Foodie Events / Restaurants

Houston’s Hottest Restaurant Hosts an All-Star Chef Night

Bludorn Brings in a Top Austin and California Chef

BY // 03.16.21

Bludorn is bustling most nights with weekend reservations for one of the hottest restaurants in Houston required well in advance. But on this particular night, the sold-out entourage was exceptionally spirited. And with good reason. Three chefs with Michelin star credentials were manning the kitchen for presentation of an unforgettable meal that would benefit the Southern Smoke Foundation’s Texas Winter Storm Relief Fund.

Chef Aaron Bludorn invited  his pals Austin’s Mathew Peters, the first American chef to win the coveted Bocuse d’Or  competition in France, and San Diego-based Travis Swikard, former executive chef of Boulud Sud, to join him in preparing the five-course meal. The trio had been working in the restaurant from early morning to prepare for the 190 guests who would sit down for dinner on this evening beginning as early as 5 pm.

Bludorn got ready for the great wave of discerning diners with extra staff and having the scene under the ever watchful eye of dashing general manager Cherif Mbodji. The chef’s wife, Victoria Bludorn, wafted through the dining room welcoming familiar faces as they supped from the bountiful menu.

It was a feast that we had difficulty finishing. But our tastebuds won over our good sense. After a round of sophisticated canapés served tableside, Swikard began the meal with Lebanese Labne Dumplings with artichokes, confit tomatos, olives and za’tar mint pesto; followed by Bludorn’s Crawfish and Bandera Quail served in puff pastry with asparagus, spring onion and sauce Americaine. Peters completed the entrees with Charcoal Grilled Pork Secreto with paquillo pepper, braised pinenuts, maitake mushrooms, fennel pollen croutons and pea shoots.

And then there was dessert: Strawberry Passion Fruit Pavlova with fennel pollen crumb and handmade mango sorbet.

Chef Travis Swikard’s Lebanese Labne Dumplings with artichokes at Bludorn

Having opened the doors to his Montrose area restaurant only last August, Bludorn quickly joined Houston’s philanthropic culinary fraternity. This was the second in Bludorn’s year-long series of dining initiatives, beginning with the Super Bowl, with profits dedicated to Southern Smoke, Chef Chris Shepherd’s crisis relief organization serving those in the restaurant and bar industry.

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“I’m so grateful to the community for embracing us the way that they have and with that privilege definitley comes a responsibility,” Bludorn says in the midst of the dining crush. “And that’s a responsibility to give back and take care of the community.

“I wanted to jump in and be a part of it and to help our own industry. That’s what’s taken one of the hardest hits in this pandemic.”

The second in this series of  collaboration dinners is scheduled for April 15, when Bludorn will welcome two fellow Texans: Rick Lopez, also a Boulud alum and executive chef of La Condesa, and Fermín Núñez, executive chef of Suerte, two of Austin’s lauded Mexican restaurants. Contributing to the TexMex-inspired dinner with dessert will be Bludorn pastry chef Alejandra Salas.

Front and center during the fête were Shepherd and his bride, Lindsey Brown.

“To see Aaron come into his own and right when he came to the city, you know not every person from out of town is excepted,” Shepherd says as he and Bludorn share compliments and bear hugs. “He broke in and really made a statement. ‘I’m gonna be here. I’m gonna be a part of it. I’m gonna be a part of the community.’

“And people embrace that. And for me personally to see something like this tonight and seeing what he has done previous to this, the Super Bowl and really just being a good human being, that’s what its about.

“And it’s very emotional for me to see all the people out here tonight…We gotta take care of each other and that’s the thing. We’re all on this one tiny ball spinning in the same direction.”

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