Aaron Bludorn’s Journey from Chef to Restaurateur in Houston
Chef Aaron Bludorn is building a Gulf Coast fine dining empire in Houston, Texas. Joined by host Alyse Whitney, he discusses the region’s local seafood, Houston’s adventurous dining community, and how his newest restaurant, Perseid, reflects the city’s diversity. Don’t miss this deep dive into Houston’s status as one of the most exciting culinary frontiers in the U.S.
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31:59
Exploring Austin and the Art of Ingredient Innovation With Chef Edgar Rico of Nixta Taqueria
At Nixta Taqueria in Austin, Texas, chef Edgar Rico is pushing the boundaries of Austin’s taco culture with duck fat, fermentation, and Oaxacan corn. In this episode, he sits down with host Meena Thiruvengadam to talk taco innovation, vegetable-forward menus, and why Austin was the perfect place to build a community-centric restaurant.
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25:48
Chef Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin Tells a Story With Every Dish at San Antonio’s Best Quality Daughter
San Antonio-born chef Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin of Best Quality Daughter brings personal history, Asian American identity, and nostalgic flavors to her restaurant in the heart of the city’s Pearl District. In conversation with writer Dan Q. Dao, Dobbertin explores why restaurants are essential third spaces—and why creating a joyful, design-forward environment matters just as much as the menu.
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Alice Waters On Feeding People an Idea and Victory-Meets-Guerilla Gardening in Berkeley, California
When she opened her restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971, Alice Waters had no plans for pioneering California cuisine or launching the farm-to-table movement across the U.S. But following her passion for market-fresh, seasonal cooking—sparked by a trip to France as a student—led her to work directly with local organic farmers and spotlight the origins of each ingredient on her menu. Those ideals have since reshaped the entire American food landscape, from grocery stores to fine dining restaurants to even the public school system. In 1995, Waters founded the Edible Schoolyard Project in Berkeley, which now includes a network of thousands of schools around the world. Drawing on her training as a Montessori teacher, the non-profit empowers students to grow and cook their own food—and, in the process, addresses issues like climate change, social inequality, and public health. Waters has also been a vocal advocate for national school lunch reform, calling on presidents such as George W. Bush and Barack Obama to promote the benefits of healthy eating. Despite her massive impact and a career that spans more than half a century, the educator, chef, activist, and author has kept a fairly low profile. At 78, she continues to plant seeds of change and is even celebrating a few firsts.
If you want to support the Edible Schoolyard Project, head here (until December 31 an anonymous donor is matching all amounts). You can also learn more about Chez Panisse here.
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Omar Tate & Cybille St.Aude-Tate on Celebrating Black Foodways and Building Better Food Systems in Philadelphia
With Honeysuckle Provisions, co-founders Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate are offering something comfortingly familiar but also radically new. Their Afrocentric grocery store and cafe opened last month in West Philadelphia to serve a neighborhood where fresh, organic produce and healthy food options were in short supply. Building on over a decade of experience working as chefs mostly in New York City—with both also running successful pop-ups until the pandemic hit—the couple wanted to create a different kind of food space. Honeysuckle Provisions directly supports Black farmers, dismantles toxic kitchen culture, and celebrates Black foodways with menu highlights like the BLACKenglish muffin (named after a James Baldwin essay), or a cup of the COWPEAcoffee (a nod to George Washington Carver). Throughout their careers, both chefs have used food as an outlet for sparking impactful conversations: Omar is an artist and poet, who was named Esquire’s Chef of the Year in 2020 and was featured on the Time100 Next list in 2021. Cybille has cooked at the James Beard House, appeared on the TV show Chopped, and explores her Haitian heritage through culinary projects like a recent dinner hosted with the family of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. In the last three years, the couple fell in love, got married, had a baby (with a second on the way), and launched Honeysuckle Provisions—but, as you’ll hear, they’re just getting started.
To see what’s on the menu (and in the online shop) at Honeysuckle Provisions, head here. You can also learn more about Omar and Cybille’s work here.
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For over 30 years, SAVEUR has brought food stories and recipes from around the world into the kitchens of home cooks and culinary enthusiasts. Follow along as we travel around the world to meet the chefs, farmers, makers, and creatives who are transforming the food space through their individual connections to a place. Each week, our editors will chat with a food innovator whose personal journey is as compelling as what they’re putting on the plate.
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