What's Eric Eating

It's the end of 2025 which means it's time to look back and some our favorites from the year in the Houston food scene. Today on the 2025 Year in Review, Eric is joined by Mary Clarkson of Heights Grocer & Montrose Grocer, and Raffi Nasr of Craft Pita to highlight some of their favorite new restaurants that opened this year, some of their favorite dishes, old favorites they revisited this year, the closures they were most sad about, what they'd like to draft in a future draft episode, and much more in this expansive end of the year discussion.

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On today's edition of the podcast, Eric is joined by Judith Piotrowski of Hotel ZaZa. Judith speaks with Eric about what inspired her to get into bartending/hospitality, her time at Weights + Measures, working at One Fifth during the pandemic, what she learned from working with Chris Shepherd and his team, becoming the director of bars at The Post Oak hotel, finding huge success with the Navi's pop up, making her way to the Hotel ZaZa, what makes a good hotel great, whether a speakeasy is in the cards, and much more! Plus, Judith takes on the lightning round. 

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The Swanky Maven Felice Sloan returns for this edition of the podcast. Eric and Felice touch on some of the latest happenings from the Houston food scene including chef Jean-François Feuillette opening the first US location of Café Feuillette here in Houston, Local Table's 6th location set to open in Missouri City, and ChòpnBlọk getting more national recognition with the latest accolade coming from the New York Times. In the Restaurants of the Week section, Doc's Houston is featured. 

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Today on the show Eric is joined by Nelson Monteith and Andrew Wiseheart of Honest Mary's. Nelson and Andrew share with Eric their culinary journey's leading up to Honest Mary's, how they first started working together, why River Oaks was the right area of Houston to expand to, how they set themselves apart from other concepts in the healthy fast casual space, creating the perfect bowl, and much more!

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On today's edition of the podcast Eric is joined by Mary Clarkson of Heights Grocer and Montrose Grocer. The pair dive into some of the latest news from the Houston food scene including Home Slice Pizza expanding in the Houston area with a new location set to open in The Heights, the closure of Killen's BBQ in The Woodlands, the surprising announcement of Brett's BBQ Shop shuttering at the end of December, and ChòpnBlọk's receiving more national critical acclaim. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Hypsi at the Hotel Daphne is featured.

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On this special episode, Eric is joined by MasterChef Season 3 winner Christine Ha, and her husband John Suh, who co-own the great Houston restaurant "The Blind Goat," to reveal the winner from the Ultimate Houston Vietnamese Food Draft on the previous episode!

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On today's podcast episode, it's The Ultimate Houston Vietnamese Food Draft! Listen as Eric, alongside Local Foods Group's Chelsea Thomas, Heights Grocer's Mary Clarkson, Stevie Vu from the Chow-down in Chinatown Facebook group, Isabel Protomartir from the 'Have A Nice Day' AAPI pop-up markets, and Michael Fulmer, who co-founded the Houston BBQ Festival, attempt to craft the best lineup!

The drafters will be selecting a lineup of the following 6 categories: salad/appetizer, entrée, sandwich, soup, Viet-Cajun, and a wildcard item.

The Draft Rules
Rule 1: No drafter may select the same restaurant in more than one category.
Rule 2: Once a restaurant has been selected for a specific category, no other drafter may select it in that same category.   
Rule 3: Snake draft format. The draft order will go one through six in round 1, then go backwards six through one in round 2.
Rule 4: Categories may be selected in any order.

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On today's edition of the podcast Eric is joined by a returning Monica "The Mayor of Garden Oaks" Danna to go through some of the latest news from the Houston culinary scene. Eric and Monica discuss Ninja Ramen shuttering at the end of December, the new sushi concept from Grace and Leo Xia coming to Chinatown, and Lankford's opening a new location in The Woodlands. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Lazy Lane is featured.

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On today's edition of the podcast Eric is joined by Tracy Vaught, Hugo Ortega, and Sofia Ortega of H-Town Restaurant Group. H-Town Restaurant Group is the company behind Backstreet, Hugo's, Xochi, Caracol, Urbe, and Zaranda. The family speak with Eric about their new concept Zaranda, why now was the right time for the concept, the inspiration behind Zaranda, integrating different flavors from other cuisines into Zaranda's dishes, Sofia's role, menu development, the signature dessert, how things have been since opening, and more. Plus, Tracy and Hugo share how they first met, their memories of opening Hugo's, their reaction when Hugo's first took off, what Sunday brunch at Hugo's represents, revamping Backstreet, their thoughts on not being included in the Michelin Guide, and Sofia's put to the Lightning Round test. 

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Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Mary Clarkson of Heights Grocer and Montrose Grocer and the duo react to the Houston Chronicle's Top 100 Restaurant's list, did the Chronicle get it right? Is Aga's the best in Houston? Is Milton's Top 25? Kata Robata isn't on the list?! The pair explore those questions and more regarding this year's list. Plus, Eric and Mary discuss Bari Ristorante claiming the former Tris space in The Woodlands, Brian Doke's new concept called Lazy Lane, and then how things are going at Heights/Montrose Grocers. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Maison Chinoise is featured. 

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: