If you’re a chef who wins what’s considered one of the highest honors in the entire food world, does it really make a difference? Does it improve your life, make you more money and make your restaurant indispensable? Or, after the glitz and glam of the award ceremony and a week of being bombarded with interview requests, does life pretty much just go back to normal? 

Houston has a slowly but steadily growing group of James Beard Award-winning chefs, and it’s a big point of pride for the city. On Monday, June 16 in the Lyric Opera House in Chicago, executive chef and owner Thomas Billie of Belly of the Beast was named Best Chef: Texas and joined that illustrious crowd. (You can watch his win and listen to his remarks in this video.) His wife, Elizabeth, also helps run the restaurant. “I wouldn’t be able to be in the kitchen if it wasn’t for her,” Bille said when he won. “She handles 90% of the restaurant, and I just cook the food.” 

Bille is the first to win with a restaurant located in a small town outside of Houston. Belly of the Beast is in a modest strip center at 5200 Farm to Market 2920 in Spring. The locale looks more humble than you might expect for a refined eatery helmed by a James Beard Award-winning chef, but times are changing for the better. These days, when considering who to recognize, the James Beard Foundation prioritizes great food over swanky digs, well-funded PR campaigns and well-publicized names. 

The more the list of James Beard Award-winning Houston chefs grows, the more it starts to truly mirror the city’s diversity. It’s still an unbalanced group. Out of the six winners, only one is a woman and there are several unrepresented ethnicities, so there’s still clearly catching up to do. However, the woman who won is a Thai immigrant, and the group also includes two Hispanics and a man of Chinese descent, so it is progress. 

Here’s the list of all the Greater Houston-area chefs who have won the prestigious Best Chef award. (Until the James Beard Foundation broke Texas out into its own region in 2019, Texas chefs were entered under the Southwest region. So, the first four winners in this list were named “Best Chef: Southwest” while the others are titled “Best Chef: Texas.”)

• Robert Del Grande, Cafe Annie, 1992
• Chris Shepherd, Underbelly, 2014
• Justin Yu, Oxheart, 2016
• Hugo Ortega, Hugo’s, 2017
• Benchawan Painter, Street to Kitchen, 2023
• Thomas Bille, Belly of the Beast, 2025

The most wonderful thing about this group of chefs is that, with the exception of one who’s mostly retired, they are all still in the area and actively part of the food scene in one way or another. 

Before delving deeper into how the six James Beard Award-winning chefs’ lives changed after winning a James Beard Award, it’s important to also recognize Houston-area recipients who are not chefs. 

• In 2008, Irma’s, operated by Irma Galvan and her family, won an America’s Classic award, “given to locally and independently owned restaurants with timeless appeal and beloved in their region for food that reflects the character and cultural traditions of its community.
• This year, in 2025, Nick Gaido’s 114-year-old restaurant Gaido’s in Galveston received the same honor. 
• In 2022, Julep, the cocktail bar run by owner and bartender Alba Huerta, was named as an Outstanding Bar. 

All past winners, nominees and semifinalists (of which Houston has many) can be looked up with the Search Past Awards tool at the James Beard Foundation website. 

1992: The First Houston Winner, Robert Del Grande

Del Grande’s work at his restaurant, Cafe Annie, earned him a legacy as one of the fathers of Southwestern cuisine, a title also bestowed by the public on chefs Dean Fearing and Stephen Pyles. Del Grande says that the mood at the time was collaborative, with chefs working together to elevate cuisine and the overall food scene. “One of you might be crazy — but you can’t all be crazy!” Del Grande said. “We knew we’d be better off doing it together than separately, and we’d host dinners together. We’d joke, ‘Just don’t call us the grandfathers of Southwest cuisine!’” (These days, that may be an apt nickname.) 

The timing of Del Grande’s success allowed him to be part of the James Beard Foundation’s history in more ways than one. He, along with other chefs, hosted special dinners to raise funds to purchase the brownstone home that the late namesake and author James Beard had lived in. These days, it’s simply called The Beard House and it’s a showcase in New York for chefs from all over the country. When Chris Shepherd won Best Chef: Southwest in 2014, Del Grande was among the top chefs featured at the post-awards reception. 

Despite being the first Houston chef to win a James Beard Award, Del Grande didn’t get much recognition or fanfare — at least at first. He won the Best Chef: Southwest James Beard Award in 1992, only the second year the awards had been given out, and most regular diners didn’t know about them. “I got more publicity for [being the first Houston chef to win] when Chris Shepherd won in 2014 and for each chef after that!” Del Grande said. “Jim [James] Beard was an important figure, but not huge like Julia Child. Everybody knew Julia, but not everybody knew Jim. If it had been called the Julia Child Awards, it may have been different — but it was James Beard’s house, and Julia supported the effort.” 

Del Grande stepped down in May 2022 from his day-to-day role at the restaurant — now called The Annie Café — that he co-owns with Berg Hospitality. After a 42-year career, he was ready to spend time with family. “My job now is being a grandfather. It’s more exhausting than running a restaurant,” he said with a laugh. 

2014: The Drought-Breaker, Chris Shepherd

Shepherd ended Houston’s 22-year-long James Beard Award-less spell for chefs with his 2014 win. Surprisingly, in March 2018, he closed Underbelly, the restaurant that earned him the national spotlight. It led to him being a partner in 1100 Restaurant Group, and that company would leave a big imprint on Westheimer Road and on Houston’s Montrose neighborhood. In quick succession, the Underbelly space became Georgia James Steakhouse, the group converted the former Mark’s down into One Fifth, a restaurant that would change themes and menus annually, and just across the street, the original Poscol was turned into UB Preserv. They even helped open a coffee shop, Blacksmith, which is still running under local roaster Greenway Coffee to this day. Later would come Georgia James Tavern in downtown Houston. 

“Winning a James Beard Award is a moment in time that I’ll hold on to forever,” Shepherd said. “I’m so happy to see the Houston food and beverage community celebrated since I won — it’s one of the best places to eat and drink in the country, and the city deserves to be recognized. I encourage all of this year’s winners to embrace the moment and take a minute to enjoy it with your team. A lot of opportunities will come your way, so be strategic and make sure you’re doing what’s right for you and your business.”

Life has changed a great deal since his time of running three restaurants in Montrose. While the circumstances remain unclear, Shepherd left the restaurant group — which at that point was Underbelly Hospitality —  just as Georgia James was relocated and a proposed red-sauce Italian restaurant, Pastore, was under construction at Regent Square. While the group tried to move along without Shepherd, Georgia James Tavern (operating at that point as GJ Tavern) shuttered, Pastore failed in less than a year and Georgia James Steakhouse was sold to a different hospitality group. 

These days, Shepherd is expressing his love for Houston food and the people who make it as the host of “Eat Like a Local”, which airs on local television station KPRC 2. (Episodes are also available on YouTube.) He is additionally the Founding Director and Honorary Chairman of the Southern Smoke Foundation, which raises money through donations and fundraisers, including the annual Southern Smoke Festival (happening again this year on Saturday, October 4) to help hospitality workers who need emergency assistance. 

2016: Justin Yu, the First Winning Chef of Color

Chef Justin Yu was 31 when he won the James Beard “Best Chef” award, making him the youngest winner at the time in the Greater Houston area — and, thanks to his Chinese heritage, the first chef of color. (The distinction of “youngest” would be claimed later by a different chef.) The recognition was for Yu’s work at small, quirky tasting-menu restaurant Oxheart in the outskirts of downtown Houston. 

Winning a prestigious James Beard Award can be great, even representing to some chefs the pinnacle of what can be achieved in the restaurant industry, but it can also carry mental and emotional baggage. “Winning really set a streak of high expectations from not only guests, but also from myself,” Yu explained. “I wanted to represent the award well and to really exceed all of our expectations. It was probably a little unhealthy at the time.”

In a surprising decision similar to and made even faster than the one Shepherd made, Yu decided to close the restaurant he was recognized for after its fifth anniversary. He did it the same year that he won the James Beard Award. “We got a great wave of people trying out the restaurant for the first time and we kept on pushing ourselves — probably to the point of a natural burnout,” he explained. “But that was ok. I was younger and I think I said all I had to say with Oxheart, it was a great run.”

He turned the space into Theodore Rex, a more-casual à la carte restaurant and not a “tasting menu” restaurant, per se. That said, it’s not unusual for die-hard fans to savor the moment and create their own tasting menu from a bunch of dishes. However, the chef and restaurateur clearly knew what he was doing, as Theodore Rex is still open nine years later. 

In 2017, he also struck up a new business partnership with his friend, Bobby Heugel, who’s owned many bars but is best known for his first, Anvil Bar & Refuge in Montrose. The duo opened Better Luck Tomorrow, a bar also known for its excellent fare, and restaurant Squable, helmed by chef Mark Clayton, an Oxheart alum, followed in April 2019. In 2024, Clayton was a Best Chef Texas semifinalist. Perhaps someday, he too will sport the large Beard medal around his neck. 

What kind of advice would Yu give himself if he could go back in time? “Maybe I would just tell myself to enjoy that wave of excitement a little more and worry a little less. And maybe have one less drink at the awards after-party. That hangover the next day was not fun.”

2017: Hugo Ortega, the Most-Patient Winner

Ortega of H Town Restaurant Group was a finalist over and over again — six times — and chefs who’d not been nominated nearly as often, Shepherd and Yu, won before he did. So, it was like a sigh of relief when Ortega finally got his big medal in 2017 with wife and co-founder of H Town Restaurant Group Tracy Vaught at his side. 

After traveling to the James Beard Award ceremonies and returning home empty-handed five times, did he ever feel like it was an exercise in futility? “In the years leading up to my win, I felt a lot of disappointment when I was not the winner but realized after talking to my team that it just wasn’t my time,” Ortega explained. “It didn’t mean that I wasn’t worthy or that my team wasn’t also worthy. The timing was just not right. Each time the award went to someone else in my category, I would rededicate myself to doing my best and hoping that it might lead to another nomination.  My team made jokes about me being the Susan Lucci of the James Beard Awards – and I had to look up who she is!  But each time I thought there was a good chance I could win. Why not me?” 

Eventually, persistent hope and hard work paid off for Ortega. “I was so surprised when they called my name, I jumped up and ran to the stage without even hugging my family and friends! I thought, ‘I better get up there before they change their minds!’ Ha! I felt honored and proud, not just of myself but my hardworking team that helps make it all possible. I take nothing for granted.”

Ortega won for their interior Mexican cuisine restaurant, Hugo’s, but by then, the couple were already well on the way to building their restaurant empire. Vaught had co-founded two other restaurants, Backstreet Cafe and Prego, before Hugo’s. In 2013, they opened coastal Mexican restaurant, Caracol. The year of his win, they opened Xochi, a restaurant near to Ortega’s heart as it serves the cuisines of his grandmother’s region, the Mexican state of Oaxaca. (Bonus: they got it open just in time for Super Bowl 2017, hosted that year in Houston.) 

More good fortune came Ortega’s way after winning. “The award brought many opportunities and offers, from being featured at dinners across the country to offers of restaurants and partnerships in other cities and media features,” he said. “ I am grateful and honored to this day.  It has continued to open doors for me and our group.”

2023: Benchawan Painter, the First Woman Chef in Houston to Win

In 2007, Houston came very close to having its first James Beard Award-winning woman chef. Monica Pope, best known at the time for her restaurant, t’afia, was a finalist. Scottsdale-based chef Nobuo Fukuda walked away with the win that year. Pope was a semifinalist in 2008, but didn’t make it to the finals. Because of how history played out, it would be 15 more years before a woman chef brought the Best Chef award home to Houston. 

That chef is Benchawan Painter, who also answers to the more-informal “Chef G”. She was 29 when she won — even younger than Yu — making her both the youngest and first woman chef with a James Beard Best Chef Award in the Houston area. Before her win, she and her husband and beverage director, Graham, were operating their restaurant, Street To Kitchen, in East Houston alongside a convenience store — and wowing their guests. Benchawan Painter is Thai and calls her cuisine “unapologetically Thai”, cooking the recipes she grew up with rather than trying to dumb them down for a tamer audience. 

After Benchawan won the award, backstage, previous winners gave her and Graham some forewarning of a storm for which their tiny restaurant would prove insufficient. 

“One thing I was immediately told from former winners more than once was that there is nothing that can prepare you for your return home, no matter how big or small your restaurant. And that is a hundred percent true,” said Graham. “We had to double our staff in the first week to meet the demand and our restaurant, which at that time could only seat about 30 guests, was not adequate. To support the extra labor needed to meet the new demand, we had to move to a considerably larger space.” 

Like Yu, the couple felt the pressure to live up to the award. “You don’t just want to keep up to stay up,” said Graham. You want to make sure the demand is not only met, but that your food and service is even better than before.”

Ultimately, the move was a good thing, and Graham says that it’s enabled Street To Kitchen to add employees and kitchen equipment. Those extra employees allowed the restaurant to keep running when the couple traveled to check on a property in Bangkok after a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar in March 2025. While there, the Painters volunteered to provide food and water to first responders at a collapsed condominium building near the Chatuchak Weekend Market. 

The Painters have also developed some culinary kinship with chef David Skinner, first known for his restaurant eculent in Kemah which is now his Indigenous restaurant Ishtia. Skinner partnered with the Painters on a second restaurant in the same building, Th_prsrv, which combines his interpretations of Indigenous cuisine with Benchawan Painter’s knowledge of the evolution of Thai food. 

“In terms of new opportunities, the James Beard Award has brought so much, it’s hard to list it all,” said Benchawan. “I have been invited to speak on television, join panels of professionals, spoken at women’s leadership conferences, received event invitations and been recognized by peers. Most significantly, perhaps, is that as a female chef from Thailand, I am taken as seriously as any other chef from Europe, the Americas or Japan. Thai food in America has long been viewed as fast food or as casual food; the type of food that can be adjusted, modified, changed. Of course we have street food and casual diner-style food. But, what I am throwing down is my vision as a chef, and the recipes are my passion.”

2025: Thomas Bille, the Most Recent Winner, and His Hopes & Dreams

Bille snagged his James Beard Award pretty quickly. He was a Best Chef: Texas semifinalist in 2024. Only a year later, he was a finalist — and then a winner. Bille won over fellow nominee Emmanuel Chavez — something of an upset win, as Chavez’s restaurant, Tatemó, was Best New Restaurant Finalist in 2023, and Chavez has been a Best Chef: Texas finalist both in 2024 and 2025. 

It’s not the first time a Houston chef has been a finalist multiple times and lost to a peer nominated fewer times. Chris Shepherd won Best Chef on his first nomination and Justin Yu on his second. In the meantime, Hugo Ortega of H Town Restaurant Group waited in the wings and was nominated five times before he won on the sixth.

Was Bille surprised to leapfrog past Emmanuel Chavez of Tatemo who was a finalist for the second time this year? “I definitely went in as the underdog this year with Emmanuel going for his third time as a finalist,” Bille acknowledged. “I was a bit shell shocked when they called my name. These are all blessings, and nothing is going to take away all the hard work and imprint Emmanuel has made on the city.”

While the other James Beard Award-winning Houston chefs have now seen some of their hopes and dreams realized, as the newest, Bille is still anticipating his future. “I’m hoping this award helps open doors for new projects and goals I’ve had written down,” he said. “For example, writing a cookbook, opening a taquería, and eventually the evolution of Belly of the Beast.”

Already, Bille is seeing some signs of a successful future. After winning, family and guests sent flowers to Belly of the Beast, and he’s been on televised news segments and podcasts. 

Houston’s restaurant scene is always in a state of flux. New chefs emerge; others leave or go into a different (and perhaps easier) line of work. Who will be the seventh James Beard Award winner, and how long will it take? Will Houston have another dry spell? Will it be next year? 

While all of that is yet to be seen, in 2024, Michelin finally started a guide for Texas. So there are more opportunities than ever for Houston chefs to strive for something to put on display, whether it be a shiny medal or a red plaque. It’s a bitter truth that not everyone who deserves recognition gets it, but the chances for Houston chefs are better now than ever before. 

Phaedra Cook

Phaedra Cook has written about Houston’s restaurant and bar scene since 2010. She was a regular contributor to My Table magazine (now closed) and was the lead restaurant critic for the Houston Press for two years, eventually being promoted to food editor. Cook founded Houston Food Finder in November 2016 and has been its editor and publisher ever since.