Benchawan Jabthong Painter

2023 James Beard Winner for Best Chef Texas

By all accounts, Chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter (Chef G) is a young chef. But her experience in the kitchen goes as far back as she can remember. At the age of 6 years, she began helping make Central Thai classics from scratch with her grandmother in their neighborhood restaurant in the North Central Thai metropolis of Nakhon Sawan. She has never stopped cooking since.

After working in a number of Bangkok restaurants and pastry shops, Benchawan met her husband Graham Painter and moved to Houston, TX with him 5 years later. She put her skills immediately to use at such lauded restaurants as Justin Yu’s Theodore Rex and Saltair Seafood Kitchen.

In August 2020, Chef Benchawan and husband Graham Painter launched “Street to Kitchen”, their East End H-Town dream restaurant. Dedicated to unapologetic Thai staples, the restaurant has garnered fans and acclaim both regionally and internationally.

This year, Chef Benchawan was the winner of the title Best Chef Texas by the James Beard Foundation. Last year, in 2022, Street to Kitchen was awarded Culture Map Houston’s Tastemaker Awards “Restaurant of the Year” and Chef Benchawan won the coveted “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award. Street to Kitchen is also listed in Eater Magazine’s 38 Essential Restaurants Houston, and made the Houston Chronicle’s Best 100 Restaurants Houston in the Top Ten.

Chef Benchawan and Graham opened their second concept ThPrsrv at eculent in Kemah, (@thprsrv) with Choctaw native and chef/owner of eculent, Chef David Skinner, and plan to keep serving unapologetically creative dishes together.