{"id":398185,"date":"2025-11-23T02:23:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T02:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/398185\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T02:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T02:23:40","slug":"chef-hugo-ortega-and-family-discuss-zaranda-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/398185\/","title":{"rendered":"Chef Hugo Ortega and family discuss Zaranda in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this week\u2019s episode of \u201cWhat\u2019s Eric Eating,\u201d James Beard Award-winning<\/a> chef Hugo Ortega, his wife and business partner Tracy Vaught, and their daughter Sophia Ortega join CultureMap editor Eric Sandler<\/a> to discuss H-Town Restaurant Group. The company operates a number of local concepts, including interior Mexican restaurant Hugo\u2019s, Backstreet Cafe, Mexican street food eatery Urbe, and Zaranda<\/strong><\/a>, the company\u2019s newly opened restaurant<\/a> in downtown that\u2019s inspired by California.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

After a brief discussion of the early days of Hugo\u2019s, the trio dives into the process of opening Zaranda. Vaught explains how she became aware of the space in the Norton Rose Fulbright Tower<\/a> and why it\u2019s proximity to Discovery Green made it particularly appealing. Chef Ortega shares how a three-week road trip throughout Mexico provided some of the inspiration for both Zaranda and Caracol, his Galleria-area seafood restaurant. <\/p>\n

From there, chef Ortega describes how the zaranda \u2014 a wire metal basket used to cook seafood over an open flame \u2014 anchors much of the menu. He also recommends some dishes diners should try when they visit Zaranda. <\/p>\n

Sandler asks Sophia Ortega what it\u2019s like working with her parents. \u201cI get that comment a lot. It is very different. A lot of people can\u2019t imagine working with family,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019m an only child. We\u2019re a very close family unit. The restaurants have been a huge part of my growing up. For us, it comes very naturally to work together. It\u2019s all we know. I\u2019ve only ever worked for my restaurants. A lot of the employees have seen me grow up. I think we all have our own lane, but at the same time we overlap. We\u2019re always open to hearing different opinions. That\u2019s when the best decisions are made. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSophia is very intuitive. The way she communicates is very thoughtful and sensitive. I think that\u2019s so valuable for our staff. Everybody loves her,\u201d Vaught adds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Listen to the full episode for an update on Backstreet Cafe. Its original building was torn down last year to make way for an all-new structure that\u2019s on track to open next year \u2014 hopefully in time for its legendary Mother\u2019s Day brunch. Sandler also asks about the restaurant group\u2019s conspicuous omission from the Michelin Guide. <\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s other episode, Sandler and co-host Mary Clarkson, the proprietor of newly-open wine shop Montrose Grocer, discuss the news out of the week. They begin with a discussion about the Houston Chronicle\u2019s list of the city\u2019s top 100 restaurants<\/a>, including a discussion of Aga\u2019s as the No.1 selection, some of the new entries on the list, and restaurants that dropped off the list entirely, such as Himalaya, Kata Robata, and Killen\u2019s Barbecue. They also talk about Bari Ristorante<\/a> opening a new location in The Woodlands and restaurateur Brian Doke\u2019s plans to open Lazy Lane restaurant<\/a> in Garden Oaks.<\/p>\n

In the restaurant of the week segment, Clarkson and Sandler share thoughts on their recent meal at Maison Chinoise<\/a>. Located next to Brasserie 19 in the River Oaks Shopping center, the new Chinese restaurant is the latest project from Dallas-based Lombardi Family Concepts, known locally for Toulouse Cafe and Bar, its French restaurant in River Oaks District, and Lombardi Cucina Italiana in Uptown Park.<\/p>\n

Listen to the episode to hear which dishes they liked best, as well as the one that missed the mark. They also discuss its decor and how it will fit with the other luxurious restaurants in the shopping center. <\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

Subscribe to “What’s Eric Eating” on Apple podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hear it Sunday at 9 am on ESPN 97.5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zaranda owners Tracy Vaught, Hugo Ortega, and Sophia Ortega.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nick de la Torre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this week\u2019s episode of \u201cWhat\u2019s Eric Eating,\u201d James Beard Award-winning chef Hugo Ortega, his wife and business…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":398186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[27144,4345,1815,12212,4368,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-398185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-chefs","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-interview","11":"tag-news-you-can-eat","12":"tag-podcast","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115596637210017548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}