The time has come to begin celebrating the nominees in this year’s CultureMap Tastemaker Awards. As always, we begin with Rising Star Chef of the Year.
Our nominees cover a diverse set of backgrounds, professional experiences, and roles in the Houston culinary scene. Some have worked in Michelin-starred restaurants for the world’s best chefs. Others hustled from pop-ups and food halls to James Beard Award semifinalist nominations. Our group also consists of a mix of restaurant owners and chefs who are working for others at former Tastemaker Award winners like MAD and Nobie’s.
They’re united by a commitment to high standards and demonstrating leadership in their kitchens. That’s why our judges’ panel of local restaurant industry experts and former Tastemaker Award winners has selected them. We expect them to guide Houston towards its culinary future.
In the present, they’re serving excellent food at interesting restaurants. Diners who haven’t experienced our nominees’ work should change that. After all, any of these establishments could become someone’s new favorite destination.
Who will win? Find out March 27 at our Tastemaker Awards ceremony. Dine on bites from this year’s nominees, sip cocktails from our sponsors, and witness as we reveal the winners. Buy your tickets now. VIP tickets are selling quickly, and our discounted general admission tickets will sell out soon.
Fernando Recio - MAD
The chef brings experiences working for two of the world’s most celebrated restaurants — Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain and Saison in San Francisco — to his role of head chef at the lively Spanish restaurant in River Oaks District. His expertise in working with live fire has brought new vegetable dishes that are slow roasted over the same coals used for cooking MAD’s popular paella. Working closely with executive chef Luis Roger, Recio negotiated new deals with the restaurant’s suppliers that allowed it to reduce prices by 20-percent. Having already introduced new dishes such as truffle toast and kampachi sashimi to the dinner menu, Recio’s next project will be updating the lunch and brunch menus.
Victoria Elizondo.
Fernando Rios - Mimo
For years, Rios has worked behind the scenes at restaurants such as Da Marco and Weights + Measures, quietly making pizzas, pastas, and other Italian-inspired fare. Since teaming up with friend and business partner Mike Sammons, Rios has diners flocking to the East End for superbly exected takes on classic Italian fare. Visits to Mimo could include corn and zucchini fritters, salmon crudo, cacio e pepe rigatoni, braised beef cheeks, or surprise specials that utilize whatever is fresh and exciting in the moment. If only we could persuade him to bring back the sandwiches that were part of Mimo’s opening lunch menu.
Jacob Coronado - Nobie's
Credit the chef and his team for setting the upbeat tone at the Montrose restaurant. Those puny menu names — current dishes include Come Quail Away, Will I Lamb, and the Carroty Kid — would just be silly if the kitchen didn’t produce such consistently well-executed, satisfying plates. Coronado’s energetic presence helps keep the team motivated and contributes to Nobie’s status as a favorite place for hospitality workers to gather after their shifts.
Jerrod Zifchak - Navy Blue
A veteran of celebrated New York restaurants Le Bernardin and Cafe Boulud, Zifchak brought serious seafood chops to Aaron Bludorn’s Rice Village restaurant. By blending his French training with an appreciate for Gulf Coast ingredients, he created a range of options that include both French classics like snapper au poivre and a take of every Texan’s favorite blackened snappe. Perhaps the best tribute to Zifchak’s leadership is that Bludorn has tapped his sous chef Allie Pena to lead Bar Bludorn, the new restaurant coming soon to the Memorial area.
Lucas McKinney - Josephine's
The chef has been earning raves for his Gulf Coast-inspired fare at the Midtown restaurant that replaced Izakaya. Credit for the success goes to both his Mississippi roots and a lengthy stint working for Chris Shepherd at restaurants such as Hay Merchant and Georgia James. Those experiences help explain the fish sauce that comes with the crab fingers. Even more importantly, he shares his mentor’s appreciation for local suppliers — just ask him about the appellation oysters Josephine’s serves.
Masaru Fukuda - Pacha Nikkei
Ambitious, chef-driven restaurants aren’t usually associated with the Westchase District, but diners from across West Houston appreciate Fukuda’s decision to open in their part of town. The Peruvian immigrant earned a spot on Texas Monthly’s best new restaurants list for his spin on Nikkei cuisine that includes creative sushi rolls, raw dishes, and cooked items. While seafood is the focus, don’t miss the chef’s lomo saltado mac and cheese that puts a Peruvian twist on the comfort food favorite.
Max Lappe and Jacques Varon - Baso
Drawing on their experiences at various restaurants in Los Angeles and beyond, the two friends teamed up to open this Basque-inspired restaurants in the Heights. The kitchen’s massive hearth gets used in a variety of ways that range from grilling meats and searing fish to slow roasting vegetables — as in the bacon-covered cabbage that’s among the menu’s standouts. Even though the restaurant only opened in December, this nomination demonstrates that word is already out among the chef’s peers that something special is happening on 19th Street.
Ope Amosu - ChópnBlọk
Food halls can be a difficult venue for launching a successful restaurant, but ChópnBlọk has been a star of downtown’s Post Market since it opened in 2021. By blending his Nigerian heritage with American-style service, Amosu is making fans of people who are new to dishes such as jollof rice. In addition, the chef has showcased his engaging personality on a number of TV shows, including Top Chef and Padma Lakshmi’s Taste of the Nation. That outgoing demeanor and crowd-pleasing menu will serve him well when ChópnBlọk opens its first stand-alone location in Montrose later this year. It also earned him a semifinalist nomination in this year’s James Beard Awards.
Thomas Bille - Belly of the Beast
The talented chef earned raves from diners for his work at both Belly of the Beast’s original location in Spring and Chivos, the short-lived Mexican American restaurant in the Heights. Still, he’s stepped things up at this new iteration. Yes, his signature birria tacos are available, but who has time for tacos when the menu also includes handmade pastas, globally-inspired small plates (don’t miss the pozole dumplings), and flavor-packed raw dishes. The creative menu has drawn the attention of restaurant-obsessed inner loopers as well as the James Beard Awards, which recognized Bille with a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas.
Victoria Elizondo - Cochinita & Co.
Chef, cookbook author, entrepreneur — Elizondo knows how to stay busy. Serving tacos and other Mexican favorites at her East End restaurant would surely be enough for most people, but her ambitions go beyond serving excellent pineapple shrimp and cochinita pibil to hungry Houstonians. Elizondo also operates a thriving retail business that sells totopos, salsas, aguas frescas, and more at markets across the Houston area. She also serves as an advocate for her fellow DACA recipients. Like Bille, she earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas.
Yotam Dolev - Hamsa
The chef brings Israel’s diverse cuisine to Houston at this Rice Village restaurant. Whether presenting vegetarian friendly fare like the restaurant’s signature falafel and hummus or wood-roasted skewers of meat and seafood, Dolev and his team turn out precisely prepared plates that bring the flavors of Dizengoff Street to the Bayou City — even when the dining room fills up on Thursday nights for performances by belly dancers. That consistency earned Hamsa a spot on Texas Monthly’s best new restaurants list and the attention of our judges’ panel.
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The 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards event runs 6-10 pm Wednesday, March 27 at Silver Street Studios (2000 Edwards St.).
The Tastemaker Awards ceremony is brought to you by Stella Artois, Rías Baixas Albariño, Topo Chico Sparkling Mineral Water, 8th Wonder Cannabis, and more to be announced. A portion of proceeds will benefit our nonprofit partner, the Southern Smoke Foundation.
