Our Team
Chef “G” Benchawan Painter
2023 James Beard Winner for Best Chef Texas
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Since learning how to cook in her grandmother’s neighborhood restaurant in Central Thailand, Benchawan Jabthong Painter has been a natural chef. After marrying her husband Graham, Painter moved to Houston in 2015 and jumped into the city’s food scene, bringing her deep knowledge of Thai cuisine to restaurants like Saltair and Theodore Rex. In 2020, the Painters opened Street to Kitchen, which features all-scratch-made Thai foods rooted in her grandmother’s recipes and techniques. In 2023 she became the first woman in Houston to win Best Chef for the whole state of Texas at the James Beard Awards.
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Chef G loves to travel anywhere her fur baby, a Jack Russell Terrier mix named Kitty, is welcome. Ms. Kitty is most fashionable, with her own closet for doggie clothing and a very fancy puppy stroller that can be seen wherever the Painters stop to eat—al fresco, naturally.
G also loves all things Hello Kitty, painting, and enjoys building things—from Legos to furniture. She loves drinking Champagne and swimming in the sea, not necessarily in that order. -
Her second restaurant in collaboration with Chef David Skinner, th_prsrv, opened in June of 2023 in Kemah, Texas. G is interested in digging down beyond the surface of modern global cuisine and discovering new techniques through indigenous food exploration. Painter is the winner for the 2023 James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef Texas” award and hopes to spread the word to all who will listen that dreams are worth following because they always lead you in the right direction.
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Chef David Skinner
The “Willy Wonka” of the Texas Food Scene
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By the time Choctaw Chef David Skinner was 16 years of age, he had completed every recipe in Julia Child’s two volume “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” cookbook and set off to open a restaurant to put himself through college. His grandmother, a pastry chef, had taught him well. He then opened his second restaurant while studying at Oklahoma State University and made a splash with French infused California cuisine amongst a sea of beer and burger joints. David later used his R&D background and consulting skills working with major corporations around the globe finding every chance possible to travel and gather inspiration from molecular gastronomic pioneers like Albert and Ferran Adria. He applied his knowledge and love for cooking to his mastery of chemistry. Almost a decade ago, chef David opened eculent, a multi-sensory eating experience on the Texas Gulf Coast city of Kemah. After eating with chef Benchawan at her Street to Kitchen Thai eatery in Houston, he was inspired by her unapologetically authentic Thai food approach and is dedicated to discovering/re-discovering what his Native Choctaw food was like before the Europeans colonized the New World.
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Innovative gastronomy. Trees. Chocolate Factories.
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Further discovery into indigenous ingredients, pre-colonial culinary traditions and building upon his eculent legacy within his new partnership with Chef G and Graham Painter at th_prsrv
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Graham Painter
Gypsy Texan
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After graduating with a BA in philosophy from Austin College in Sherman, TX, Graham disappeared in the Middle East on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Not much is known about him after that, but he eventually resurfaced in New York City for a few years before drifting back to the Old Country, where he was spotted in Austria, Romania, Turkey, and eventually the UK. Graham worked as an advertising creative director in London for a decade before accepting a job in Bangkok, which triggered his love for all things Thai—especially the food. He is now wine director for his restaurant Street to Kitchen and th_prsrv.
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When not drinking slivovitz in the bowels of a backroom Balkan bar, Graham is often tasting wine in search of the perfect pairing for his beloved wife’s Thai culinary creations. He loves Thai hip hop, getting lost where he doesn’t speak the language, and meeting interesting people.
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Graham is opening th_prsrv with Chef David Skinner and his wife Benchawan where he plans to keep drinking wine on the eternal search for perfect pairings across the menu.