meet the tastemakers

Houston's 9 best pastry chefs create sweet and savory masterpieces

To steal a line from one of this year’s nominees for Pasty Chef of the Year in the 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, “No meal is complete without dessert.”

Really, why would anyone skip dessert when they have the option of feasting on a creation from one of these nine talented individuals? From pies and cookies to elaborate plated desserts, our judges’ panel has recognized these chefs for their consistency and attention to detail.

Our roster of chefs represent a diverse set of experiences, influences, and styles, but they’re united in the goal of making life in Houston a little sweeter.

Who will win? Find out March 27 at the Tastemaker Awards party. We’ll dine on bites from this year’s nominated restaurants and sip cocktails from our sponsors before revealing the winners in our short and sweet ceremony.

Buy your tickets now. VIP passes are already sold out. Don’t miss out on the remaining General Admission tickets.

Emily Rivas, Josephine's Gulf Coast Tradition
Some of the credit for the Midtown restaurant’s success, including its recent top five ranking on Texas Monthly’s list of the state’s best new restaurants, goes to its pastry chef. Rivas has had a diverse career that includes stints at both Georgia James and Bludorn, as well as time as a retail manager for R-C Ranch. Still, it’s her nostalgic creations like Barq’s Peanut Pie and the Mississippi Mud Jar that require diners to save room for dessert. When she’s away from the kitchen, Rivas tells CultureMap, she’s “proudly embracing her Taylor Swift fandom.” Rock on, chef.

Kelly Walker, Nobie's/The Toasted Coconut/Nonno's Family Pizza Tavern
For the past two years, Walker has been the chef responsible for Nobie’s daily pie selection. The rotating roster could include anything from Key lime to black bottom peanut butter and even the occasional layer cake, as well as the cheesecake that’s an essential component of any meal at Nonno’s. Prior to Nobie’s, she worked at both locations of the Hotel ZaZa and as part of the team who reopened La Colombe d’Or after its renovations.

“My mom is the most amazing cook, and she is truly my daily inspiration. I think of her in everything I do,” Walker writes in an email. “I grew up on a farm, and she managed a big, beautiful vegetable garden, herb garden, various fruit trees and a strawberry patch every year. I feel that her appreciation and care for plants really taught me how to love food and appreciate its beauty and the work that goes into cultivating it.”

Kelly Helgesen, Nancy's Hustle
Although she grew up in Houston, most of the chef’s experience come from Chicago, including a period when she worked alongside Nancy’s chef and co-owner Jason Vaughan at Michelin-starred seafood restaurant L20. Her affection for seasonal ingredients is reflected in current dishes such as the strawberry jam that’s served with vanilla malt ice cream and the kumquat marmalade that’s part of a crepe dessert. “Cookies are my favorite food and there will always be at least one cookie on the menu,” she adds.

Kripa Shenoy, Auden/EaDough Pastries & Provisions
A graduate of the Institute of Hotel Restaurant Management in Goa, India, Shenoy worked at restaurants in Mumbai and New York before moving to Houston with her husband, Kirthan Shenoy. Those experiences have served her well at both Auden, where she’s responsible for the elegant, plated desserts, and at EaDough, which serves croissants, muffins, cookies, and other classic favorites from its grab-and-go pickup window. “No meal is complete without dessert,” she says.

Marie Riddle. Bludorn/Navy Blue
Baked Alaska — or “flaming ice cream cake,” as chef-owner Aaron Bludorn once quipped — is just as core to a meal at Bludorn as the lobster pot pie or short rib ravioli. Riddle supervises its production, as well as Navy Blue’s equally essential carrot cake, among many other creations.

The chef comes to Houston via New York where she worked at Daniel, chef Daniel Boulud’s flagship, two-star Michelin restaurant. She tells CultureMap that she credits her love of baking to her mother. Her grandfather, who once owned a creamery, inspired her love for the ice creams that are an essential part of the dessert menus at both restaurants.

Rebecca Masson, Fluff Bake Bar
Fluff may be celebrating its 13th anniversary on March 21 (six days before this year’s awards), but Masson isn’t resting on her laurels. She recently resumed shipping, which means fans across the country can treat themselves to a dozen of her signature cookies such as the Couch Potato or the Unicorn Bait. Even better, she’s inviting people to join her cooking classes where she’ll teach home cooks how to make her iconic Veruca Salt Cake. The classes sold out so quickly that Masson has vowed to schedule more soon.

Ruchit Harneja, Berg Hospitality Group
The veteran chef made a splash at Musaafer, where his intricate creations were as elaborate as the restaurant’s decor. Having recently signed on with Berg Hospitality, Harneja will reintroduce himself to diners at the company’s next two openings, live fire concept Prime 131 and ultra-luxurious steakhouse Turner’s Cut. True to its theme, Prime 131 will feature a s’mores-inspired dessert with a housemade marshmallow toasted over live coals. When Turner’s Cut opens this summer, the chef's menu will include a “Super Sorbet” made entirely from superfoods. In between openings, he’ll be one of North America’s representatives competing at the World Chocolate Masters.

Stefani Velasquez, Papalo Mercado/Ema
A James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Baker, Velasquez is known for her use of modern techniques in the service of creating a wide range of Mexican pan dulce. Not only does she source ingredients from local farms, her eggs come from her father’s ranch and many of her desserts use corn that’s nixtamalized by her business partner, chef Nicolas Vera. While Ema has been a staple of the Urban Harvest farmers market, the two chefs will soon give it a permanent home (details coming soon).

“The pan dulce and desserts are nostalgic, comforting, and unique,” she explains. “We take presentation and taste seriously but have fun with the combinations we create.”

Vanarin Kuch, Koffeteria
This son of Cambodian refugees remains one of Houston’s top pastry talents. At Koffeteria, Kuch showcases both traditional French and American sweets — don’t miss his extra thick chocolate chip cookie — as well as creations that are Asian influenced, such as a recent croissant sandwich that included an egg soufflé katsu, char sui pork, Thai chili jam, oriental aioli, and pickled green papaya. He holds monthly Cambodian dinners with his family that both honor his heritage and show off his savory skills. As a James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Bakery, Kuch is receiving well-deserved national attention for his work.

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The 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards takes place 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, Tito's Vodka, and more to be announced. A portion of proceeds will benefit our nonprofit partner, the Southern Smoke Foundation.

Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma

Rebecca Masson, Fluff Bake Bar.

awards chefs desserts tastemakers

Rising Star

Houston restaurateur dishes on swapping Tex-Mex for new retro steakhouse

Photo by Eric Sandler

Star Rover is now open in the Heights.

Restaurateur Ford Fry surprised Houston diners when he announced in January that he was closing his Tex-Mex restaurant Superica and replacing it with Star Rover, a casual, family-friendly steakhouse. With Star Rover now open for dinner and weekend brunch, Fry — who also owns Star Rover's neighbor La Lucha, casual taqueria Little Rey, and River Oaks fine dining restaurant State of Grace — explains that the decision came down to both economics and his own desire to provide the Heights with something he thought was lacking.

“This was our smallest Superica. Superica for us takes so much — every day you’re making salsas, tortillas, it’s so prep heavy,” Fry says. “We weren’t big enough to be that successful. We didn’t have enough seats to make the labor make sense.”

Rather than compete against Houston’s seemingly limitless roster of Tex-Mex restaurants, Fry saw an opportunity for a steakhouse that occupied a space somewhere between chains like Texas Roadhouse and Outback and fine dining staples like Pappas Bros. Enter Star Rover, which already has a popular location in Nashville.

Just as La Lucha channels Fry’s childhood memories of the San Jacinto Inn, Star Rover takes some inspiration from iconic Houston restaurant Hofbrau. Diners of a certain age will see places like Hofbrau in the restaurant’s design. The walls are adorned with framed pictures, taxidermy, vintage advertising, and more.

“The inspiration is if you were some old Texas dude who wanted to start a steakhouse you’d find a bunch of crap and put it on the walls,” Fry says. “We want to make it cool, but it’s got to take you away from what it was. Did we achieve that? I hope so.”

Fry tasked chef Bobby Matos with updating the Star Rover menu for Houston. It starts with a selection of steaks — chopped, filet, T-bone, ribeye, or skirt — along with a half-chicken, blackened redfish, and chicken fried chicken. All of them come with milk rolls, salad, fries, and onion rings. Diners who want a little surf and turf can add either a crab cake or a fried lobster tail.

The appetizer menu is similarly tidy, consisting of shrimp cocktail, oysters (raw or fried), potato skins, and vegetable crudités. Desserts include a selection of pies as well as soft serve ice cream.

Since the steaks are thinner than those served at upscale steakhouses, they’re cooked hot and fast on a plancha and basted in butter.

“We control the costs by the size of the meat,” Fry explains. “Meat is so expensive, how do you do a family-friendly steakhouse? It’s a 12-ounce ribeye and it’s choice. We put the right amount of age on it.”

Tucked away in the corner of the menu is text that reads “Cheeseburger?! Just ask!” People should, because it’s a hearty half-pound, New York tavern-style burger that sits on grilled onions, is topped with cheese and mayonnaise, and is served on a classic potato bun. Think of it as the thick-patty counterpart to La Lucha’s thin-patty Pharmacy Burger.

“I call it a lowbrow steakhouse burger,” Fry says. “It’s not a Peter Luger, but it may be better and it won’t cost as much.”

Star Rover’s weekend brunch menu features the same pancakes that had been a staple at Superica. They’re joined by some new items, including baked-to-order cinnamon rolls, breakfast tacos, and kolaches that use sausage from Houston’s Roegels Barbecue Co.

Photo by Eric Sandler

Star Rover is now open in the Heights.

The restaurant has one other old-school touch in the form of an eating challenge called the “I Ate the 76er.” Available with 24 hours notice, diners who finish a 76-ounce steak, milk rolls, salad, onion rings, and fries in under an hour will receive the meal for free, plus a t-shirt and the opportunity to sign a winners’ wall. The challenge reflects the spirit Fry is bringing to Star Rover.

“A lot of it is scratching that itch of something fun I want to do versus what I think the neighborhood will like,” he says. “We did a version of this in Nashville with a stage. It’s where I eat when I’m in Nashville, because it’s what I want to eat when I’m there.”

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