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Weeks after he was defeated by Houston mayor Sylvester Turner in a runoff election, attorney Tony Buzbee has a brand new venture in the works: a slightly unhinged food TV show that he’s dubbed Uninvited.
A website created for the show this week indicates that Buzbee plans to take a “deep dive” into some of the city’s best dining neighborhoods. It’s unclear where exactly the show will air, but Buzbee’s website indicates that he’s already planning episodes centered around the dining scenes in Downtown Houston, Kingwood, and “The Hights.” “Houston is the most diverse city in the world; with one of the most dynamic restaurant scenes in the entire country,” Buzbee wrote. “I’ve been lucky enough to eat at some of the recognized best restaurants in our fair city. But now, I’m going deeper.”
When reached for comment by Eater, Buzbee called the show a “passion project,” and shared a little bit about what Uninvited will look like. “My effort will be to explore deeper,” he says. “Of all places you could have gone, why did you come to Houston? Why did you choose to open a restaurant? Why do you cook? What’s your life story? What about this food is important to you? In your view, what’s the best dish? Why? I am just very curious and love to explore the fabric of our city.”
In an Instagram post, Buzbee says that his show will “go deeper” than the top-100 restaurants list curated each year by Houston Chronicle dining critic Alison Cook. Via his Instagram page, Buzbee has already showcased himself dining at spots like Le Colonial, Crawfish & Noodles, and Fung’s Kitchen.
Check it out for yourself:
“We’ve been to some of the greatest restaurants, all across the city of Houston. You know the restaurants that people say ‘these are great restaurants,’ the restaurants you see on Alison Cook’s top 100, the restaurants you see on the Houston Press,” Buzbee says in one video. “We’re going deeper.” Considering that plan, it’s pretty obvious that Buzbee’s new show is heavily inspired by trailblazing food TV personality Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations, which employed pretty much the exact same concept on a global scale.
When asked about that comparison, Buzbee seemed to think it was apt. “I loved that guy,” he said. “He was something special.”
In this new foray, Buzbee is as brash as he’s been in his legal work and political aspirations. In the comments on that Le Colonial video, an Instagram user points out that the whole-fried fish Buzbee is raving about isn’t exactly an uncommon preparation. “Hey dumbass,” Buzbee wrote in response to the comment. “You don’t think I know chefs fry fish whole?! My parents did that more than 40 years ago. Get a life loser.”
It also appears that Buzbee has changed the name of his Buzbee For Mayor Facebook page to promote the new show, which explains how it has racked up more than 10,000 likes despite having just been announced a few days ago.
As for now, there’s no planned timeline for the debut of Uninvited, but Buzbee says that he’s currently planning on filming 13 episodes of the show. “I’m not doing it for money, so we have no time table. I’ll call it as I see it. It will be authentic and real,” he said. “I’m sure our first season will be done by early spring.”
Update, 10:15 a.m.: This story has been updated throughout with comment from Buzbee.
