HOUSTON — The prestigious James Beard Foundation will announce this year’s top food awards on Monday, June 5.
Hoping to snag the award for "Best Chef in Texas" is a Houston woman known as Chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter or “Chef G." She runs a small restaurant on Houston’s East End with a big reputation for serving up authentic Thai food.
Street to Kitchen is a tiny spot with just 10 tables. Working it is like dancing a careful ballet. Waiters squeeze through tight spaces, announcing their moves, “Coming through” or “Corner!”
Chef G is from Thailand, where she started cooking as a kid. She says she's been cooking since she was about 6 or 7 years old because her grandmother had a neighborhood restaurant.
Eventually in Bangkok, she met and married Houstonian Graham Painter. The couple later moved to Houston where they opened their restaurant during the pandemic, originally as a takeout place.
It is unapologetically authentic. No substitutions or changes.
Chef G jokes, “You can ask for it and we love to say 'no' on it.” She explains if the food is missing even one ingredient, the flavor changes.
The spices and herbs are just like back home.
She says, “If you come for dinner, we have mild, medium, and hot spicy and 'grandma spicy.'”
Yep, that's the spicy that makes your nose sneeze and eyes water. Grandma tough!
Street to Kitchen is not fancy. It's on Harrisburg, obscured by a freeway overpass and literally sits next door to a gas station. Chef G says it was perfect for her.
“If you go to Thailand you will find a lot of good restaurants in gas stations. I saw this spot. I feel like home," she said.
So, an old fried chicken joint became a Thai hotspot and won Chef G a finalist nomination for Best Chef in Texas by the James Beard Foundation.
The 29-year-old still finds it hard to believe and remembers her reaction to the nomination.
“You lie to me. No!”
It was no lie. The Painters will fly the entire staff of 11 to Chicago for the big ceremony Monday.
We're wishing you luck Chef G!