Attendees at the annual Southern Smoke Festival know not to leave early. They don’t want to miss the event’s signature moment — when Southern Smoke Foundation co-founder and James Beard Award winner Chris Shepherd gets a little misty eyed as he reveals the amount raised for the foundation’s efforts to provide assistance to hospitality workers nationwide.
Photo by Emily Jaschke
Winnie's owners Graham Laborde and Benjy Mason.
Shepherd had a lot to cry about — in a good way. This year’s two day festival raised a record amount of $1.8 million. That's up $200,000 from last year's total.
“The amount of people that this will help,” he told the crowd on Saturday, October 14. “The amount of mental health sessions that we can provide with this. The amount of rent we can help. The amount of people getting out of a domestic violence situation. It’s unfathomable.”
That motivation, in the foundation’s parlance, “taking care of our own,” helped motivate the more than 60 chefs who participated in Saturday’s Throwdown, which took place for the first time in Discovery Green, and Friday night’s Respect the Rose wine dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston. It’s a message they shared with CultureMap again and again.
“We care about each other.”
“We care about each other,” Aaron Bludorn said. “We care about those who work in the industry and the sustainability of our people that work in it. Not only is it important to show Houstonians we care, but it’s important to our staff to see we care about it.”
“As business owners, it’s important to us,” Feges BBQ co-owner Erin Smith added. “We have a staff. We want to know if they’re in crisis that they can be taken care of. It means even more to us than it did in the beginning.”
First time attendee David Cordua, chef-owner of The Lymbar in Midtown, expressed a similar sentiment. “Having an organization dedicated to making sure there’s a safety net for the people who bring the food to your table, who make these dining experiences happen — it’s amazing this has only existed for as new as it is. It’s such a necessary part of the service industry,” he said.
Other chefs appreciated the opportunity to connect with colleagues and friends. “It’s like camp,” Tony’s chef-partner Kate McLean said.
“It’s always nice doing these things and seeing the guys,” Riel chef-owner Ryan Lachaine said. “We don’t get to do a lot of good stuff or see each other at the restaurants. It’s nice catching up, and it’s for a great cause.”
That great cause is raising money for two of Southern Smoke’s funds that benefit hospitality workers. As Shepherd noted in his speech, the foundation’s Emergency Relief Fund provides cash assistance to those in crisis situations such as needing to make rent or facing unexpected medical bills. The second is its Behind You mental health program that provides grants to universities in California, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, and Texas that use the money to fund free counseling sessions.
A clear purpose for Smoke
“We started Southern Smoke as a way to help a friend with a scary health diagnosis. It very quickly became clear how much support our friends throughout the food and beverage industry need support, whether it's through health crises, personal catastrophes, natural disasters, or any number of other issues that prevent hourly workers from making the money they need to pay their rent and bills, support their families, and otherwise survive,” Southern Smoke co-founder and executive director Lindsey Brown said in a statement. “The $1.8 million we raised will help us to continue to provide immediate cash-in-hand grants and fund our mental health care programming, and create a safety-net for future large-scale disasters.”
Of course, these chefs throw a helluva party on behalf of their colleagues. Attendees feasted on everything from smoked maitake mushrooms from Bludron to Feges BBQ’s smoked galbi beef rib, Lachaine’s grilled oysters with Chinese sausage XO, and McLean’s short rib pinwheel with white cheddar. Street to Kitchen chef and co-owner Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Houston’s newest James Beard Award winner, contributed a “Spicy A.F.” Thai barbecue skirt steak.
Other highlights included chicken pot pie from New Orleans chef Mason Hereford, pizzas from Chris Bianco, and quesadillas from Emmanuel Chavez, Houston’s newest Food & Wine Best New Chef winner. Burger lovers could choose to satisfy their cravings with smash burgers from both Trill Burgers and CultureMap Tastemaker Award winner Burger Bodega.
Of course, legendary pitmaster Aaron Franklin had a long line for his signature smoked brisket. We asked the Beard Award winner, who’s been a festival staple since the beginning, whether he’s ever contemplated serving anything else.
“I think about it all the time,” Franklin said. “I want to cook something besides brisket, but I absolutely have to do brisket. I’ve done 'not-brisket' a couple of times at other events. People get freaking angry. I’ve seen grown men cry, and it wasn’t pepper in their eyes.”
New home, same vibes
Beyond the food, the festival made good use of its new home at Discovery Green. Attendees praised the convenient layout that made it easy to go from chef to chef. VIP attendees received a number of perks, including valet parking and a dedicated seating area that came with its own wine bar and a pickling station manned by chef Austin Waiter, who will open the eagerly anticipated fine dining restaurant The Marigold Club at some point soon (we hope).
So, yes, the festival has come a long way from 2015, when it started as a party in the parking lot of Underbelly, Shepherd’s game changing restaurant that closed in 2018. It’s gotten bigger and now draws some of the food world’s brightest stars. It raised about $180,000 that year, a total that might be exceeded by this year’s auction that doesn’t close until tomorrow (Tuesday, October 17). Even with all of those changes, some aspects remain the same.
“I will say the thing that’s stayed consistent is the heart and the soul that started this thing, the energy behind it,” Franklin said. “The feels and the hugs and the high fives are always there. This is the only event I cook at out of the entire year. I don’t do these things, but we will always be here.”
With additional reporting by Emily Jaschke
