Belly of the Beast

James Beard Award-winning Chef Thomas Bille of Belly of the Beast is Redefining New American Dining in Spring, Texas | Eater Houston

"An intimate, family-run Spring, Texas counter-service restaurant where chef Thomas Bille and his wife Elizabeth translate his Mexican American upbringing, French culinary training, and Los Angeles experience into personal, playful, genre-defying dishes. Operating as a 24-seat spot when it first opened in a converted house in 2020, the project began as a 2018 pop-up, survived a pandemic pivot and a temporary closure, and was relaunched on the couple’s own terms in a humble strip-mall space in November 2023. The concise menu reads like a love letter to memory and technique: silky potato empanadas filled with a Comté-enriched mashed potato and finished with crème fraîche, caviar, and chives; a cult-favorite summer street-corn agnolotti glazed in a corn-broth butter and dusted with a Tajín-inspired seasoning; signature birria tacos built from an adobo–guajillo paste and slowly braised beef, stuffed with Oaxaca and Chihuahua cheeses and fried to create cheesy, crisped edges, served with onions, cilantro, salsa rojo and a dipping broth; a seasonal “That’s My Yam” taco that channels Mexican-Thanksgiving flavors with piloncillo, maple, lime, almond salsa macha and chicken cracklings; and a charred, passion-fruit–topped tres leches. The food balances fine-dining technique and home-cooked comfort, a philosophy that has earned a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand and a James Beard Foundation Award (received June 16), while emphasizing seasonal ingredients, cultural hybridity, and deeply personal storytelling on the plate." - Brittany Britto Garley