At the start of the New Year, Ben McPherson (photo above), former executive chef of downtown’s Latin American-inspired restaurant Batanga, announced his plans to branch out on his own and launch The Bull & The Pearl. The upcoming restaurant project, which at the moment is operating solely through creative pop-ups and intimate supper clubs, will showcase Gulf Coast seafood and ranch-raised Texas beef.

The Bull & The Pearl is still in the early stages of development, but McPherson and co-chef Matt Wommack have already jumped into menu development with dishes such as baked oysters with bone marrow butter, beet cappelletti pasta, crawfish pie, Wagyu beef crudo with smoked oysters, and Texas strawberries with soft buttermilk biscuits, cajeta, peanut brittle and roasted Meyer lemon ice cream.

Next on the restaurant’s schedule of events is its first supper club, which takes place April 15 at 7 Riverway just off Woodway Drive. Diners who want to purchase tickets to the Fruits de Mer (Fruits of the Sea) dinner can do so here.

My Table magazine recently chatted with McPherson about his decision to leave Batanga, overdone Southern food concepts and where he finds culinary inspiration.

What made you know it was the right time to leave Batanga?
I was ready. I had been trying to open my own place for years now. It’s actually been about three years that I’ve been working on different ideas and concepts. I was going to do a restaurant in Atlanta before I came to Houston, but I just wasn’t ready. For the first time, I have a concept that really works for me, my style of cooking and for Houston diners. 

Tell me more about the name The Bull & The Pearl.
It’s feminine and masculine takes on food. Gulf Coast food is more of the feminine side, while the meat is more masculine. I don’t want to call it a steak bar or tapas, but it’s definitely going to be that type of atmosphere.

What made you go with Gulf Coast seafood and Texas-raised beef?
I was born in Alabama and grew up on the Gulf Coast. I grew up fishing with my grandpa and eating seafood all the time. It’s the life many Texans know. We had a garden with these amazing vegetables, and I’ll never forget the first time I had a fresh tomato with mayonnaise and salt. A lot of restaurants do the whole Southern food thing, but I’ve purposely shied away from that identity for a reason. I want to focus more on the lifestyle of the South and the Gulf Coast, which encompasses a ton of different types of food: Spanish, Italian, seafood, barbecue, ranch-style, you name it.

What’s a dish you’ve come up with so far that you’re really proud of for The Bull & The Pearl?
Baked oysters. We take bone marrow and fold in butter and breadcrumbs to do this amazing crust. It reminds me of sitting around eating a big ol’ bucket of oysters. That was one of our most popular dishes at the pop-up we held at Good Dog.

Where’s your dream location for the restaurant?
Probably Midtown or Montrose. I definitely like the Kirby/Richmond area.

You were downtown at Batanga though.
Don’t get me wrong: I love Downtown, but it’s just too much money. Parking isn’t easy either. I love East Downtown – that’s actually where I live. I love the idea of taking a warehouse and turning it into a restaurant – kind of what Emeril [Lagasse] did in the 1990s, but the costs would be absurd.

Is there a chef or restaurant that you’re really digging at the moment?
I love to go to Cochon when I’m in New Orleans. They’re not trying to push the envelope  necessarily, but they’re doing good food that you’d want to eat all the time. Coltivare is another one. We snuck in on a Monday night, sat at the bar and just stuffed our faces. I like what those guys have done with Revival Market and Coltivare. They know what works for them. You don’t see all these crazy ingredients being thrown into the dishes. It’s just straightforward great food. That’s what people want.

Where do you draw culinary inspiration?
I get inspiration from everything. From watching sitcoms to goofy conversations, there’s always something to inspire. Another chef and I were talking about pickled sausage from a Portlandia episode the other day, and it made me want to mess around with it in the kitchen. It’s the part of the job I just love.