What's Eric Eating

Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Juan Antonio Hernandez, a.k.a. Tony, and Aquiles Chávez of Pochitos Mariscos y Más. The duo speak with Eric about working together, where the name of the concept came from, creating the new menu for Pochitos Mariscos y Más, the fusion of ideas in creating some of the menu items, the origin story of the sushi hot dog, Aquiles being happy to be back in Houston for this project, goals, and more. Plus, Aquiles speaks about what he's been up to, Tony shares what took him from music to the restaurant business, having stars do TikTok dances to his music, and more.

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On today's edition of What's Eric Eating, Eric is joined by Marco Thompson and Mauricio Alvarado of Osteria di Mercato. Marco and Mauricio share how they both got into the world of culinary, what brought them back to Houston, working together at Osteria di Mercato, what brought each of them to the concept, why the small menu, developing the menu, the benefits of working in a small concept, the neighborhood restaurant feel, the creation of some of the dishes including the tuna crudo, the wine list, how things are going so far, their goals, a comment regarding Alison Cook's recent blog post, and more! Plus, the guys share a couple stories about the late Grant Gordon. 

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Today on the show Eric is joined by Raffi Nasr of Craft Pita! The guys dive into some of the latest news from the Houston food scene including Chris Williams' restaurant Late August closing, Agnes and Sherman being recognized by Bon Appetit as one of it's Best New Restaurants of 2026, Pochitos Mariscos y Más soon featuring a new menu created by chef Aquiles Chávez, and the Michelin Guide making changes to how it'll announce this year's Texas recipients... Eric's not a fan. Then in the Restaurants of the Week portion, One Roast is featured.

Plus, Raffi shares a bit about what diners can expect from his upcoming collaborative pop up with Agnes and Sherman called Pepitas, coming this September. 

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On today's edition of What's Eric Eating, Eric is joined by Luis Lopez, Jake Granville, & Ryan Penn of Eastbound Barbecue. The guys speak with Eric about how they got their respective culinary starts, their experiences working with Ronnie Killen, why the time was right to start Eastbound Barbecue, what aspect about the new concept appealed to them, developing the menu to incorporate other items besides just barbecue, making items very distinct from other places like Killen's, doing their best to keep costs low for themselves as well as customers, mixing up the menu at times, why their burger is special, the birth of Eastbound Gold, the service experience, the cocktail program, how things are going so far since opening, and much more!

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Today on the podcast, Eric is joined by Mary Clarkson of Heights Grocer and Montrose Grocer. Eric speaks with Mary about some of the latest news from the Houston restaurant and bar scene including the closure of Barbecue Inn after 80 years of service, Pudgy's Fine Cookies/Underground Creamery head to Meyerland to open their 2nd collaborative location, and the hometown chef that Beat Bobby Flay recently. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Angie's Pizza and Bar Angie are featured. 

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Time to reveal the winner of The Ultimate Chain Restaurant Draft! Graham Laborde of Winnie's joins Eric on today's podcast to serve as the special guest judge for the draft. Graham speaks with Eric as to why he felt [redacted] won the draft, what stood out from the winners selections, who was closest in beating [redacted], restaurants he was surprised didn't get picked, the rest of the teams selections, and more! Plus, Graham shares with Eric the latest happenings over at Winnie's and what they're doing for Houston Restaurant Weeks.  

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It's draft day on What's Eric Eating!

Eric, Sarah Dowling of Baso, Abbas Dhanani of Burger Bodega, Raffi Nasr of Craft Pita, and Chelsea Thomas are drafting The Ultimate Chain Restaurant line up on today's edition of the podcast. First though, what is the definition of a chain restaurant?

For podcast drafting purposes, The Ultimate Chain Restaurant Draft defines a chain restaurant as having at least 20 locations in at least five states. For example, this would exclude a place like Steak 48 (only has 8 locations), but does include Nobu (locations on 5 continents).

The Chain Restaurant categories our drafters will drafting in are; Breakfast, Burgers, Fast Casual, Ice Cream Steakhouse, and a Wild Card. 
 
The winner will be announced on the next episode of the podcast as selected by special judge, so stayed tuned to your podcast feeds to find out who the winner of the first ever Ultimate Chain Restaurant Draft is.  

The Draft Rules
Rule 1: For burgers, you can pick any restaurant that serves a burger, it doesn't have to be a dedicated burger concept but no selections from a fast food concept.
Rule 2: Steakhouses are restaurants with at least 6 different a la carte steaks on the menu that cook orders to temperature.
Rule 3: All 6 selections must be from different places for each drafter. Once a restaurant has been selected for any category, it's off the board for all other categories/drafters. 
Rule 4: Snake draft format. The draft order will go one through five in round 1 then go backwards five through one in round 2, and so on.
Rule 5: Categories may be selected in any order.

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Today on the show Eric is joined by Paul Friedman of Chef's Table. Paul speaks with Eric about pursuing a career in culinary, designing restaurants at first, wanting to become a professional chef, working with Mike's Kitchen, coming to Houston, losing everything, how he and Thomas Nguyen started Peli Peli, why Chef's Table was the right next move for him following Peli Peli, why his son Kyle is partially to blame for starting the concept, what it's like working with Kyle, developing the Chef's Table menu, ostrich becoming a best seller, why he decided to add go to River Oaks for the 2nd location of Chef's Table, the challenges he's face so far, installing sprinklers being a problem, what the goals are moving forward, and the monkey gland sauce story.  

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On today's edition of the show, Eric is joined by Houston BBQ Festival co-founder Michael Fulmer to discuss some of the latest news from the Houston food world including Relish Restaurant & Bar moving to a new location, Island Grill already claiming the former home of Relish, and the return of Houston Restaurant Weeks. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Charolais and Coarse are featured.    

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