cheers to the tastemakers!

Houston's culinary superstars and more than 1,000 food fans toast the 2023 Tastemaker Awards

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Lindsey Brown and Chris Shepherd.

More than 1,000 haute and hungry Houstonians packed the 2023 CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Awards to toast the city’s best at Silver Street Studios.

Houston’s hottest, biggest, and preeminent food event is the crowning moment of our annual, weeks-long program that highlights and celebrates the hottest, most innovative, and most visionary of the city’s culinary, wine, and bar scene.

A who's-who party for the food world, the awards are a favorite for Houston's hospitality A-listers. Past winners become judges, star chefs chat and exchange numbers and snap selfies. The event is taken so seriously that Ruchit Harneja, executive pastry chef for luxe Indian palace Musaafer, left his honeymoon to attend this year's ceremonies and host the restaurant's table.

This year’s Tastemaker Awards benefited Chris Shepherd's Southern Smoke Foundation, which he founded in 2015 to offer emergency relief funding and access to mental health services to members of the food and beverage industry. Through his popular Southern Smoke Festival, the organization has provided more than $10.4 million in grants to food and beverage workers in need. The nonprofit's reach extends through California, Louisiana, Illinois, New York, and Texas.

Fittingly, Shepherd, a James Beard Award winner and CultureMap's Wine Guy, served as emcee for the evening.

As always, a host of sponsors helped make the night a rousing success, including Dripping Springs Vodka, Goodstock by Nolan Ryan, Topo Chico, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.

Guests pregamed at the VIP bar and lounge, others posted up in Silver Street's grand hall, while many snapped pics at the selfie stand and photo booth from Lucky Shots — a fave for Instagram stories and reels.

Ready to raise a glass, the crowd hit the bar for speciality sips and cool cocktails courtesy of the aforementioned liquor and drink sponsors. Libations included a Basil Sour, Lavender Lemon (a party pic fave), The Blinker (a refreshing whiskey/grapefruit cooler), a Cherry Old Fashioned, and a Strawberry Fields Mocktail.

Then, party people lined up for the city’s best bites and libations and hydration stationing courtesy of Topo Chico. Delectable and dazzling dishes included:

Blue Crab & Shrimp Campechana and Campanella from d’Alba Craft Kitchen & Cocktails
Mini Carrot Cake and a Carrot and the Stick Cocktail from Bludorn/Navy Blue
Smoked Snapper Ceviche with wonton crisps from Loro
Horchata Berlinesa & Pink Berry Corn Cake Donut from Papalo Mercado Ema
Riz a Djej: Lebanese rice with rotisserie chicken, roasted nuts, and garlic aioli from Craft Pita
Kobe Beef Nigiri with yuzu kosho and truffle aioli from Aiko
Chilled Crawfish Bisque with spring petit pois from Le Jardinier
Spicy Sesame Wontons with impossible meat from Dumpling Haus
Bluefin Tuna Pastor from Quiote
Spanish Octopus Salad with smoked piquillo pepper salsa and papas arrugadas from GJ Tavern
Quibani: Apricot compote scented with rose and cardamom, vanilla whip & almond tuile from Musaafer
Ceviche and Smoked Salmon from Golfstrommen
Braised Pork Belly and Sticky Rice from Dinette
Hazelnut Brioche with jivara glaze from EaDough Pastries & Provisions
Mushroom Swiss Kolache (made with Goodstock by Nolan Ryan beef) from burger-chan
Himalayan Heat Sliders (made with Goodstock by Nolan Ryan beef) from Cowboys & Indians
The Hottie Melt (made with Goodstock by Nolan Ryan beef) from The Waffle Bus
Cheeseburgers (made with Goodstock by Nolan Ryan beef) from b'tween Sandwich Co
Lira Rossa Corn Ricotta, Honey Cake, Praline Chouquette, and Pine Nut Orchidea from Goodnight Hospitality (Rosie Cannonball, March)
Couch Potato Cookie, Unicorn Bait Cookie, Star Crossed Lovers, Pistachio Cherry Financier, Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookie, Lemon Tarts, and Bacon Fat Gingersnaps from Fluff Bake Bar
Salted Egg Yolk Bread Pudding from LuLoo's Day & Nights

After a quick welcome, intro, and thanks to sponsors and staff, CultureMap editor Steven Devadanam gave a well-deserved shout out to our food editor Eric Sandler and then handed the mic to Shepherd, who led the awards ceremony with his signature casual vine.

The crowd packed the stage and roared for nominees including Pop-up of the Year, Pastry Chef of the Year, Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year, Bar of the Year, Best New Restaurant, and the hotly anticipated Chef of the Year and Restaurant of the Year.

Winners were chosen by a judges panel of restaurant industry experts — except Best New Restaurant, which was voted on by CultureMap readers. Get the full list of winners here.

Mark Clayton of Squable scored Chef of the Year; his partner Justin Yu notes that Clayton's "attention to detail on those very normal, overlooked flavors and textures on dishes that most diners take for granted that makes his food sing..."

For the grand finale, Shepherd called out Bludorn for the coveted title of Restaurant of the Year. Chef Aaron Bludorn and his managing partner Cheríf Mbodji gratefully accepted the award and hugged it out with Shepherd.

"We're going to Bludorn!" the chef/owner told us regarding his post-party plans. And why not?

Since its launch in 2014, our Tastemaker Awards have been the city’s defining food event where A-list dining names mix with casual fans. The electric crowd and eager participants made 2023 one of the biggest and brightest awards ever.

Our hearty congratulations to the winners and our thanks to the sponsors, participants, and fans. We’ll see you next year.

Event Recap tastemakers

eat real food

Houston DJ-turned-TikTok star cooks up a cult following one recipe at a time

Courtesy of Uncle Dibbz

Uncle Dibbz, a.k.a. A.H. Bowden, has built a devoted following for his viral recipes.

For the past month, Uncle Dibbz has been, shall we say, going ham on social media with the myriad videos of alternative Thanksgiving dishes. He’s dropped how-to clips for such recipes as Cajun-roasted turkey, honey-baked ham/hens, oven-bag turkey, and six-piece fried turkey (to go). Basically, if you don’t want to cook a bland ol’ Butterball this Turkey Day, Dibbz has you covered.

Who is Dibbz, you say? Well, he’s a North Jersey-born, Georgia-bred, Houston-based chef who’s been building quite the foodie rep online. Several videos across his TikTok, Instagram and YouTube pages, from his Cajun-boiled fried chicken (2 million on IG) to his “Propose to Me Pasta” (12.3 million on TikTok), has amassed millions of views. But Dibbz (government name: A.H. Bowden) wasn’t always a culinary content creator. He used to spin music back in Atlanta as DJ DiBiase, named after retired wrestler Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase. “DiBiase is a mouthful to say, so people just always call me ‘D’ or ‘Dibbz’ for short,” says Bowden, 37, during a Zoom interview.

@uncledibbz PROPOSE To Me PASTA 💍 🍝 Trust your Uncle! This SEAFOOD Pasta will seal the deal 👌🏽 Get my recipe below ⬇️ or on uncledibbz.com [@uncledibbz Link in Bio] 🌐 **Ingredients:** - 8 ounces spaghetti - 1 lb mixed seafood (shrimp, scallops, crab meat, etc.) - 2 tablespoons olive oil - Fresh chopped basil - 2 cloves garlic, minced - 1/2 cup white wine - 1/4 cup heavy cream - 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - Salt and pepper to taste - Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust [link in bio] - Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish) - Grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish) **Instructions:** 1. Cook the spaghetti pasta according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside. 2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, chopped basil and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant. 3. Add the mixed seafood to the skillet. Season with Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust to taste and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Remove the seafood from the skillet and set aside. 4. Pour in the white wine to the skillet and let it simmer for 2 minutes, allowing the alcohol to cook off. 5. Stir in the heavy cream, butter, Uncle Dibbz Delta Dust seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. 6. Add the cooked spaghetti and cooked mixed seafood to the skillet. Toss everything together until well coated with the sauce. 7. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. 8. Serve hot and enjoy the flavorful Seafood Spaghetti. That's good Shawty! #UncleDibbz #ThatsGoodShawty #Pasta #marryme #proposal #bride #wife #husband #relationshipgoals #datenight #easyrecipe #seafood #cajun #cooking #fyp #foryou #viral #houston ♬ original sound - Uncle Dibbz 🍴

He was making a nice living as a DJ, even serving as rapper Big K.R.I.T.’s touring DJ for a while. But when the pandemic hit, the gigs obviously dried up.

“I was living in Miami at the time,” he says. “And, you know, when you have a lot of time on your hands to think – but also need to figure out a way to, you know, sustain an income and everything like that – the ideas start coming,”

Like most DJs at that time, he was doing live mixes on Instagram. But his days throwing cookout parties in Atlanta inspired him to start doing his cooking videos, where he used his very own seasoning. Of course, he had a lemon pepper blend, which he used in a lemon pepper hot wings video that currently has over a half-million views on TikTok.

“I'm about to go live to DJ later that night, and my phone was just going off with orders,” he recalls. “So I'm like, where are these orders coming from? And it's not from my friends. I'm seeing the cities and the states. I don't know these people.”

Thanks to his videos, which usually end with him saying his signature line “That’s good shawty!” (that’s also the name of his cookbook he released last year), Dibbz went into the seasoning business full time. He eventually hired another person to help send out the piles of orders he was receiving.

He even got an order from former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, one of his favorite athletes. “I remember doing a book report on him when I was in fourth grade,” he boasts.

Although Dibbz has a flair for making meals that border on decadent, he’s an ardent practitioner of cooking with natural ingredients, especially in his seasoning. He has several low-sodium seasoning, including Bebe’s Salt Free – named after his mother, who had open-heart surgery a few weeks before the pandemic started.

“I don't think a lot of people understand the amount of toxins and chemicals that go into a lot of these seasonings,” he says. “You're starting to see it in the news now. A lot of the foods with certain dyes are being taken off the shelves and things like that.’

Soon, Dibbz moved himself and his new business to Houston, a favorite place to perform as well as a town whose hip-hop got him into music. He cites local chopped-and-screwed gods DJ Screw, Michael 5000 Watts, and OG Ron C as his holy trinity of influences. To give props to the music of his new home, he created a hot sauce – called HXT Sauce – whose uncharacteristically large bottle resembles Promethazine cough syrup (aka the key ingredient in lean, the preferred purple cocktail for the city’s rap community).

“It's not necessarily about promoting that usage,” he says. “But, at the same time, it’s just a homage to one of the factors and influences of screwed-and-chopped music.”

Dibbz still indulges in spinning records from time to time. The Waxaholics’ DJ Big Reeks has gotten him to break out the vinyl a few times during his Thursday-night sets at Alley Kat Bar & Lounge in Midtown. But creating new recipes, dropping delicious content and proving you can eat and live in a hearty, healthy fashion still remains his full-time mission.

“I’m not just talking about eating cauliflower rice all day and every day, but just eat real food,” he says. “We're eating fake food. That's the bottom line. We're eating fake food and my whole purpose is to inspire people to eat real food and that starts with real ingredients, real herbs, you know – real natural seasonings.”

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