Texas Chef Tristen Epps Wants His Guests to Have an "Aha" Moment

Biscuits & Jam

Meredith Corporation

Music Interviews, Arts, Food, Music

4.8 • 608 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chef Tristen Epps, who just won Season 22 of Bravo’s Top Chef, grew up the son of a single mom who was a JAG, a lawyer with the military. That meant he moved about 16 times before the end of high school—from Guam to the Philippines—and was exposed to a wide range of cuisines from a young age. His travel background, along with family roots in Trinidad, led to a deep appreciation for food and cooking, and also a desire to both celebrate and elevate Afro-Caribbean cuisine. Now, on the tail of his high profile Top Chef win, he’s on a path to opening a fine dining restaurant in Houston called Buboy – a tribute to his grandfather’s nickname. And his goals for Buboy are ambitious, as he looks to bring Afro-Caribbean cooking in the United States to the Michelin-star level. We’ll talk about all that, plus the years he spent working at the Greenbriar in West Virginia, how his step-father’s unfortunate passing mid-season affected his time on Top Chef, and how he’s embracing his identity as a Southerner and a Houstonian. For more info visit: southernliving.com/biscuitsandjam Biscuits & Jam is produced by: Sid Evans - Editor-in-Chief, Southern Living Krissy Tiglias - GM, Southern Living Lottie Leymarie - Executive Producer Michael Onufrak - Audio Engineer & Editor/Producer Jeremiah Lee McVay - Producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:19.0	Shop Abercrombie denim in, in the app, online, and in store.
0:26.9	Hey y'all, welcome to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living.
0:33.8	I'm your host, Sid Evans.
0:35.4	And today I'm talking to a dynamic young chef from Texas,
0:38.9	who some of y'all might recognize as the winner of Bravo's top chef during the most recent season.
0:45.5	Tristan Epps grew up the son of a single mom who was a lawyer with the military, which meant he moved
0:51.6	about 16 times before the end of high school, from Guam to the Philippines,
0:57.0	and was exposed to a wide range of cuisines from a young age.
1:01.3	His travel background, along with family roots in Trinidad, led him to a deep appreciation for food and cooking,
1:08.7	and also a desire to both celebrate and elevate Afro-Caribian cuisine.
1:14.3	Now on the tail of his high-profile top chef win, he's on a path to opening a fine dining restaurant
1:20.6	in Houston called Bo Boy, a tribute to his grandfather's nickname. And his goals for Bo Boy are ambitious as he looks to bring
1:29.1	Afro-Caribbean cooking in the United States to the Michelin Star level. We'll talk about all that,
1:35.8	plus the years he spent working at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, how his stepfather's
1:41.2	unfortunate passing mid-season affected his time on top chef,
1:46.1	and how he's embracing his identity as a southerner and a Houstonian,
1:50.5	all in this week's Biscuits and Jam.
	...

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