Erin Smith has been appointed Executive Chef at JW Marriott Houston Downtown Hotel
Erin Smith, the former culinary director for the Clumsy Butcher restaurant group, has been hired as the new executive chef for the JW Marriott Houston Downtown Hotel, set to open this summer. Smith, a Houston native and graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, will be in charge of all of the hotel's culinary operations including the new 120-seat restaurant called Main Kitchen that will be located on the ground floor of the hotel at the corner of Main and Rusk. The 328-room hotel at 806 Main, in the former Samuel F. Carter Building, is an $80.8 million project being developed by Pearl Hospitality. It is the Fort Worth company's first Houston project. Before she took the job with JW Marriott, Smith spent nine months as culinary director for Clumsy Butcher restaurant group, which oversees operations including Anvil Bar & Refuge, Underbelly, the Hay Merchant, Julep, Blacksmith, the Pastry War and OKRA Charity Saloon. She worked as an independent consultant for Blacksmith after leaving Plonk! Before moving to Houston, Smith worked at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York, and Italian Wine Merchants and Babbo, both also in New York.
