Latest news with #AgnesandSherman
Eater
6 days ago
- Business
- Eater
Tariffs Are Coming For The Menu
Sophina Uong's New Orleans restaurant, Mister Mao, is the kind of third culture-chaos cooking party spot where strawberry chaat shares the menu with 'Spanish octopussy,' and cocktails are served with candy cigarettes. It is a purposeful celebration of a variety of influences, which naturally requires both local and international ingredients to come to life. So when President Donald Trump announced his brash, nonsensical tariff plan — if you can even call it that — in March, Uong realized her whole menu may have to change. She began stocking up on ingredients like asafetida, black salt, and chilies from both India and Mexico, she says. But spices go stale, and some fresh ingredients are becoming more difficult to source. 'We have suggested to our bar manager switching acids, or developing a menu less citrus heavy — limes are $74 a case right now and steadily climbing,' she says. Fish sauce, too, has jumped from $2.99 to $8 a bottle. 'We have dropped avocados for now, and will just be watching like everyone else [to see] what happens.' 'What happens?' is a lingering question, as every day, Trump seems to change his mind about what tariffs are in effect and when. Here's a relatively updated list of the tariffs that may or may not have been invented by ChatGPT, but the numbers matter less than the overall intention — whether it's by 10 percent or 27 percent, Trump means to apply reciprocal tariffs widely, affecting everything from cars to fast fashion. Even the most locavore restaurants rely on ingredients and supplies from overseas, whether that's European wine, Brazilian coffee, or takeout boxes manufactured in China. And Trump's tariffs, whether they've been implemented or not, are having a profound effect on the industry. Some restaurateurs suddenly can't afford ingredients that have been the backbone of their menus, while others must switch to domestic alternatives that require complete menu revamps. As Top Chef has drilled into the collective consciousness, the mark of a good chef is the ability to adapt. Which one must do when suppliers text you and say everything is going to cost 20 percent more than it did the day before, as recently happened for chef Nick Wong of the newly opened Agnes and Sherman in Houston. Ingredients like rice flour, tofu, and spice mixes — crucial for the Asian-American diner concept — are suddenly far more expensive than when they planned out the business. Through one lens, the tariffs (or threat thereof) are having the intended effect of encouraging chefs to buy local. Wong says he's begun working with a local tofu purveyor, Banyan, which allows them to save some costs. Chef Apurva Panchal, the head chef at ROOH in Palo Alto, has also found himself leaning more into the cross-cultural California-ness of the menu. For instance, a cauliflower steak that used to use Indian red pumpkin is now made with local butternut squash. It's an 'opportunity for innovation,' he says. But locality and seasonality can only go so far, even at restaurants that aren't immediately affected by tariffs. Chef Omer Artun describes Meyhouse, also in Palo Alto, as a Mediterranean restaurant that uses lots of fresh produce and garlic and herbs for seasoning — all cheap and plentiful in the California summer. But 'as we go into the wintertime, a lot of the tomatoes and so forth come from Mexico,' or from hothouses in Canada, he says. Currently, most goods from Mexico and Canada are subject to a 25 percent tariff, various court rulings notwithstanding. The tariffs disproportionately affect restaurants that rely on foreign ingredients, which are often cuisines that American diners expect to pay less for — it's easier to eat the cost of a $25 increase in spices when you're charging $300 a meal for a menu in a European tradition, rather than a counter-service Mexican restaurant. But chefs are getting savvy with their buying. Uong has been adding spice mixtures to oil to extend their shelf lives and drying fresh chiles for future use. Wong says his team has reached out to other local restaurants about buying nitrile gloves in bulk so they can take advantage of discounts. But even if you spend all summer canning American tomatoes to avoid the 17 percent tariff on those from Mexico, there is the sticking point that some ingredients just aren't grown in the U.S., nor do they have a reasonable substitute. There is no domestic cinnamon production to tap into, no American turmeric or coffee or cardamom farm big enough to supplant international suppliers. 'I think it's going to be a reckoning,' says Wong. He's trying to keep Agnes and Sherman affordable like the diners it's modeled after, but at a certain point, diners are going to have to accept the cost of flavor, or risk their favorite places going under. 'Why is my fried rice so expensive? Food is politics,' says Wong. 'You don't get to exist in a vacuum and say you didn't want this. It's gonna affect you anyway.' Sign up for Eater's newsletter The freshest news from the food world every day Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Eater
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
The Best Dishes Eater Houston Ate This May 2025
There are more than 12,000 restaurants in Houston . With at least 145 languages spoken across town and communities bringing compelling fare from regions like South Louisiana and the West Coast, and countries like Mexico, Syria, and the Philippines, there's no shortage of outstanding food in Space City. Check back monthly to see the best things Eater Houston's editor ate this month. Fried kimchi, crab rangoons, and rice cakes at Agnes and Sherman My love for chef Nick Wong's scallion waffle with sambal honey butter and egg foo young has already been well-documented, but a recent return to his restaurant yielded some new favorites and solidified Agnes and Sherman as one of the city's best new group dining spots. The fried kimchi comes to the table delightfully hot, with a server cutting it into pieces, making the chunks much easier to dunk into the accompanying kimchi mayo. The deconstructed crab rangoons — fried wonton chips served with the creamy crab filling and homemade pepper jelly. Agnes and Sherman is a place you definitely want to bring friends and order a bunch to share, but the tteokbokki, tender rice cakes served with beef ragu, uda peppercorn, and Parmesan, is a dish that I would keep all to myself. Lemongrass catfish congee from Burmalicious Top Chef alums Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu have gotten innovative at Jun. At night, their Latin and Southeast Asian restaurant in the Heights serves signature dishes like fried chicken cooked with a punchy fish paste and carrots with salsa macha and Salvadoran cheese. By day, it's Third Place — a chill hangout spot, a coffee shop, and a collaborative space for chefs in the area to pop up and display their prowess. With two rowdy toddlers in tow, I caught James Beard Award semifinalist Suu Khin on her last day of her pop-up. We peeked into the kitchen as she plated her dishes, and later dug into chicken salad loaded into lettuce wraps, and her lemongrass catfish congee, which was a symphony of flavors — a savory porridge with a medley of spices, chunks of tender catfish, a peanut-sesame crunch, slices of youtiao (Chinese doughnuts), and a jammy soy-marinated egg. Lobster gnocchi (and everything else) at Little's Oyster Bar One of the newest additions to the Pappas Restaurants catalog has recently switched up its menu, reminding me why we named Little's Oyster Bar the Best New Restaurant in 2023. From start to finish, the menu beckons with quality cold raw bar offerings; refreshing appetizers like the delicate local greens salad with honey dressing and creamy goat cheese; a warming cioppino served with buttery sourdough bread, plus Pappas's irresistible fries, and a tender grilled octopus, arguably the best in the city, served with an aromatic zhug sauce you'll want to sop up with the marbled potatoes. Aside from its fresh catches, including a standout Gulf Grouper (ask for the heirloom tomato sauce vierge), the lobster gnocchi was the standout with an herbaceous sauce composed of blistered cherry tomatoes and crisp potato chips for texture. The best bites come when every element ends up on the same spoon. This is a dish I'll keep coming back for. Cornbread with mole and caviar and heart of palm salad from Maximo As a food writer, trying new dishes is a part of my job, but the heart of palm salad at this West University neighborhood restaurant was so good that I couldn't help but order it again. It proved to be just as good and refreshing as the first time, with slivers of heart of palm, strawberries, basil, queso enchilado, and nuts, covered in a Champagne vinaigrette that delivers just the right amount of acidity. The homemade masa cornbread, served over a buttery mole soubise, is a scene-stealer, topped with umami-loaded chicatana butter made with fire ants — a Mexican delicacy; caviar for salinity; and hoja santa oil. Consider Maximo's new five-course tasting menu for an affordable and well-rounded overview of what the restaurant offers. Tuna tostada at Tatemó Dining at Tatemo has become my unintended summer tradition, and each visit brings something new. While I look forward to the rotating specials and how James Beard Award finalist and chef Emmanuel Chavez and his team switch things up, I'm also a sucker for the staples. The Mexican tasting menu prides itself on always featuring something raw, something fried, and something greasy, and I know Chavez's mole is bound to make an appearance somewhere. Favorites, the tuna tostada during this visit was especially refreshing. Between a crispy tostada and a thin layer of Big Eye tuna lies a tantalizing, slightly tangy layer of pico de gallo and chipotle spread; it's an exciting way to start the meal. Sign up for our newsletter.
