On April 15th, Houston’s most talented young chefs; Chef Austin Simmons & Chef Dominick Lee met at TRIS for a special collaboration dinner.
Chef Dominick Lee hails from New Orleans, Louisiana. From a young age, he knew he loved being in the kitchen with other like-minded culinary wizards. For career days in school, Lee would traverse to restaurants and soak up as much knowledge as he could from the top chefs in New Orleans. After high school, he eventually found his way to a role in the kitchen at Jonny Sanchez in New Orleans, and his inquisitive mind pushed him to seek out knowledge from the chefs he worked alongside. Soon realizing that he could make cooking into a career pursuit, Lee applied to The Art Institute of Houston, which was partly founded by the inaugural Chris Shepherd Underbelly Scholarship. At culinary school in Houston, he mastered the French classics and surveyed the cuisines of six continents, after which he became executive sous chef at a prominent Indian restaurant in Houston, Kiran’s – working for Chef Kiran Verma. The totality of his education & experience in the culinary space has enriched him with the tools to be successful as he helms a kitchen as Executive Chef for the first time at Poitín. Opened back in May 2018, Poitín is a full-service bar and kitchen, located in the Washington Avenue Arts District just west of downtown and south of Interstate 10.
For more information on Poitín, visit www.poitinhouston.com.
Chef Dom featured his Indian cooking skills at this CollaborEIGHT Dinner, with Fried Chicken Tikka Masala, Duck Breast Korma, Pork Belly with Pindi Channa, Black Angus Strip Vindaloo with Aloo Methi. Chef Austin on the other hand, sticked with South East Asian theme with Kimchi Crab, Tom Yum Soup, Singapore Chili Crab with Fried Bread and Korean Short Rib. Pastry Chef Hani Lae finished the dinner with her Balinese Mille-feuille.
Himalaya Restaurant owners Chef Kaiser and Azra Lashkari were among the attendees.
