Chris Shepherd

A Houston cooking point of view was built here through formal training at The Art Institute and work at UB Preserv, with Chris Shepherd later applying that discipline through Underbelly and Underbelly Hospitality. The work sat in the dining-room trade rather than in abstraction: a personal, local frame carried into the Houston area dining scene through founder and co-owner duties at Underbelly Hospitality in Houston area (2012–2022) and founder duties at Underbelly (from 2012).

Smaller-scale work and industry support define the current chapter. Shepherd departed Underbelly Hospitality in July 2022 to focus on smaller projects and Southern Smoke Foundation, keeping the labor close to the cooks, servers, sommeliers, and operators who make up the working restaurant community. The industry-aid model came from a concrete service request, not a branding exercise. In Shepherd’s account: “One night in 2015, my friend and former sommelier Antonio Gianola asked if I could host a fundraiser for the MS Society.”

The format was direct trade mobilization: cooks, pit masters, a room, and a cause. As he put it, “After learning Antonio had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis earlier that week, I decided to throw a party with some of my chef and pit master friends and ultimately raised $181,000 for the MS Society.”

Peer recognition includes a James Beard Award, marking Chris Shepherd’s work within the national restaurant trade while keeping the primary evidence in the Houston area kitchens and projects named above.