Breaking Bread: Chris Shepherd Wants You to Make Your Community Your (Delicious) Classroom

From growing a Houston restaurant empire to starting a charity to take care of his fellow industry workers, the insatiably curious chef’s work is a testament to the power of forging relationships through food

Chris Shepherd (L) with friend, mentor, and talented chef Jacklyn Pham, who runs the Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Pagolac with her father, Long. (Julie Soefer)

For Chris Shepherd, the James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur, food is the ultimate icebreaker. 

“Food is the first thing that you can talk about,” he said. “You don’t have to get political. You don’t have to get religious. When it comes down to, ‘How did you cook this chicken?’ that’s a pretty simple thing to do.”

This philosophy propelled Shepherd in building his Houston restaurant group, Underbelly Hospitality, starting in 2012 with the now-closed Underbelly, a celebration of his adopted city’s diverse immigrant cuisines.

Continuing Education

Shepherd cut his teeth in culinary school and fine-dining restaurants in the Midwest. But when he moved to Houston, he realized how much he still didn’t know.

He began eating across the city, from Vietnamese noodle shops to a Mexican spot with whole goats roasting on spits. With every order, he'd ask his waiter to add “two things that you think I would like,” Shepherd said.

He would eat, ask a lot of questions, and leave. And then he’d go back. And then he’d go back again.

At London Sizzler, a family-owned Indian restaurant, the son, Ajay Patel, caught on. They got to talking—topics ranging from food to sports to Ajay’s family story—and soon, Shepherd was in the kitchen with Ajay and his mother, Surekha, getting schooled in Indian cooking.

Surekha (Sue) Patel, the matriarch behind the menu at family-run London Sizzler, gave Shepherd lessons in Indian cooking. (Julie Soefer)

At Saigon Pagolac, a Vietnamese place run by Jacklyn Pham and her father, Long, Shepherd learned the intricacies of fish sauce and regional Vietnamese specialties.

At Asia Market, a Thai market and restaurant, then-owners Lawrence and Noi taught Shepherd a sweat-inducing lesson on the power of heat—via their “Thai-style” (extra chiles) papaya salad.

These restaurants became Shepherd’s classrooms; the cooks and owners, his teachers and friends. In turn, he championed them, hanging their photos in his restaurant and urging diners to their doors.

Shepherd's recipes, like these fish sauce caramel Brussels sprouts from his cookbook, "Cook Like a Local," reflect his multicultural inspirations. (Julie Soefer)

Spreading the Spirit

In 2019, Shepherd set out to share all he learned in a cookbook, “Cook Like a Local.“ Beyond recipes such as masala chicken wings and a Vietnamese-Houstonian crawfish boil, it’s about ”going out and learning from people ... breaking bread and sharing a conversation,” he said. 

“I felt like, if I can do that, everybody else can do that. And if everybody else can do that, our world just becomes a better place.”

In July 2022, Shepherd announced in a statement his departure from Underbelly Hospitality to “focus on smaller projects” and Southern Smoke, the nonprofit foundation he founded in 2015. The organization provides financial relief to food industry workers during crises.

In his parting words, Shepherd offered familiar advice: “Explore your surroundings. Learn about people, where they’re from, and how to dine at the same table.

“We are always learning. It’s time for me to learn a new chapter.”

Southern Smoke Foundation

Founded: 2015, after Chris Shepherd’s friend and former sommelier, Antonio Gianola, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis Focus: Since 2017, crisis relief for people in the food and beverage industry Funds Distributed: More than $9.9 million Website: SouthernSmoke.org