How ‘Chopped’ Champion Becky Brown Became the Malibu Barbie Cafe Chef

Channeling ‘endless summer,’ chef Brown dishes out confetti pancakes, fig jam-loaded grilled cheeses, smash burgers, and breezy bites at Houston’s new Malibu Barbie Cafe pop-up

Chopped Champion Becky Brown grew up in Los Angeles, playing with Barbie dolls outfitted in custom clothes. Never did she think she would be cooking for Barbie fans around the country, but that opportunity presented itself this year with the advent of the Malibu Barbie Cafe.

Following the release of the 2023 Barbie film and the ensuing explosion of Barbie Core in cities around America, Mattel, the global toy and entertainment company that owns the Barbie brand, teamed up with media experiences company and platform Bucketlisters to launch the Malibu Barbie Cafe — an immersive traveling pop-up experience that channels Barbie and the Malibu beachside in the 1970s (the period when Malibu Barbie was first catapulted into the world). Knowing Brown’s cooking prowess and her Los Angeles history, Bucketlisters president Derek Berry tapped the chef to lead the experience. Since then, Brown, who won an episode of Chopped aired earlier this year (she also previously competed in MasterChef’s third season alongside Houston winner Christine Ha), has traveled around the country, leading the launches of refreshingly pink Barbie-themed menus in cities like New York, Chicago, Miami, and Minneapolis’s Mall of America.

Now through mid-October, Houston is the latest pitstop.

Brown kicked off the very pink experience at Washington Avenue’s Junction HTX earlier this week ahead of the official opening on Friday, August 16. Though Barbie is very much fictional (and plastic), the menu is anything but. Incorporating the iconic doll and her upbringing in Los Angeles as a theme, Brown has crafted bright, flavorful dishes that play on familiarity and channel “endless summer,” she says.

With a “farm-to-table” mindset, Brown’s fast-casual Barbie menu offers dishes made from a combination of homemade and fresh ingredients that don’t skimp on quality. There are West Coast Wave salads served with chickpea tahini and the option to add grilled chicken, bright pink beet hummus with fresh pita, and the very-L.A. vegan Cali-flower bowl made with roasted cauliflower, quinoa, scallions, and a tahini sauce. Cheesy smash burgers, served with freshly grilled onions and a secret sauce, are also on the menu for what Brown calls a “diner-esque” feel.

Meanwhile, brunch is equally festive, with pink confetti pancakes topped with whipped cream and a shimmering cinnamon-sugar, thick-cut maple bacon, and gooey grilled cheeses made up of gruyere, cheddar, and gouda cheeses, fig jam, and fresh fig as the cherry on top. Nyeri Stepanian, a manager at Bucketlisters, spearheads the bar menu — a flirty, fruity, and very pink line-up of cocktails like the Groovy Arnold Palmer, made with sweet tea vodka, peach, lemonade, and mint, and beach mojitos, a refreshing mix of rum, St. Germaine, lime, and mint (the cocktails also include chef touches like dried dragon fruit).

So far, Brown says Barbie fans have been “pretty chill” when it comes to the food. “There’s not a lot of critique,” she says of the super fans. Still, she’s been intent on giving them a solid experience. “I’ve had a lot of creative reigns to do something outside of the box,” she says.

Houstonians with a penchant for Barbie have already been flocking to the cafe in their best pink Barbie-inspired outfits, as seen during the cafe’s VIP preview events in the days leading up to the official opening. Diners indulged in bites and drinks, while also traversing through the Barbie-themed bar, which was outfitted with face painters, a rollerskating rink, and photo ops, including a life-sized Barbie box, a lifeguard chair, and beachy backdrops. The new cafe also sells memorabilia for souvenirs, including Barbie dolls and themed shirts.

Michael Corrigan, a spokesperson for Bucketlisters, says there’s no telling where Malibu Barbie Cafe will end up next following its stop in Houston. Though some of the fanfare following Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film has died down, the love for Barbie seemingly has not. “All types of people see themselves in Barbie,” he says, adding that the success of the traveling pop-up has shown (no pun intended) that there’s no “shelf life” for Barbie-themed experiences. “The future,” he says, “continues to be bright.”

Tickets are available on the Bucketlisters app and website for $25 and include a food and merchandise credit. Diners can join Bucketlisters’s waitlist to be notified when tickets go on sale.