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    Southern Smoke 2023

    Southern Smoke Festival fires up highly anticipated 2023 lineup for downtown showcase

    Eric Sandler
    May 16, 2023 | 3:41 pm

    Houston’s biggest, most star-studded food festival returns for 2023 with two new locations in the heart of downtown. The Southern Smoke Festival will take place October 13 and 14 with two events devoted to food, wine, and raising a lot of money for hospitality workers.

    As always, the event is loaded with James Beard Award winners, top Texas chefs, 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 to hospitality workers in crisis situations like medical emergencies, natural disasters, lost wages, and other unexpected events. To date, the foundation's Emergency Relief Fund has distributed more than $10 million to recipients nationwide.

    The event aims to build on the success of last year’s three-day Southern Smoke Festival, the organization’s first in-person event since 2019. It raised a staggering $1,620,000.

    This year’s events are:

    • Friday, October 13: Respect The Rosé wine dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston
    • Saturday, October 14: The Throwdown at Discovery Green

    Friday night’s wine dinner revives an event that had been a staple of Southern Smoke founder Chris Shepherd’s tenure at Underbelly, the pioneering Houston restaurant where he won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest. Pitched as a 007/Monte Carlo-themed event, the event will raise money for Behind You, the Southern Smoke Foundation’s program that provides no-cost mental health counseling to food and beverage workers nationwide.

    Its lineup includes James Beard Award winners Sarah Grueneberg (Monteverde, Chicago), Ryan Prewitt (Pêche, New Orleans), Jason Stanhope (FIG, Charleston), and Stephen Stryjewski (Cochon, New Orleans) as well as Memphis chefs Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer and acclaimed Houston pastry chef Rebecca Masson.

    Tickets are priced at $500 for an individual ticket, $5,000 for a table of 10, and $7,500 for table of 10 with special wines. They go on sale June 7.

    Saturday’s Throwdown will feature more than 40 chefs serving dishes made with live fire along with wine, beer, cocktails, and live music. Headliners include returning favorites such as James Beard Award winners Aaron Franklin (Franklin BBQ), Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco), and Ashley Christensen (Raleigh, NCr). Other notable chefs include Mason Hereford (Turkey & The Wolf, New Orleans), Cheetie Kumar (Ajja, Raleigh), and Top Chef fan favorite Claudette Zepeda.

    New to this year’s event are Reem Assil (Reem’s California), Angel Barreto (Anju, Washington, D.C.), Ana Castro (Lengua Madre, New Orleans), Nina Compton (Compère Lapin, New Orleans), and Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel (Birdie’s, Austin). They’ll be joined by a number of top Houston chefs, including Bun B (Trill Burgers), Aaron Bludorn (Bludorn), Dawn Burrell (Late August), Patrick Feges and Erin Smith (Feges BBQ), Evelyn Garcia (Jūn), Benchawan Painter (Street to Kitchen), Chris Williams (Lucille’s), and more. Participating pitmasters include Leonard Botello IV (Truth Barbeque), Matt Horn (Horn Barbecue), Evan LeRoy (LeRoy and Lewis), Greg Gatlin (Gatlin’s BBQ), Pat Martin (Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint), and the three owners of Blood Bros. BBQ, pitmaster Quy Hoang and brothers Robin and Terry Wong.

    Tickets are priced at $175 for general admission and $500 for VIP, which includes early admittance, a dedicated VIP area, and more.



    Chris Bianco.

    Southern Smoke Festival 2022 Chris Bianco
      
    Photo by Emily Jaschke
    Chris Bianco.
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    Why pork chops are suddenly trendy at Houston's hottest restaurants

    Brianna Griff
    Apr 30, 2025 | 12:20 pm
    truth bbq pork chop houston
    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 pork chop houston
      

    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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