On this week's first episode of "What's Eric Eating," CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler mixes things up a bit. Instead of talking about the latest Houston restaurant news, he speaks with chef Justin Yu about season two of The Bear, the FX TV show set in a Chicago restaurant.
Yu begins the conversation by explaining why he wanted to discuss the show. "I think this TV show more than any other TV show about restaurants and chefs and cooks had the most accurate depiction of what it's like to work at a restaurant — and maybe a restaurant that's aiming to be a high-end, fine dining, maybe charge a little more money type of restaurant and the types of people who work in it," he says. "I think it's important to point out all the detail work that they did for both season one and season two. Even little things like they're drinking out of quart containers, the importance of sitting down for staff meal. I thought it was a really interesting dynamic between how someone came into working in the restaurant industry and hoping to cook at a fine dining level and how their life nuanced its way into open a restaurant."
From there, they break down several key moments in the season, including the idea of eating at other restaurants in search of inspiration, how Marcus's experience staging in Copenhagen matches up with Yu's, learning about front of house at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and the stresses of getting ready for an opening. Spoilers happen throughout the conversation, so don't tune in until you've finished all 10 episodes.
In the restaurant of the week segment, Yu and Sandler discuss their recent meal at Josephine's Gulf Coast Tradition, the new seafood restaurant from the owners of Kata Robata. They find a lot to like about chef Lucas McKinney's menu, which pulls from his Mississippi roots as well as Louisiana classics and Texas favorites. Tune in to hear which dishes they liked most and which they're less likely to order again.
On this week's second episode, Sandler talks to chef Sunny Vohra. The Indian-American chef discusses the career path that led him to his current role as the proprietor of two concepts in the Railway Heights Market food hall — smash burger restaurant the Meat & Cheese Project and Sichuan hot chicken concept Thunderbirds HTX.
During the conversation, Vohra shares the lessons he learned while working at Indian fine dining restaurant Kiran's, the surprising reason he and his wife moved to Houston, and discusses his experience opening Margeaux's Oyster Bar in Bravery Chef Hall. Ultimately, he and Sandler talk about Meat & Cheese, which utilizes beef blends that Vohra grinds in-house. Sandler asks the chef about his decision to include whole butter in his mixture.
"Because we're doing a smash burger, I need a higher fat content. If I add butter into the grind, I can create a super flavorful, juicy, and crispy smash burger, because of the amount of fat that's in there," he says. "Once I introduce butter, I have two layers of fat flavor going on, one that's rendering quicker than the other. You have the butter that's ground into it — almost like it's frying and basting — and the brisket rendering. The amount of clean juice coming off the burger, you'd have to see it."
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