what's eric eating episodes 393 and 394

Previewing a new Mediterranean restaurant, plus chefs react to Michelin

On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” restaurateur Itai Ben Eli and chef Yotam Dolev join CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss Okto, a new Mediterranean restaurant. Scheduled to open in the Montrose Collective mixed-use development as soon as next month, Okto joins sister concepts Hamsa and Doris Metropolitan as part of Sof Hospitality.

Ben Eli explains that Okto will serve dishes inspired by Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Spain. It will also feature a tightly edited menu of approximately 16 items that will rotate seasonally.

“The dishes at Okto are going to be more detailed and more layered than the ones we have at Hamsa, which is based more on traditional cooking,” Ben Eli says. “Okto is going to be a little more modern with layers and elevations that we’ll do daily.”

“The idea is to bring something we think is currently missing,” he adds. “I just spent about 10 days in Madrid with my family. Seeing a lot of classics in Spain and you say, ‘how could we don’t have anything quite like this in Houston?’ We’re bringing vibrant flavors that current chefs are doing in the southern Mediterranean.”

Dolev adds a few more thoughts. “We’re really trying to change the rules when it comes to the culinary scene and Okto. I just came back from Israel a couple of weeks ago. The scene there is amazing. I thought, I need to bring a touch of this, a touch of Italy, a touch of Greece.”

Listen to the full episode to hear the duo’s thoughts on the news that the Michelin Guide is coming to Texas. Perhaps they’ll be among the happy hospitality groups when the first Texas star and Bib Gourmand awards are issued later this year.

Speaking of Michelin, this week’s other episode consists of a free-flowing conversation about the guide that involves three chefs and a Houstonian who’s eaten at starred restaurants around the world. Chefs RJ Yoakum (Georgie in Dallas), Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemó in Houston), and Ryan Lachaine (Riel in Houston) join Sandler and tech entrepreneur Misha Govshteyn to debate how significant the guide’s arrival is in Houston, whether it will change how restaurants operate, and how many Houston restaurants will earn stars.

Among the more interesting points, Yoakum shares that the opportunity to earn a Michelin star has enabled him to entice talented cooks to follow his path from California to Texas. Chavez adds that Tatemó has already seen more interest in reservations just from media speculation that it could earn a star. Govshteyn takes a more long term view.

“It’s not about this year. What you’ll see is a big impact in year five. Think about it this way — how many Texas chefs cook at some of the best restaurants around the world but feel like they can’t come back and open a place because they won’t find the support or meet their goals professionally,” he says. “Think about all the chefs who’ve worked for Enrique Olvera at Pujol. They’re not coming back here. When it’s a Michelin market, they will.”

Photo by Kirsten Gilliam

Yotam Dolev is one of this week's guests.

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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