Houston's best food festival

Houston's Southern Smoke Festival fires up loaded 2024 lineup of star chefs

Houston’s biggest food festival is returning for 2024 with another lineup featuring more than 50 chefs from Texas and beyond. The Southern Smoke Festival returns to Discovery Green on Saturday, October 5 with a number of innovations to make it an even more memorable experience.

As always, the event is loaded with James Beard Award winners, Food & Wine Best New Chef alumni, reality TV favorites, and some of America’s most talented pitmasters. The event raises money for the Southern Smoke Foundation, the non-profit that Houston chef Chris Shepherd and his wife Lindsey Brown started to provide cash assistance and mental health care to hospitality workers. To date, the foundation's Emergency Relief Fund has distributed more than $11 million to recipients nationwide.

The event aims to build on the success of last year’s two-day festival that raised $1.8 million and last month’s wine-focused Decanted event that raised $700,000.

New this year is a special area dedicated to the 2024 Food & Wine Best New Chefs class that will be revealed in September. Shepherd, a member of the 2013 BNC class, tells CultureMap that he sees the festival as an opportunity for these rising star chefs to get to know each and begin building important professional relationships.

“It’s trying to set the groundwork for them as a group to learn about each other and maybe meet some other new people,” he says. “It’s a nurturing process. You want them to learn about each other. We felt like it was a good thing to do with the BNCs.”

Also new this year is a culinary stage that will host cooking demonstrations. The headliner is Christina Tosi, the superstar pastry chef behind Milk Bar. Other participants include Top Chef winner Brooke Williamson, acclaimed pitmaster Pat Martin, and star chefs from New Orleans and Austin, including Ana Castro, Fermin Nunez, Mason Hereford, Kevin Fink, and Tavel Bristol-Joseph.

“It’s a different interaction for people to have,” Shepherd says. “Maybe if you get tired of eating, you take a break, grab a drink. You can watch someone cook something. It gives people multiple things to do throughout the day.”

Finally, nine wine bars from Houston and beyond will pour their favorite selections. Local participants include 13 Celsius, Lees Den, Montrose Cheese & Wine, Stella’s Wine Bar, and The Library.

Of course, the core of the event remains the same — a tasting served by Shepherd and his fellow Beard Award winners, including Aaron Franklin (Franklin BBQ), Ashley Christensen (Raleigh, NC), Jason Stanhope (Charleston, SC), and Sarah Grueneberg (Chicago). They’re joined by a number of chefs from across the country, including Top Chef: Masters winner Chris Cosentino, Top Chef fan favorite Lee Anne Wong, and star pitmaster Rodney Scott.

Austin chefs are also well represented. In addition to Franklin and the chefs leading demonstrations, the roster includes Chelsea Fadda (Pecan Square Cafe), Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel (Birdie’s), and Beard Award winner Edgar Rico (Nixta Taqueria).

As always, Houston chefs are enthusiastic participants. Returning locals include Ope Amosu (ChopnBlok), Tastemaker Award winner Aaron Bludorn (Bludorn), Leonard Botello IV (Truth BBQ), Food & Wine Best New Chef Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemo), Tastemaker Award winner Abbas Dhanani (Burger Bodega), Tastemaker Award winners Quy Hoang/Robin Wong/Terry Wong/Arash Kharat (Blood Bros. BBQ), Beard Award winner Benchawan Painter (Street to Kitchen), Ryan Pera (Coltivare), Tastemaker Award winner Martin Stayer (Nobie’s), and current Top Chef contestant Michelle Wallace (b’tween the slices). Houston chefs joining the festival for the first time include Tastemaker Award winners Lucas McKinney (Jospehine’s) and Don Nguyen (Khoi Barbecue) as well as Austin Simmons (Tris).

VIP ticket holders get a few exclusive bites prepared by Kate McLean (Tony’s), Paola Velez (Bodega Bakes, Dōekï Dōekï, Washington, DC), and Billy Durney, who will be serving the acclaimed burgers from his restaurant Red Hill Tavern.

Tickets go on sale July 9 at $225 for general admission and $500 for VIP, which comes with early admission, a dedicated VIP area, and other perks. For the ultimate experience, sponsor a local or visiting chef for $5,000 or $10,000, respectively.

The event raised $1.8 million.

Photo by Emily Jaschke

Last year's event raised $1.8 million.

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Coming soon to Fredericksburg

Houston restaurant vet serves up Roman-style eatery in the Hill Country

Photo courtesy of Bottega Salaria

Valerio Lombardozzi is opening Bottega Salaria in the former home of La Bergerie.

Valerio Lombardozzi’s culinary career has taken him to the world’s finest kitchens, including restaurants owned by icons like Alain Ducasse, Giorgio Locatelli, and Joël Robuchon. In Houston, he led La Table and Tavola, where he earned a reputation for being one of the city's most engaging front of the house personalities.

But his latest project might be his biggest accomplishment yet. The hospitality veteran is opening Bottega Salaria, a homey Italian osteria and artisan market, in the former home of La Bergerie at 312 E Austin St in his adopted home of Fredericksburg.

Lombardozzi says the restaurant, expected to arrive in winter 2026, fills a gap in the Hill Country dining scene, but, more importantly, it's a reflection of his personal history and time spent working at his family’s restaurant in Rome.

“[It’s about] where I grew up, how I grew up, and how I eat,” he shares.

The three-concept experience is inspired by Italy’s Via Salaria, the ancient route Italians used to transport salt from the Adriatic Sea to Rome. The menu acts as a sort of travelogue, borrowing from the different cultures along the road, and the way village fishermen and shepherds ate.

Lombardozzi is quick to say he didn’t want to open a chef-driven restaurant. Instead, the osteria will serve traditional Roman staples such as cacio e pepe, amatriciana, carbonara, saltimbocca with sage and prosciutto, and branzino carved tableside.

“I was one of the last to be exposed to the old generation of professionals who knew how to carve elegantly for the guests,” he says.

The adjacent bottega will stay open during restaurant hours, offering fresh pasta made on-site, house-made sauces, imported Italian pantry items, cheeses, salumi, breads, and biscotti. Patrons will be able to shop for individual items or put together custom gift baskets.

Outdoors, La Fraschetteria will debut a new hospitality experience in the U.S. The self-guided experience invites diners to grab wine directly from garden shelves, gather a spread of meats, cheeses, bread, or pasta, and linger around long communal tables lit by string lights.

Keeping the chit-chat going will be a thoughtful beverage program anchored by a primarily Italian wine list and imported beer. Lombardozzi says the cocktail menu might be a surprise, offering only gin and tonics, spritzes, and negronis. The latter has been made into a game where diners roll dice to determine the evening's combination of gin, vermouth, and bitters.

After dinner, guests can select an amaro from a rolling cart, sip grappa and limoncello, or sip a neat whiskey.

Lombardozzi shares that he wants Bottega Salaria to be just as comfortable for Fredericksburg locals as it is for destination travelers. Beyond daily service, Bottega Salaria plans community events such as garden wine nights with live music, Sunday movie nights, and hands-on cooking classes.

The space is designed for ease with a warm palette combining olive green and pomegranate reds. The decor blends heritage and modernity, bringing in objects like antique mirrors, plates, custom-made lamps, and even old tablecloths and curtains for an Old World feel.

"We’re not just opening a restaurant,” Lombardozzi says. “We’re creating a gathering place. A home for everyone who loves Italian food, culture, and the joy of sharing a meal with others.”

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