This Houston Chef’s Thoughtful Menu Honors The History Of Texas Cuisine

There are many restaurants in Texas that showcase the local cuisine, but few with as much passion and dedication as Wild Oats, the latest from Houston’s Underbelly Hospitality. Opened in the historic Houston Farmers Market in February 2022, the restaurant’s menu is like a love letter to traditional Texas cuisine.

Chef and partner Nick Fine, a native Texan, traversed the Lone Star State to learn about the traditions, techniques and ingredients that are true to Texas cuisine, and this commitment shows in every dish. Wild Oats’ menu–the most family-friendly of all Underbelly Hospitality concepts –is also inspired by the vendors and produce at the Houston Farmers Market, the city’s oldest and largest. Dating back to the early 1940s, the market supplies much of the produce used at Wild Oats.

Serving lunch, dinner and brunch, the restaurant pays homage to the state’s history, the cultures that shaped it, and Fine’s own experiences traveling and cooking. His resume includes famed spots like Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Houston’s Brennan’s Restaurant, Aspen’s The Little Nell and Boulder’s Oak and Acorn, returning to Texas to join the Underbelly Hospitality group.

“I was born in Texas and moved away at a young age,” says the chef. “I bounced around a lot throughout my life, but always ended up back home. I discovered who I was in Texas, so to share the story of Texas food means a lot, as do the people that I’ve met along the way.”

“What I love the most is the diversity in the Texas food scene, which has been heavily influenced by the Germans, Czechs and Mexicans, among others. Oftentimes, Texas food is stereotyped. We have such a diverse community, and on the surface, a lot of people see Texas as a meat-and-potatoes, basic foods state. Wild Oats is about rejecting those misconceptions and showcasing the underbelly of our state –the ingredients, people and cultures who make it one of the most diverse in the nation,” says Fine.

To honor Texas Independence Day, celebrated every year on March 2 since 1836, Fine shares the history of some of the state’s iconic dishes. “My hope is that Wild Oats highlights Texas cuisine, from Gulf Coast shrimp all the way to the quail found in the Panhandle and everything in between.”

Chicken fried steak

Quintessential to Texas cuisine, chicken fried steak is one of the most Texan dishes of all time, says Fine. Its origins stem from the vaqueros, cattle drivers that traveled from Bandera, Texas to Kansas, herding their cows. There were no hardwood trees for cooking along the route, only scrubby juniper. “You would never use that for cooking, they give off too much sooty smoke and a horrible smell that would ruin the food,” says Fine. “So, vaqueros saved their ‘cow chips’ for fuel and their bacon grease from breakfast and used it to pan fry their steaks for dinner.”

The cattle drives, coupled with the influx of Germans who immigrated to Texas in the 1800s – subsequently introducing the schnitzel to the Lone Star State – birthed what would soon become one of the state’s most iconic dishes.

Wild Oats’ recipe uses Wagyu sourced from R-C Ranch Butcher Shop, also located in the Houston Farmers Market. In a nod to the dish’s name, Fine is using a technique learned from people who excel at frying chicken. “Most chicken fried steaks are breaded to order, which is great, but one of the problems with doing so is that it causes the batter to come off,” says Fine.

“Instead, we take cues from people who have done some amazing things with fried chicken who pre-bread the chicken and let it sit overnight. So, we dredge the steaks in ranch dressing and flour, allowing the flour to sink into the crevices of the meat overnight. We dredge it in our special flour blend once again before frying, and it becomes the best chicken fried steak ever.” As a nod to the Texas cowboys, Fine tops Wagyu steak medallions with jalapeño bacon gravy.

Parisa

As Fine traveled through Texas drawing inspiration for the Wild Oats menu, he found that many gas stations in Medina County, just outside of San Antonio, carried parisa in pint-sized deli containers, accompanied with saltine crackers.

Affectionately known as Medina County steak tartare, parisa is a preparation of ground beef cures with lemon juice, mixed with jalapeño, and onions, and then added cheddar cheese. Its roots trace to an influx of French immigrants from the Alsace region of France in the mid-1800s to Medina cities like Hondo and Castroville, which is known as “Little Alsace.”

“The French brought their steak tartare to Texas; however, they used regional ingredients It looks a little rough, but it’s so fun,” says Fine of the roadside snack. Wild Oats’ interpretation of parisa features hand-cut sirloin mixed with chile serrano vinaigrette and grated Redneck cheddar, served with fried saltines. “It’s a cool dish that pays homage to a group of people who settled in Texas and brought their food to us.”

Texas Chili

Chili is so important to Texan culture that it was adopted as the Texas State Dish on May 11, 1977, and the International Chili Cook-Off has been held in the Lone Star State since 1967. Fine describes that Texas chili started off as a Native American dish. “They used to cure the meat with chile piquin, and would then boil, shred and eat it,” he says. “The Mexican population (remember Texas was part of Mexico until 1836) evolved it to the version we know today.”

Although credit for the creation of chili goes to the chili queens of San Antonio, who introduced it to Anglo Texans, the actual date and origin of chili as we know it today remains in contention.

Fine explains that, since most cooks in the U.S. didn’t have access to dried chiles, they added tomatoes instead to get the beautiful, bright red color associated with traditional chili. “At Wild Oats, we serve it traditionally – the beef is cooked in chiles and onion, garnished with cheddar cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and served with Fritos. No beans. No tomatoes.”

Fine is thankful in his new role, and excited to share all his research into the history of his native state’s cuisine. “Texas is the best state, and I’m proud to have a little role in sharing the history of its cuisine,” he says. “Hopefully, whenever anybody goes out and eats chili or chicken fried steak, they realize that the path it took to get to their plate is amazing. It’s not just about the ranchers, vendors, cooks and servers who were involved with the dish – though it is incredibly important – but that there’s a lot of history to those dishes.”

Nick Fine’s Texas Chili

Yields: 4 quarts

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon Mexican oregano

1 tablespoon cumin

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 onion, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups salsa roja (homemade or your favorite store-bought)

2.5 pounds chuck roll (can sub for stew meat)

Maseca slurry (2 tablespoons Maseca mixed with 2 tablespoons water)

Optional:

One whole armadillo

6 pack of Lonestar Beer

In a large pot, sear beef on medium high heat for five minutes or until browned. Remove the beef from the pot and drain the fat. In the same pot, add onion, garlic and jalapeño. Cook for five minutes on medium heat until they become soft.

Add beef back in. Add paprika, oregano, cumin, salt, chili powder, chicken stock, and red salsa to the pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cover and slowly cook for 3 hours or until beef is tender. Bring to a boil and add Maseca slurry. Adjust seasoning, if needed.

Like a true Texan, invite your armadillo over and share the 6 pack of Lonestar!