Chorizo — Grits Breakfast Bowls — The Apple Added Paprika

October pop-up. Number eight. Still limited to 100 covers. Sold out in eight minutes this time. The waitlist hit 500. I added something new to the menu: Tyler's sausage. His Vietnamese-spiced pork sausage, made with his recipe (lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce, five-spice, smoked paprika). He made sixty links for the pop-up, stuffed and smoked them himself, and they sold out faster than anything else on the table. A food blogger wrote: "Bobby Tran's son Tyler made the best sausage I've ever eaten at any pop-up in Houston. The apple didn't fall far." Tyler read it on his phone and said, "The apple added paprika." He's funny. He doesn't show it often, but he's funny. Emma added her dessert: Vietnamese coffee panna cotta, served in small cups, $4 each. She made 100 portions. They were gone in thirty minutes. Her profit margin on the panna cotta is insane — the ingredients cost about $0.50 per serving and she charges $4. She told me this unprompted, with the satisfaction of a person who's figured out that dessert is where the money is. Lily ran the front with her usual efficiency, but she added something: a comment card. A physical card that asked two questions: "What did you love?" and "What would you change?" She collected 78 cards. The answers: people love the brisket (96%), love the pho (94%), love the spring rolls (91%), and want a permanent restaurant (87%). Eighty-seven percent of our customers want us to open a restaurant. The market has spoken. The market sounds like Emma. Revenue: $3,800. Total pop-up revenue since August 2019: approximately $36,000. Net profit: approximately $18,000 after expenses. That's college-fund money. That's restaurant-build-out money. That's proof-of-concept money. The proof is in the concept. The concept is in the brisket. The brisket is in the smoker. The smoker is in the hands of a family that cooks. Ma's spring rolls were on the table. She wasn't there. She was at home, watching Vietnamese TV, trusting me to serve her food to strangers. The trust of a woman who's never trusted easily. The trust that comes from survival and love and the specific knowledge that her son won't screw up her spring rolls. I won't, Ma. I never will.

Tyler’s sausage sold out before anything else hit the table — sixty links, gone — and I drove home that night thinking about what it means to watch your kid develop a palate and a point of view that’s entirely his own. The lemongrass, the five-spice, the paprika he added himself: that’s not my recipe, that’s his instinct. So in the days after pop-up eight, when I wanted to cook something that honored that same energy — bold spiced sausage over something warm and grounding — I landed on this chorizo and grits bowl. It’s not Vietnamese, but it’s got the same unapologetic confidence Tyler brought to that smoker, and it’s the kind of breakfast that reminds you why sausage is always the first thing to go.

Chorizo & Grits Breakfast Bowls

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh chorizo sausage, casings removed
• 1 cup stone-ground grits (not instant)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced white onion
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, chopped (for garnish)
• Hot sauce, to serve

Instructions

1. Cook the grits. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Slowly whisk in the grits, reduce heat to low, and cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 20–22 minutes until thick and creamy. Stir in milk, butter, and cheddar. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm.
2. Brown the chorizo. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and red bell pepper and cook 3–4 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add chorizo, breaking it up with a spoon, and cook 6–8 minutes until browned and cooked through. Drain excess fat if needed. Stir in smoked paprika. Keep warm over low heat.
3. Fry the eggs. In a separate nonstick skillet, cook eggs sunny-side up or over-easy in a small amount of butter over medium-low heat, 2–3 minutes, until whites are set and yolks are still runny. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
4. Assemble the bowls. Divide the cheesy grits among four bowls. Spoon the chorizo mixture over the grits. Top each bowl with a fried egg.
5. Garnish and serve. Scatter fresh cilantro or parsley over each bowl. Serve immediately with hot sauce on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 620 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 38g | Carbs: 39g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 980mg