Andrew Ho tried to put the past six years into perspective but struggled to find the words. Not long ago he was a struggling chef. Now he’s a published author with a rising pile of accolades.

Ho and fellow chefs Andrew Samia and Sean Wen released a new cookbook on Tuesday called “Asian Smoke: Thai and Southeast Asian Barbecue from the Curry Boys.” And this follows the launch of a new Curry Boys BBQ location in Nashville, Tennessee in 2025. 

Since opening their first San Antonio joint out of a pink shipping container in 2020, the trio has earned two James Beard nominations, won multiple awards and achieved more success than they ever imagined.

“It’s not a dream come true because we never dreamed of this,” Ho said. “It’s surreal. It’s incredible. It’s. …” 

Hard to believe?

That’s a good place to start. Ho studied corporate communications at the University of Texas at Austin. Wen majored in psychology. There they became teammates on a pickup basketball team in 2009 and began cooking together.

“We would throw big crawfish boils,” Ho said. “And folks were always like, ‘Wow, this is the best we’ve ever had. Y’all should open something.’”

The idea stuck but remained back-of-mind. 

After graduating, they pursued different careers but stayed in touch. Four years later, they connected long distance — Ho in Vietnam, Wen in Baltimore — and discussed a Viet-Cajun seafood boil concept. 

The discussion evolved into a yearlong plan. In 2016, they relocated to San Antonio, launched a pop-up and turned it into a brick-and-mortar. The Pinch Boil House drew crowds. The COVID-19 pandemic shut it down. 

Ho and Wen reached out to Andrew Samia, a pitmaster who had closed South BBQ & Kitchen, and created a novel concept. They combined Southeast Asian curry with Texas barbecue, sold to-go meals and dropped off orders in the trunks of cars. 

Customers were wowed. 

Curry Boys BBQ was born. 

“We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Samia said. “But success wasn’t something we ever set out to achieve. We’re just doing what we love to do everyday.” 

The Curry Boys never set out to write a book. A publisher called last spring and asked if they’d be interested. The timing was poor. Ho’s wife and Samia’s wife were pregnant. The wife of their partner in Nashville was pregnant. And the Tennessee location was opening.

“Three babies were on the way and the publisher wanted a cookbook,” Ho said. “But it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.” 

The Curry Boys signed with Harvard Common Press, gathered 100 recipes and wrote the book in three to four months. 

A book signing party will be held at noon, April 12 at the St. Mary’s Strip location, 536 E. Courtland Place. The Curry Boys will feature dishes from the cookbook along with a crawfish boil.

The Curry Boys’ cookbook “Asian Smoke: Thai and Southeast Asian Barbecue” was released in digital and physical formats on Tuesday. Credit: Courtesy

“It feels very surreal to search my name on Amazon and now it pops up as ‘author,’” Samia said. “We’re just super grateful that the publisher reached out to us and showed so much interest in helping us tell our story.”

The cookbook includes recipes for restaurant favorites, such as the brisket smoke show, good luck cluck, pulled pork nachos, curry creamed corn, cold chili garlic noodles and lemongrass barbecue pork spare ribs.

Asian Smoke also includes salads, desserts and home favorites such as Thai-style BBQ shrimp with penang curry butter on toasted baguette and grilled Thai sriracha buffalo wings.

Ho recently posted an Instagram video of himself walking into Barnes & Noble with his daughter. Ho carries her to a table that holds an upright copy of Asian Smoke. He picks up the book. His 1-year-old daughter opens it. 

“What a crazy time writing, cooking, and photographing this cookbook while amelia was 0 to 2 months old,” Ho wrote, “but it was all worth it! mama and dada love you so much amelia girl (heart emoji)”

Asian Smoke is the latest serendipitous turn for three chefs enjoying a streak of good news. They weren’t looking to expand out of state. But an opportunity opened in Nashville. They weren’t chasing culinary recognition. But they received back-to-back James Beard nominations.

Ho’s wife sent him a screenshot of the first nomination in 2023. He thought the news might be a prank. 

“We were in a 220 square-foot shack container thing,” he said. “James Beard was never on our radar. We thought James Beard was more for fine dining and white tablecloth service. We were just blown away.”

Ho’s wife sent him a screenshot of a second James Beard nomination in 2024. He thought it might have been a mistake, a screenshot from 2023. It wasn’t.

“It was like lightning striking twice,” Ho said.

The cookbook offer arrived with another serendipitous stroke. The publisher did not intend to push Asian Smoke to a South Texas market. Harvard Common Press, owned by The Quarto Group, promised to market the cookbook across the U.S., the U.K., Australia and around the world.

“The Quarto Group does tons of data and saw that backyard barbecue and Asian cooking trends are skyrocketing worldwide,” Ho said. “And then they did a deep dive into concepts all over the world and found us.” 

Call the Curry Boys stunned. So stunned they posted an all-caps message on Instagram beneath a photo of Asian Smoke: 

“OKAY SO THIS IS FREAKIN HAPPENING (SOMEHOW) AND WE CANT BELIEVE WE GET A CHANCE TO SHARE OUR WORLD OF ALL THINGS BBQ AND ASIAN FOOD WITH YOU. … LMAO TALK ABOUT IMPOSTER SYNDROME – SHEESH. NOT SURE WHY OR HOW THIS HAPPENED, BUT WE ARE BEYOND GRATEFUL AND HUMBLED!”