wine guy wednesday

CultureMap Wine Guy Chris Shepherd on a must-attend dinner at March toasting French wines

Editor's note: Long before Chris Shepherd became a James Beard Award-winning chef, he developed enough of a passion for wine to work at Brennan's of Houston as a sommelier. He maintains that interest to this day. When Chris expressed interest in writing about wine-related topics for CultureMap, we said yes.

In this week's column, he tells us about a special wine dinner at one of his favorite Houston restaurants. Take it away, Chris.

$March restaurant chefs and Jon Bonn\u00e9$

Photo by Zach Horst

Chris Davies, Jon Bonné, and Felipe Riccio review the dishes at March.

Here we go! Have I got a wine dinner for you!

This Tuesday, October 3, the team at March will host renowned wine writer Jon Bonné for a one-night dinner celebrating the release of his amazing new book The New French Wine. If you don’t have this book, drive illegally fast to the nearest place to buy a book and get your hands on this one. If you work in a restaurant, a wine bar, or just frequent either of those places, you should have this book on the shelf.

Over the past few years, we are seeing a change and an influx of new wines coming from France. Wines are becoming more available and even more approachable. Trust me, I love the houses and vineyards in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, and Loire, but now we are seeing this deep rooted love of different areas and some new winemakers that are embracing that as well. History wasn’t wrong. It’s just as Jon Bonné writes, “C’est Compliqué,” or “It’s’ complicated.”

I’m going to share a paragraph from his book that says a lot to me. Jon writes:

The state of wine in France matters because France is (and, with luck, forever will be) the soul of the global wine industry. Its grape varieties remain benchmarks around the world. Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir and Chenin Blanc, Gamay, and so on are the base materials for so many other wine regions, whether it be California or the Adelaide Hills, or even Tuscany. And reference examples from France remain just that: precedents by which other places measure their progress.

I personally agree with all of this— history tells us this. When I spoke to Jon today, he told me, “I would argue that nothing this big has happened to the French wine business since Phylloxera over 150 years ago.”

We’re seeing the newest winemakers and lesser known regions everywhere now on wine lists, in shops, and even at the grocery stores. We’re seeing sections for Beaujolais, Languedoc, Roussillon, Provence and even the Jura.

This book took Jon over either years to write, and it’s a masterpiece. It breaks down the whys, the whos, and the wheres from region to region. France has been hard to discover forever, but this book has it all laid out for you. You want to know more about the new and the old producers of Champagne, yep! I feel like the dog that had been chasing the car forever, and I finally caught it. Thank you for that, I was getting tired.

Now, on to the dinner. It’s no secret that the folks at Goodnight Hospitality are good friends of mine. I love what they do at Montrose Cheese and Wine, Rosie Cannonball, March, and I can’t wait for Marigold Club to open. They just get me — delicious food and beverage in a very thoughtful way.

Felipe Riccio, who is the chef/partner at Goodnight, is a young, very smart chef. And he truly understands wine. Believe it or not, there are not many chefs out there that focus on wine as much as food — Erin Smith at Feges BBQ, Terrence Gallivan at Elro, Felipe. I’m sure there are a few more but not many. It takes work and passion to learn wine but once you fall into it, it’s on!

Felipe and his team at MARCH are in the middle of the Sicily menu right now but are planning this one-night, amazing dinner. Master sommelier June Rodil, Mark Sayre, Gillie Dougherty, and Felipe sat down and picked the wines for this dinner by region and then dove into the deep end of the pool to work the menu. You want to talk about special? Yeah! You need to get this ticket, I already did because it is going to be one for the memory books. I would suggest if you want a killer experience then head on over to the MARCH website and book your seat. Everyone involved is just over the moon with excitement.

June told me, “Rather than being in constant search for the same old icons, Jon is discovering new French wine icons and unlocking their history and culture while sharing with us what we should be collecting for the future.”

I know that collecting is just as important as being able to enjoy now. In this book you will find both, and that’s pretty amazing. I hope you join Jon, Felipe, June, me and the rest of the team on Tuesday. Let’s raise a glass of Champagne and have an amazing conversation and dinner! See you there.

-----

Contact our Wine Guy 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 new TV show, Eat Like a Local, every Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2.

chefs wine books news-you-can-eat

What's Eric Eating Episode 590

Aaron Bludorn dishes on his new neighborhood tavern in The Woodlands

Photo by Claudia Casbarian

Bar Bludorn is now open in The Woodlands.

On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” chef and restaurateur Aaron Bludorn joins CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss the new location of Bar Bludorn in The Woodlands. Announced last year, the restaurant officially opened to the public this Friday, October 2.

It’s the fifth restaurant for Bludorn Hospitality Group, the company Bludorn operates with his wife, Victoria Pappas Bludorn, and their business partner, operations specialist Cherif Mbodji. It joins the company’s flagship, French-inspired fine dining restaurant Bludorn; Navy Blue, a seafood restaurant in Rice Village; Perseid, a French-influenced restaurant at the Hotel Saint Augustine; and Bar Bludon’s original location that opened in the Memorial Villages in 2023. Bludorn, Perseid, and Bar Bludorn all hold Recommended designations in the Michelin Guide.

As Bludorn explains, one primary factor drew the company to The Woodlands.

“We noticed a lot of people from The Woodlands come to Bludorn and even Bar Bludorn,” Bludorn says. “Having enough people tell you that over and over again, you feel so grateful they’d travel for a great meal. I wanted to give them a way they wouldn’t have to travel so far for a great meal.”

As a music fan, Bludorn has attended several concerts at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. He likes that Bar Bludorn’s location in The Woodlands Waterway allows diners to have dinner at the restaurant prior to making a five minute walk to the venue to see the performance.

While the interior in The Woodlands looks similar to the Memorial original, it does offer a couple of key improvements. First, the bar is larger, allowing more people to walk in for a burger or steak. Second, it offers a 50-seat private dining room (Memorial doesn’t have a private room at all).

Photo by Claudia Casbarian

Bar Bludorn is now open in The Woodlands.

The menu has some notable changes, too. The beignets are topped with lobster instead of the country ham served at Memorial, and the pasta selections includes pappadelle with lamb ragu and a take on carbonara made with duck confit and duck egg yolk. The short rib pastrami has been replaced with a Cuban sandwich. Bar Bludorn's signature fried chicken is joined by a roast chicken — both are served are served as whole or half birds with a choice of two sides and three sauces.

“When you have a restaurant that’s a neighborhood restaurant, there’s a desire to have a healthy component,” Bludon notes. “We’re launching a roast chicken. Now, you can get a half fried/half roasted chicken with a ton of different sauces, and you can pick your own sides. I’m told we do chicken really well, and I wanted to double down on that here.”

Leading the kitchen is chef Adolfo Lopez, while Malik McLemore, a veteran of both Bludorn and Navy Blue, heads north to serve as general manager.

“Bar Bludorn is meant to be a neighborhood restaurant. It’s meant to sink into the community and be part of everyone’s dining habits. It’s a place you can become a regular very easily. We’re excited about that opportunity here, for guests to take ownership of this restaurant,” Bludorn adds.

Notably, Bar Bludorn isn’t the company’s only opening for 2026. A still-unnamed project in San Antonio will debut before the end of the year, Bludorn shares, although he declined to reveal any details about its menu. He adds that BHG is seeking more opportunities beyond the Bayou City and its suburbs.

“For now, until we come up with a concept that’s different, we’re happy where we’re at in Houston, he says. “As we look to where we’re at today, we’ve got a really strong foundation as a group. We’re looking take more opportunities like we have in San Antonio and other places throughout the state, but they’re just conversations at this point.”

-----

Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hear it Sunday at 8 am on ESPN 97.5.

openings news-you-can-eat the-woodlands bar bludorn chefs podcasts interview