This show was recorded on location at the Southern Smoke Festival in Houston,  October 2025

Aaron Bludorn began his journey at Culinary Institute of America (CIA) which led to a prosperous career working under the country’s most celebrated chefs including Michelin-starred Chef Douglas Keene and Daniel Boulud. While working as Executive Chef in Manhattan’s Café Boulud and was cast in Netflix’s blockbuster culinary competition show, The Final Table. That same year, he was honored by Star Chefs when he earned New York City’s Rising Star Community Chef Award. 

In 2019, the Bludorns moved to Houston and in 2020, they opened the eponymous restaurant, Bludorn. In the fall of 2022, he opened his second restaurant, seafood inspired, Navy Blue, followed by Bar Bludorn in March 2024, and most recently, Perseid, which opened in January of this year inside of Hotel Saint Augustine.

Rebecca Masson is Houston’s own “Sugar Fairy,” a renowned pastry chef and owner/operator of H-Town’s Fluff Bake Bar. The Wyoming native cut her teeth at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and started her career in New York, where she became head pastry chef at The Red Cat under Chef Jimmy Bradley. After arriving in Houston she worked with chefs like Charles Clark and Southern Smoke Foundation’s own Chris Shepherd, before opening Fluff in 2011. That same year, she competed in the second season of Top Chef: Just Desserts

Kyle Knall 

Kyle is the Culinary Director at Stone Bank Farms and Chef and Co-Owner of Birch in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which he runs with his wife and business partner, Meghan Knall. At Birch, Kyle spotlights ingredients sourced exclusively from the region in an open-hearth setting while prioritizing delicious, honest cooking and sustainability. Kyle and Meghan’s next concept is Cassis, a French bistro opening in the Third Ward in fall 2025.

His work has earned impressive accolades, including a semi-finalist nomination for “Best Chef:Midwest” (2024, 2025) and “Outstanding Chef” (2022) by the James Beard Foundation and a nod for Birch on The New York Times coveted list of the best restaurants in America, “The Restaurant List.”

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