What's Eric Eating

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...

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! Follow Eric on Instagram/Threads @ericsandler . You can also reach Eric by emailing him at eric@culturemap.com . Check out some of his l...

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 dr...

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 p...

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 fr...

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...

On today's edition of the podcast, Eric is joined by Michael Sambrooks of Sambrooks Hospitality which is behind Candente and The Pit Room . Michael speaks with Eric about the big news that Candente's opening 2nd location will open in Bellaire, how the location popped up on their radar, why Bellaire was the right choice, what they need to do to change the former Mandito's space into Candente, bring...

Local Houston celebrity Felice Sloan, aka the Swanky Maven, takes time from her busy autograph schedule to join Eric on today's show. The pair discuss some of the latest news including the upcoming opening of Doc's Houston and how things went at the first ever Bites & Beyond Festival this past weekend. In the Restaurants of the Week portion Murray's Pizza & Wine and 93' Til are featured. ...

Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Deets Hoffman of Murray's Pizza & Wine and Leaf & Grain . Deets speaks with Eric about why pizza was the route he wanted to go following the success of Leaf & Grain, why they wanted to go more adult date night forward with Murray's, the wine offerings, his wife's reaction to picking her name for the concept, why they went with sourdough as their c...

On the show today, Eric is joined by Houston BBQ Festival co-founder Michael Fulmer. Eric and Michael go through some of the latest news from the Houston culinary scene including the surprising closure of Paulie's and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's fine dining change coming in 2026. Plus, the guys discuss a bit more about the Michelin Guide's announcement from last week focusing on the H...

Today on the show, Eric is joined by Otto Othman and Adrian Sanchez of PINCHO . The duo speak with Eric about their culinary careers, what got them interested in the culinary scene, where the idea for PINCHO came from, what the name means, developing a family recipe for pincho into a commercial success, the evolution of the burger menu, entering food competitions, having fun with flavors, what peo...

It's year 2 of the Michelin Guide being in Texas and during a special ceremony in Houston on Tuesday night the guide announced the newest recipients of stars, recommendations, and more in Texas. So for this edition of the podcast Eric, alongside June Rodil of Goodnight Hospitality , CultureMap contributor Brianna McClane , and Misha Govshteyn a.k.a. the Michelin Inspector Inspector, react to this...

On today's show Eric is joined by Peter Skountzos and Manuel E. Guzmán-López of Doc's Houston . The duo speak with Eric about their careers leading up to Doc's, the story behind the name, why Houston was the right fit for the expansion of Jazz, TX , what was appealing about the Tower Theater space, the entertainment that patrons can expect, the food offerings at Doc's, the most important aspect of...

On today's edition of the podcast Eric is joined by Mary Clarkson of Heights Grocer . The pair speak about some of the latest restaurant/bar news from the Houston scene including Mary's own news that Heights Grocer is expanding into Montrose . Mary shares what they'll be able to do with the larger space in Montrose, what she's learned in her first year with Heights Grocer, and the wide selection o...

On today's edition of the podcast Eric is joined by Ryan Lachaine and Bobby Matos of State of Grace . The pair speak with Eric about why Ryan was a fit for State of Grace, why they want to push to be more like the old State of Grace, doing their chefs table dinners, the food forward regulars at State of Grace, what they've added to the menu (mmmm butter burgers), why State of Grace's french fries...

On episode 503 of What's Eric Eating, Eric Sandler was joined by former food critic, and current Director of Events & Catering at Local Foods Group, Chelsea Thomas! They discussed... The unfortunate closing down of Kim Son , and the continued stress put on all businesses around the I-45 expansion The opening of Maison Chinoise A San Antonio based coffee chain opening up a couple locations in H...

On today's podcast Eric is joined by Armando DiMeo of Coastline Pizzeria . Armando speaks with Eric about how he first decided to become a chef, working in the family business, when he knew that pizza was his passion, why decided to focus on Neapolitan pizza, Houston's struggles with Neapolitan pizza, where grilled pizza came from, the creative freedoms of grilled style, the upcoming seasonal menu...

In celebration of 500 episodes, Eric is doing something never done before in podcasting ok well at least never been done on this podcast before. For the first time Eric, joined by CultureMap's Home & Design Contributor Emily Cotton , gets out the What's Eric Eating mailbag to answer listener submitted questions. What was Eric's most star struck moment? What's been some of his top, all time fav...

Eric's doing things a little different today for this 500th edition of the podcast (yep 500!). Today Eric is being joined by not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 6 of Houston's Rising Stars selected by StarChefs for 2025 . Eric visits with Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu of JŪN , Lucas McKinney of Josephine's , Maham Qureshi of Shakkar , Adrian Torres of Maximo , and Kristine Nguyen of Bludorn . Hear...

On today's podcast Eric is joined by one of StarChef's Rising Stars of 2025 , Craft Pita's own Raffi Nasr!. Raffi and Eric talk about some of the latest news from the Houston restaurant and bar scene including Justin Yu and Bobby Heugel's newest concept coming to Montrose, Ryan Lachaine's new gig, and the StarChefs Rising Stars Houston Class of 2025. In the Restaurants of the Week portion North Ch...

Today on the show Eric has in depth conversation with Houston hospitality veteran Jonathan Horowitz. The pair discuss Jonathan's leaving from the Houston Hospitality Alliance, how he found his way into commercial real estate, the ramifications of the pandemic on the restaurant industry, the difficulties that are now present within the industry post pandemic, the changes in customer behavior/demand...

CultureMap contributor Brianna McClane is back on What's Eric Eating. Eric and Brianna discuss some of the latest news from the Houston restaurant and bar scene including Candente claiming the space formerly occupied by Mandito's for it's 2nd location, Tacos A Go Go's 2 new locations opening with cocktails by Bobby Heugel, and the fall restaurant openings they're most looking forward to . In the R...

Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Tristen Epps of Buboy . Tristen speaks with Eric about how scrambled eggs and Japanese TV set him on a path towards being a chef, his initial stint in Houston, why he decided on Houston for his big city experience, meeting/working with Marcus Samuelsson, pushing the idea of what really is fine dining cuisine, winning Top Chef: Destination Canada, why now was...

On today's podcast Eric is joined by the Swanky Maven herself Felice Sloan! Eric and Felice discuss some of the latest news from the Houston restaurant and bar scene including the closure of Bosscat Kitchen & Libations' in River Oaks, ChòpnBlọk being named to the New York Times' 50 Best Restaurants in America list, and chef Kate McClean's departure from Tony's Restaurant . In the Restaurants o...

Today on the podcast Eric is joined by Jacques Varon and Evan McCarley of Baso . The pair speak with Eric about how they first got connected, the evolution of Baso since it first opened, the addition of Sarah Dowling to the team, the incredible wine list, what they've learned from their customers, what it's meant to be part of the Michelin Guide, the growth of Baso's popularity, current goals, and...