Culinary grad named James Beard Best Emerging Chef

Adrian Torres was eating breakfast with friends when his phone rang. On the other end was Chef Chris Shepherd from the Southern Smoke Foundation yelling. 

Torres had already seen his name on the list of nominees. Now, hearing Shepherd's voice, it became real.  

"We all cried and celebrated right there at the table," he said. 

That morning marked the beginning of a remarkable run. On March 31, the James Beard Foundation named Torres, a 2019 San Jacinto College graduate, one of five finalists for Best Emerging Chef, one of the most prestigious honors in American cuisine. In June, he won.

The James Beard Awards recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and the broader food system. 

Torres is the executive chef of Maximo, a West University restaurant that earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation less than a year after opening in January 2025. The recognition caps a journey that began not with a celebrated culinary pedigree but with a closed door. 
 
At 17, Torres applied to private culinary schools with ambitions of becoming a pastry chef. But during an admissions meeting, the conversation turned to his immigration status as a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and the enthusiasm on the other side of the table cooled. 
 
“It just stopped right there,” he said. 
 
What followed was a detour Torres now calls one of the best things that ever happened to him. He enrolled in the culinary program at San Jac’s North Campus, becoming the first in his family to pursue education beyond high school. While he had taken some culinary courses in high school and loved baking, he had never cooked professionally. 
 
He showed up early, stayed late, and volunteered for extra events. 
 
“I came with full energy,” Torres said. “I wasn’t able to get into the school I thought I wanted, so this was my chance to soak up as much knowledge as I could.” 
 
His instructors noticed. Chef Andrea Huerta recalled that he was “always here,” seeking feedback and putting in extra time. 
 
“Adrian is such a rock star,” Huerta said. “He had obvious culinary aptitude from the beginning, but his work ethic is unmatched.” 
 
Instructors and chefs Timothy Banks and Trace Clark pulled him aside early in his first semester and told him they saw potential. 
 
“Where I come from, you don’t always have people pushing you to do better and be better,” Torres said. “That lit a fire in me that is lit to this day.” 

 

He earned his associate degree in culinary arts in 2019. By then, he was already working in a professional kitchen at Xochi, hired on the spot during Houston Restaurant Weeks. He had never shucked an oyster before his first shift. Months later, he could open 100 in under 15 minutes. 
 
Torres spent the next few years moving through Houston kitchens before finding his footing under James Beard Award-winning Houston chef Thomas Bille in early 2020, taking an $18-an-hour pay cut to do it. 
 
“I knew it was an investment,” he said. 
 
A week later, the pandemic shut down much of Houston’s restaurant industry, but Bille’s restaurant didn’t close. Torres watched his mentor pivot quickly, working with a skeleton crew through prep, cooking, service, and cleanup. 
 
“I learned the hustle with him,” Torres said. 
 
He joined a West University restaurant called El Topo in October 2021, which was relaunched as Maximo in April 2024. Torres was eventually promoted to executive chef. After a temporary shutdown, he had three weeks to rebrand the restaurant with a new menu, service style, and identity. The Michelin recognition and James Beard nomination followed. 
 
Today, Torres leads a team that reflects the culture his own instructors modeled, one built on shared learning and showing up ready to work. Many of his cooks have been with him since the restaurant’s earlier iteration. 
 
“I’m 27. I don’t know everything,” he said. “There are things I can teach you and things you can teach me. We’re going to learn together.” 
 
He is direct about what San Jac meant to his path. 
 
“This is a community college, and that shouldn’t carry any stigma,” Torres said. “You get out of it what you put into it.” 

For Torres, the journey that began with rejection ultimately led to one of the highest honors as a chef and reinforced the value of the community college that helped launch his career. 
 
“If I could go back and I had the choice to go to these prestigious culinary schools or San Jac, I’d take San Jac 10 times over,” he said. 

Learn more about the culinary arts program at San Jac

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About San Jacinto College

Surrounded by monuments of history, evolving industries, maritime enterprises of today, and the space age of tomorrow, San Jacinto College has served the people of East Harris County, Texas, since 1961. The College is ranked second in the nation among more than 1,100 community colleges, as designated by the Aspen Institute and was named an Achieving the Dream Leader College of Distinction in 2020 and 2026. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution that spans five campuses, plus an online college, San Jacinto College serves approximately 45,000 credit and non-credit students annually. It offers more than 200 degrees and certificates across eight major areas of study that put students on a path to transfer to four-year institutions or enter the workforce. The College is fiscally sound, holding bond ratings of AA+ by Standard & Poor’s and Aa2 by Moody’s. San Jacinto College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.