{"id":888947,"date":"2026-06-24T07:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/888947\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T07:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:20:22","slug":"world-cup-fever-and-a-burger-showdown-victory-for-mon-chou-chou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/888947\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup fever and a Burger Showdown victory for Mon Chou Chou\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been one celebration after another for the French culinary team at Brasserie Mon Chou Chou<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, executive chef Laurent R\u00e9a won Pearl\u2019s third annual Burger Showdown with a French-inspired creation. Known for crisp duck confit and filet mignon with potato pav\u00e9, R\u00e9a produced the best-tasting burger to capture his second straight showdown crown.<\/p>\n

On Monday, R\u00e9a and fellow French soccer fans from Mon Chou Chou gathered at Boiler House at Pearl<\/a> to cheer on France in its World Cup match against Iraq. France prevailed, 3-0, clinching a spot in the Round of 32 against Norway on Friday.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before that match, R\u00e9a will travel to Dallas Stadium to watch a World Cup match on Thursday between Japan and Sweden.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019m going to a World Cup game,\u201d R\u00e9a said. \u201cSo I\u2019m pretty excited.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be celebrating,\u201d said Philippe Plac\u00e9, co-founder of the Southerleigh Hospitality Group,<\/a> which includes Chou Chou. \u201cAttending a World Cup soccer game is the dream of every soccer fan growing up in France.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

R\u00e9a grew up in France and received culinary training in Strasbourg. In San Antonio, he worked at since-closed L\u2019Etoile and Fig Tree and under Andrew Weissman<\/a> at Signature before opening Mon Chou Chou in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The indoor dining area at Pearl\u2019s Brasserie Mon Chou Chou on June 23, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

R\u00e9a and Mon Chou Chou\u2019s run of good news began with an unexpected triumph Sunday at Pearl<\/a>. With an assist from Chou Chou line cook Walter Howard, R\u00e9a crafted the winning burger: Wagyu beef with gruy\u00e8re mornay sauce, seasoned mushroom duxelles, a king trumpet tail, shallots and white wine on a slider bun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great to win twice in a row,\u201d R\u00e9a said. \u201cI was surprised. There were so many great burgers out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A larger than expected crowd surged into the district for the Taste of Pearl Burger Showdown, scheduled from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The event drew so many, several vendors ran out of food early, leaving some paid guests unable to sample burgers from all participating restaurants: Ladino, Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery, Boiler House, Supper, Otto\u2019s Ice House, Henbit, Casanova BBQ and Burgers by the Butcher.<\/p>\n

Frustrated wristband holders complained on social media. Pearl issued an apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the volume of guests, some vendors experienced higher-than-anticipated demand and sold out earlier than planned,\u201d Pearl said in a statement. \u201cWe understand this impacted some ticket-holders\u2019 experience, and we sincerely apologize to those who were not able to fully enjoy everything they had anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Plac\u00e9, Mon Chou Chou sold almost 400 burgers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe served all the way until 3:30 p.m.,\u201d he said. \u201cThe turnout was fantastic. We learned we have to be really ready (for the crowd) next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty four hours later, R\u00e9a, Plac\u00e9 and nine other Mon Chou Chou employees huddled with French fans.<\/p>\n

The Boiler House erupted when French soccer star Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scored <\/a>in the 14th minute to give France a 1-0 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Boiler House at Pearl on on June 23, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was special,\u201d Plac\u00e9 said. \u201cThat left foot was impressive. In my dream, I score that goal 15 times. But I was a goalie and not in a position to score. And I was not a very good goalie, to be honest, for my high school team.\u201d<\/p>\n

A two-hour rain delay soon followed, leading some of the crowd to disperse. R\u00e9a, for example, had to leave for kitchen duties at Mon Chou Chou. But he pulled out his phone on the line to follow the rest of the match.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 scored a second goal in the 54th minute, touching off another celebration at Boiler House \u2014 and a fist-pump or two in the Mon Chou Chou kitchen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a good week for R\u00e9a. The crew at Pearl erected a giant television screen so Burger Showdown attendees could watch the World Cup on Sunday. <\/p>\n

France did not play until Monday. But that did not keep R\u00e9a from watching and cooking and proving that World Cup soccer could not stop him from creating the showdown\u2019s best burger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been one celebration after another for the French culinary team at Brasserie Mon Chou Chou. On Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":888948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,55776,360491,55640,360492,36535,360493,24546,353167,7202,7203,360494,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,21490],"class_list":["post-888947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-andrew-weissman","tag-boiler-house-at-pearl","tag-brasserie-mon-chou-chou","tag-burger-showdown","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-laurent-rea","tag-pearl","tag-philippe-place","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-southerleigh-hospitality-group","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116803877594735552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888947","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=888947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}