Inside the Briscoe Western Art Museum, Chris Cullum cut a familiar victory pose. He took a bow, smiled for the cameras and lifted a trophy.
His Tobin Hill eatery, Cullum’s Attaboy, won the CultureMap San Antonio Tastemaker Award for Restaurant of the Year Thursday night.
In 2025, his smaller Tobin Hill eatery, Cullum’s Attagirl, claimed the Tastemaker Award for Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year.
“It just goes to show that I have an amazing team,” Cullum said as he celebrated back-to-back triumphs with chef de cuisine Alysha Brooke. “And I’m grateful to fight the good fight every day with them.”
The Tastemaker Awards drew hundreds of guests and dozens of nominees across 10 categories to recognize San Antonio’s top restaurant, chef and bar talent for 2026.
Sue Kim was named Chef of the Year for her work at The Magpie.
Jue Let won for Bar of the Year after opening less than six months ago at Pearl.
“Honestly, the work we have done feels like a year — so it feels like a win,” said Jue Let owner Jennifer Dobbertin. “We worked so hard for a long time to open Jue Let. We were surprised but also we really wanted to win.”
Other winners included Matt Garcia of Gigi’s Deli for Rising Chef of the Year; Con Huevos Tacos for Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year; Nicosi for Dessert Program of the Year; NoFi Slow Bar for Coffee Shop of the Year; Beacon Hill Market & Deli for Sandwich of the Year; Buddy’s Big Trouble for Best Pop-up; and Honey’s Chicken Joint for Best New Restaurant.
A panel of culinary connoisseurs and previous Tastemaker winners selected 2026 winners in nine categories. CultureMap readers decided the Best New Restaurant.
The awards ceremony and tasting event featured food and drink samples from a range of kitchens, bakeries and bars, including Best Quality Daughter, The Jerk Shack, Anacacho Coffee & Cantina and Jots at the Gunter Hotel.
Cullum continues to gather awards and acclaim. Months after opening his brick-and-mortar in 2022, the gifted culinarian garnered a headline from Texas Monthly: “Christopher Cullum’s Attaboy is more Paris Bistro than San Antonio Diner.”
Of Cullum’s omelet, the magazine wrote, “The texture is somewhere between scandalous and celestial, a miracle of perfectly set egg and God knows how much butter.”
Since then, Attaboy has earned two Michelin Bib Gourmands and Cullum has been named a James Beard finalist for Best Chef: Texas.
Cullum shared the Tastemaker Award with a jubilant Alysha Brooke, a graduate of Pearl’s Culinary Institute of America.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know we were nominated,” said Brooke, a talented chef who won the Fajita Lounge Showdown in 2024. “This feels insane. We have worked really hard all year. It’s reassurance that we’re doing a great job.”
