No sooner did Underbelly close than an opening date is posted for the restaurant's much-anticipated follow-up. James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd will open his new restaurant, UB Preserv, 1609 Westheimer, the week of April 16.

Shepherd shared other big news: he has hired former Momofuku wiz Nick Wong at UB Preserv's chef de cuisine. Wong, a native Californian, who joined David Chang's Momofuku team after attending the French Culinary Institute in New York, working at Momofuku Ko and Momofuku Ssam Bar in New York. After two years with Momofuku Ssam Bar he spent a year at Danny Meyer's Gramercy Tavern then at Chris Cosentino's Incanto in San Francisco. He returned to Momofuku Ssam Bar in 2013 as sous chef and was promoted to chef de cuisine a year later.

Shepherd said that Wong was looking for a change and took a road trip across country which brought him to Houston about three weeks after Hurricane Harvey. "He said he wanted to see if there was anything he could do to help out," Shepherd said. "I told him to come and see what you want to do. He spent a couple of days here and we talked."

Those talks led to others and two weeks ago Shepherd had a new chef de cuisine. In the next few days Shepherd said he and Wong will begin collaborating on the menu for UB Preserv, which Shepherd said will continue Underbelly's mission of telling the story of how Houston eats.

But, the Shepherd said, that has changed from when Underbelly first opened in 2012. That story has become more expansive and it will be reflected in the new UB Preserv menu, he added.

"You're starting to see the second generations doing their things," he said. "I think we want to try to venture out not into just Southeast Asian, but also more into Middle Eastern, African and Mexican. We want to expand our vision of what's going on. We want to see it all."

Together, Shepherd and Wong have dumplings on the mind, too. They are conspiring to create the best dumplings in Houston, as well as planning to offer Sunday dim sum brunch, a rarity inside the Loop.

Shepherd and his Underbelly staff have been busy lately. On March 31, the restaurant hosted its final service. On April 1 Underbelly threw a party before work began on transforming the space to Georgia James steakhouse, set to open mid-July. Next door, partner Kevin Floyd will close the Hay Merchant after service April 2 for repairs to the beer cooler, reopening April 22. After Shepherd opens UB Preserv he will have a few months to perfect the menu there before turning his attention to the last day of service at his One Fifth Romance Languages on July 31. One Fifth Mediterranean will open Sept. 1.

"Getting through the weekend was key for me – to be able to have closure and now focus on something new," Shepherd said. "That's the only way I'm going to be able to do this."