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

Biscuits & Jam

Meredith Corporation

Food, Music, Music Interviews, Arts

4.6 • 640 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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0:00.0	Hey y'all, welcome to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living. I'm your host, Sid Evans.
0:08.3	And today I'm talking to a dynamic young chef from Texas, who some of y'all might recognize
0:13.3	as the winner of Bravo's top chef during the most recent season. Tristan Epps grew up the son of a single
0:20.7	mom who was a lawyer with the military, which meant he moved about six years. during the most recent season. Tristan Epps grew up the son of a single mom
0:21.4	who was a lawyer with the military,
0:23.5	which meant he moved about 16 times
0:26.3	before the end of high school,
0:27.9	from Guam to the Philippines,
0:30.0	and was exposed to a wide range of cuisines
0:32.9	from a young age.
0:34.2	His travel background, along with family roots in Trinidad, led him to a deep appreciation for food
0:40.5	and cooking, and also a desire to both celebrate and elevate Afro-Caribbean cuisine. Now on the
0:47.8	tail of his high-profile top chef, Wynn, he's on a path to opening a fine dining restaurant in
0:53.8	Houston called Bo Boy, a tribute to his
0:56.9	grandfather's nickname. And his goals for Bo Boy are ambitious as he looks to bring Afro-Caribbean
1:03.1	cooking in the United States to the Michelin Star level. We'll talk about all that, plus the years
1:09.5	he spent working at the Greenbrier in West Virginia,
1:12.8	how his stepfather's unfortunate passing mid-season affected his time on top chef,
1:18.6	and how he's embracing his identity as a southerner and a Houstonian,
1:23.4	all in this week's Biscuits and Jam.
1:39.4	Music All in this week's Biscuits and Jam. Tristan Epps, Welcome to Biscuits and Jam.
1:42.3	Thank you for having me, said.
	...

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