What's Eric Eating

The Swanky Maven Felice Sloan makes triumphant return to the podcast! Eric and Felice discuss some of the latest happenings in the Houston restaurant and bar scene including the opening of the new permanent location of the cult-favorite burger concept Boo's Burgers, the debut of a new limited time pop-up cocktail bar Navi's at The Post Oak Hotel, and the reopening of the Colorado Club. In the Restaurants of the Week portion, Latuli is featured. 

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Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Randy Hines and Michael Horne of Kolache Shoppe. The pair catch Eric up on what's been happening with the brand over the past few years, getting ready to open the new Memorial location, how the new location compares to the others, why Memorial was the right area, Randy's experience with franchising the concept, lessons learned from the Kingwood store closure, how Michael got started with the Kolache Shoppe, doing collaborations, future plans, and much more!

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Monica Danna is back! She joins Eric to discuss some of the latest news from the Houston restaurant and bar scene including FM Kitchen + Bar being folded into PKL Social and the new ghost kitchen concept Kaisen Sushi Houston making a big splash. In the Restaurants of the Week portion, Succulent Fine Dining is featured.

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Time to announce the winner of The Ultimate Houston Dessert Draft, who's picking the winner you ask? Michelle Wallace of b'tween Sandwich Co.! Michelle joins Eric on the podcast today to not only pick the winner of the draft but also let us know how things are going at b'tween Sandwich Co., the advice she gave to Greg Gatlin before he began competing on Food Network's BBQ Brawl, and whether a brick + mortar of b'tween Sandwich Co. is in the works. Plus, Michelle shares her thoughts on how the drafters did, their selections, why she selected [redacted] as the winner, and more!

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On today's episode of the podcast, you're in for something a lot sweeter than normal... because well it's The Ultimate Houston Dessert Draft! Listen as Eric, alongside Local Foods Group's Chelsea Thomas, the Hangry Houstonian Danielle Dubois, Fluff Bake Bar's Becky Masson, Underground Creamery's Josh Deleon, and Heights Grocer's Mary Clarkson attempt to craft the best dessert lineup.

The drafters will be selecting a lineup of 6 desserts in total withe each drafter making one selection in each of the following categories: cookies, cake, frozen, pastries, tableside, and a wild card. For the tableside category, drafters may select any dessert that is either prepared or finished at the table. That means lit on fire, sauced, scooped, sliced, etc. For the frozen category, all forms of ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, bingsu, kakigori, shaved ice, sno balls, etc. are available. The wild card category is any additional dessert that hasn't already been selected.

The Draft Rules
Rule 1: No drafter may select the same restaurant/bakery twice. For example, if a drafter selects Fluff Bake Bar for cookies they may not also select it for their frozen or cake categories. 
Rule 2: Once a restaurant/bakery has been selected for a specific category, no other drafter may select it in that same category. For example, only one drafter will get to select Underground Creamery for the frozen category or Fluff Bake Bar for the cookies category. 
Rule 3: Drafters may select menu items served at any restaurant, bakery, bar, or food truck in the Greater Houston area. Which is roughly defined as being within the bounds of the Grand Parkway.   
Rule 4: Snake draft format. The draft order will go one through six in round 1 then go backwards six through one in round 2.
Rule 5: Categories may be selected in any order.

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Season 4 of The Bear premiered on Hulu a couple of weeks ago so it's time to get our into our now yearly discussion with the Ultimate Date Night Draft winner himself, Justin Yu. Eric and Justin dive into a full spoiler conversation all about season 4 including the financial challenges that the restaurant faced this season, the difficulty of changing the menu so much, how that frequency can also speak to a level of selfishness (looking at you Carmy), how tough it is for a restaurant to find the right puzzle pieces to make the concept run smoothly, how those puzzle pieces were reflected in this season, Sydney's big decision this season, the work/life balance of everything, Carmy's journey, restaurants that live on stodges, and much more! Plus, Justin shares with Eric what restaurants he's excited about, what's new at Theodore Rex, and the best wings in Houston.

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On today's podcast Eric is joined by Michael Fulmer to discuss Bobby Heugel and Jackie Stromm uniting for a new cocktail bar concept and Michael's beef with an overused word in food media. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Good God, Nadine's and Ichijiku Neighborhood Sushi are featured.

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Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Bryan Caswell and Allison Knight of Latuli. The pair discuss with Eric why the Memorial area was the right place for Latuli, the scale of it, developing the menu, the nods to previous concepts of Bryan's, the staff, what the opening process has been like for Allison, the unusual design of Latuli, making it kid friendly, how things are going so far, adding lunch service, the vision for the concept, and more. Plus, Allison shares about her background and what led her to wanting to open a restaurant. Also, Bryan speaks about his time away from the spotlight and what changed for him to want to go from consulting to a more permanent position. 

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Eric's back! Today he's joined by Chelsea Thomas to go through the latest happenings in the Houston restaurant and bar scene. The duo discuss chef Thomas Bille winning Best Chef Texas at this year's James Beard Awards, Tristen Epps winning Top Chef, and Austin based Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group coming to Houston after claiming a space in Autry Park. In the Restaurants of the Week portion, King Steak is featured. 

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Bobby Heugel is back for an in-depth conversation with Eric about the current state of the restaurant/bar scene in Houston. Bobby speaks with Eric about a plethora of topics including the current state of Thorough Fare Hospitality, whether there's oversaturation in the Houston food scene, why Michelin benefits the winners more than the city, the challenges with tariffs, why fresh build aspirations are decreasing, negotiating with landlords, the gen z customer/worker, and much more!

Eric is taking a brief hiatus from the podcast but the show will be back with a new episode on July 8th with Justin Yu, followed by a new Ultimate Draft episode on July 15th. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts to get notified as soon new episodes release. (Although Eric reserves the right to return sooner... like I don't know... maybe if someone wins a James Beard Award when the winners are announced)

For more info and tickets to CultureMap's Tasting Table event series click here. You can also read more about the event on CultureMap.com

Follow Eric on Instagram/Threads @ericsandler. You can also reach Eric by emailing him at [email protected]. Check out some of his latest articles at Culturemap.com:

Renovated Galleria Development Will Add 'Greatest Neighborhood Restaurant'