Throughout the 20-year history of Wine & Food Week our mission has been to celebrate and recognize talented industry individuals shaping the food scene.This year we’re pleased to announce that we will be inducting power food couple Chris Shepherd and Lindsey Brown into the Wine & Food Week Hall of Fame for their decades of culinary achievements including the formation of the Southern Smoke Foundation which Chris and Lindsey cofounded and Lindsey currently oversees, which has distributed more than $11.3 million directly to people in the food and beverage industry in need via the Emergency Relief Fund.
Chris’ vision and passion for Houston’s culinary scene is well known from the opening of Underbelly in 2012. Chris was named one of the 10 Best New Chefs in America by Food & Wine in 2013 and was then awarded the 2014 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest. Chris was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2019 and was named Robb Report‘s Chef of the Year the same year. Chris’ first cookbook, Cook Like a Local: Flavors that Will Change the Way You Cook—and See the World, was published by Clarkson Potter in September 2019 and was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Foundation Book Award. In 2023, Chris launched a TV show Eat Like a Local on Houston’s KPRC-TV, where he tells the stories of Houston’s rich and diverse food and beverage scene.
Lindsey helped shape and build awareness for Houston as a food destination directing regional and national efforts during her more than 20 years in hospitality and food and beverage PR and marketing including 10 years at the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau where she launched the Where Chefs Eat Houston Culinary Tour program, which won a Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award in 2011 as well as in her own firm Lindsey Brown Public Relations.She is also the Executive Director of Southern Smoke Foundation.
This dynamic duo has helped shape the landscape of the Houston culinary scene for decades.And richly deserving of this honor.They will be inducted at a ceremony on June 8 during the Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase.