead, the brewery will host food trucks, including the return of fan-favorite El Alabrije, known for its Oaxacan-inspired menu.

At its core, the concept reflects something bigger than one brewery. It’s a response to a changing market, a shifting customer base, and a city that’s never fit neatly into one category anyway. For Weiershausen, the path forward isn’t about choosing between beer, cocktails, or anything else. It’s about building a place where all of it works together.

“We’re just trying to create something for the community,” he says. “Whatever that means for them.”

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Ralph Palmer is a co-owner of the Deckle and Hyde barbecue pop-up and a longtime craft beer enthusiast. Follow him on Instagram at eyefearnobeer.

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