Here’s What Houston Chefs Are Cooking Up at the James Beard’s ‘Taste of America’ Event

A lineup of award-winning and Beard-recognized chefs, including Tatemo’s Emmanuel Chavez and Chef G of Street to Kitchen, will fuel the September tasting extravaganza

Houston’s talented and award-winning chefs are increasingly getting more of a spotlight in the culinary world. This year, as the Michelin Guide stakes its claim in the city, chefs will be showing Space City — and the James Beard Foundation — exactly what they can do. The Beard Foundation, which aims to showcase the country’s food culture, kicked off its annual 20-city culinary series Taste of America in July, and it’s headed to Houston soon.

Co-hosted by the city’s tourism and marketing arm Houston First, the tasting extravaganza will take over the Four Seasons Hotel Houston on September 12, showcasing the culinary prowess of various Houston chefs, including James Beard Award-winning chefs Benchawan Jabthong Painter and Hugo Ortego. Two-time Beard-nominated Emmanuel Chavez, the chef behind the Mexican tasting menu restaurant Tatemó, will lead the event as host chef.

Each featured chef will offer special dishes for attendees to sample. Here’s what to expect:

• Ope Amosu of ChòpnBlọk: sliders made with Agege bread topped with Nigerian eggs and a Liberian greens aioli.
• Dawn Burrell: seared marinated duck breast with buckwheat kinche “grits” and berbere-spiced cream
• Emmanuel Chavez of Tatemo: hoja santa ice cream
• Victoria Elizondo of Cochinita & Co.: pastel de maíz tropical, a masa cake with maracuyá passion fruit mousse, candied guava paste, caramelized pineapple, and coconut–amaranth tuile
• Jonathan Esparza of Toro Toro: Peruvian red snapper ceviche made with leche de tigre, sweet potato, canchas, and morita chile oil
• Sergio Hidalgo and Chris Williams of Late August: cobia crudo with turnip mignonette, mole crunch, and shallots
• Hugo Ortega of Xochi: molotes de platano con lechon — plantain “torpedoes” stuffed with slow-cooked young pork
• Benchawan Jabthong Painter of Street to Kitchen: nam prik noom sai oua, a Northern Thai dish consisting of an herbaceous pork sausage served with a green chili sauce and seasonal vegetables
• Jason Ryczek of Little’s Oyster Bar: grilled Spanish octopus with schug and Little’s pimenton
• Erin Smith of Feges BBQ: a smoked brisket “foldie” sandwich with pickles and barbecue sauce
• Sherman Yeung of Money Cat: an uni cream puff made with sea urchin with furikake craquelin, kaffir lime pastry cream, and a lychee syrup glaze

Meow Wolf Houston, an anticipated immersive museum exhibit that is expected to open this fall with its own psychedelic bar, Cowboix Hevvven, will also debut some of its interdimensional cocktails.

Tickets are on sale for $175 for general admission and $250 for “premier” tickets, which give attendees early access to the event, special cocktails and dishes, and a gift bag. Also included is an invitation to be one of the first people to experience Meow Wolf.