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.

Winnie's owners Graham Laborde and Benjy Mason.

Photo by Emily Jaschke

Winnie's owners Graham Laborde and Benjy Mason are back.

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Why pork chops are suddenly trendy at Houston's hottest restaurants

TRUTH BBQ

The Cornmeal-Crusted Pork Chop at Truth BBQ is brined in sweet tea for 72 hours before being cold-smoked, battered, and deep fried.

This may be presumptuous, but pork chops just might be the meat of the year for 2025.

The cut is popping up on menus all over Houston, leaving us to wonder: what’s making this part of the pig so appealing again?

This isn’t your mom’s dry, Shake 'n Bake pork chops served with a pile of boiled green beans. Rather, Houston chefs are transforming the once-humble cut into something worth seeking out.

Travis McShane, chef and owner of Ostia, says pork is getting a glow-up, with American-raised pork now rivaling the quality found in countries like Spain. He credits the rise in demand to changing perceptions.

“For years, pork was kinda seen as a lesser or cheaper item. I think this was because older health recommendations painted pork as unhealthy and recommended it to be cooked well done,” he said. “Thank goodness that has all changed, and people understand you can eat pork closer to a medium cook temperature.”

Truth BBQ offers pork as a lighter, more budget-friendly alternative for diners looking to mix up their usual order. While restaurants like Snows BBQ feature pork steaks, owner and pitmaster Leonard Botello IV wanted something a little different for his Washington Ave. restaurant.

“We had a lot of fun working with our team on different pork cuts and how we could prepare them to create something a little more unique to us,” says Botello. “It’s a great add-on to a platter or stand-alone option because it’s one chop — just enough.”

The Cornmeal-Crusted Pork Chop at Truth is a center-cut, bone-in Duroc chop, available for lunch and dinner from Friday through Sunday. It’s brined in sweet tea for 72 hours, then cold-smoked, battered in cornmeal, and deep-fried. The chop is served with a Carolina-style sweet pepper relish, adding a punchy finish to the deep-fried crust.

The consensus across restaurants is that brining is key. Soaking pork chops in salt water helps lock in moisture, tenderize the meat, and infuse flavor throughout.

At Ostia, the pork is brined for at least two hours before it’s fully dried out to either grill or fry. The Pork Milanese is inspired by both the simple, bright flavor combinations of Italy’s Milanese and the crispy, panko breading of Japanese Tonkatsu. Another rendition of the pork chop is fried with oyster aioli and celery.

“The umami of oysters, anchovies, seaweed is a beautiful combination with the rich nutty fat of pork!” McShane said.

At Milton’s, Executive Chef Kent Domas added the aptly named Pork Chop ($95) to offer an alternative to the trattoria's signature chicken parm and veal parm. Brined and then grilled in a wood-burning oven, the simple, but flavorful, pork chop can be shared between two or more diners and is served with glazed cipollini onions.

Michelin Bib Gourmand Belly of the Beast in Spring serves up a 16-ounce Berkshire pork chop alongside fregola (a nutty, couscous-like pasta), artichokes, apricots, and a hint of harissa for some heat. Tangy lemon jus ties it all together.

The Sakura Farms Pork Chop at Baso has been a fan favorite since the Basque-influenced restaurant opened in December 2023. The chop is grilled over the restaurant’s live fire hearth, before it’s topped with a rich pork jowl sauce, dusted with dried local chamomile powder, and served with a slice of Meyer lemon. Chefs and 2025 CultureMap Tastemaker Award Rising Star Chef of the Year winners Jacques Varon and Max Lappe recommend pairing the dish with a glass of Rosé on a hot Houston day.

At Credence near Memorial City Mall, the team created the Pork Rib Chop Schnitzel as an ode to Texas’ culinary roots. The schnitzel is both a nod to Eastern European immigrants who brought the recipe to Texas in the mid-1850s and to the Germans who introduced Mexico to Wiener Schnitzel in the late 1800s.

The ranch-inspired establishment’s heritage-breed pork is pounded thin on the bone, brined, breaded, and then fried until crispy, before it’s finished with a caper brown butter sauce.

Of course, one Houston restaurant has been championing pork chops for more than 40 years. Perry’s Steakhouse will celebrate its 1979 opening this Friday, May 2 with a throwback deal: a lunch-sized portion of its famous pork chop for just 79 cents. It’s served on a cast-iron plate with whipped potatoes, applesauce, and bread.

TRUTH BBQ

The Cornmeal-Crusted Pork Chop at Truth BBQ is brined in sweet tea for 72 hours before being cold-smoked, battered, and deep fried.

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