The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Outside Houston, a chef with a flair for the avant-garde serves up three hours of sorcery

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June 11, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
Eculent, near Houston, Texas, serves 6 diners 40 courses 3 nights per week for a culinary exploration “like nowhere else on earth” (Video: The Washington Post)

KEMAH, Texas — Have you heard about the Texas chef who can pack all the flavor of French onion soup into a bonbon and make a strawberry taste like bacon?

Until Houstonia magazine trumpeted the story of David Skinner and Eculent restaurant earlier this year, neither had I. The headline was pure catnip for anyone who lives to eat: “One of the best restaurants in the world is in Kemah,” 45 minutes from downtown Houston. “And nobody has heard of it.”