Maggie Rita's swears it never called a customer fat: Restaurant claims it's a fake Facebook page

Maggie Rita's Mexican Kitchen may have only one location left in the Bayou City, but that doesn't mean the Carlos Mencia-owned chain is going down without a fight . . . Or at least that's how it appears on Facebook.

Local Amanda Newman took to Facebook to say goodbye to Maggie Rita's recently-shuttered Shepherd location — making sure to bring up the infamous 2012 comments from co-owner Santiago Moreno in which he labeled his customers "old Taco Bell clients" and claimed that women only care about margaritas at Mexican restaurants.

Happy to see that your location on Shepherd closed! Insulting Houston before we tried your food was kinda 'dee-de-deee' of you! We hope they all close soon."

While perhaps not the kindest of words — right down to using Mencia's outrageously offensive "dee-de-deee" catchphrase — Newman certainly hasn't been the first to lash out at the restaurant chain.

Operators of the Maggie Rita's fan account spent five days carefully crafting this response:

I thought fat people were supposed to be jolly."

Clearly, the high road was not an option.

"After all of those comments about Houston and Houston women, I said I'd never set foot in one of those restaurants," Newman tells CultureMap. "When I saw the one on Shepherd has closed, I thought it was hilarious. It was like all that bad karma got them in the end."

Newman says she wasn't surprised by the comment, but wasn't terribly offended.

"I'm not going to get upset or hurt by an insult a third-grader would say. It just goes to show that these idiot haven't learned anything. All those bad reviews were right after all."

Facebook fake out?

When CultureMap spoke with Santiago Moreno on Thursday, the co-owner was taken aback at the news, explaining it was the first he's heard of the situation.

"I haven't been on our Facebook page for months," he says.

"I'm the only one who can use it, other than a few promoters we hired in the past. These are professional people though, so maybe we were hacked . . . Whatever happened, I sincerely apologize on behalf of the company."

Five minutes later, Moreno called back to report the account in question — which only has 154 likes — wasn't started or operated by him.

He says that the official Facebook pages are only "friend" accounts (not "like" accounts) and listed as Carlos Mencia's Maggie Rita's and Maggie Rita's Modern Mex, the latter of which was started when the first account maxed out at 5,000 friends. The second account is currently linked up to the restaurant's website.

As of Thursday afternoon, the "jolly" comment to Newman remains posted on the Facebook fan page.

This Maggie Rita's restaurant critic didn't exactly receive a civil response. Fat joke anyone?

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8 miles high

Houston chef's menu takes off on United's premium business class offering

Courtesy of United

Justin Yu, far left, is one of 11 participating chefs.

United Airlines has shared more details about its new partnership with Chef’s Table, the acclaimed Netflix documentary series, including the menus created by the 11 participating chefs for travelers flying its premium Polaris business class seating.

For flights departing from Houston, United and Chef’s Table recruited Justin Yu, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind Theodore Rex, a fine dining restaurant in downtown that holds a Bib Gourmand designation in the Michelin Guide. In addition, Yu and his business partner Bobby Heugel own Houston hospitality group Thorough Fare, which operates bars and restaurants including Anvil, Better Luck Tomorrow, Squable, Donna’s, and a new, still-unnamed restaurant in Montrose that’s slated to open later this year.

Beginning August 1, people departing from George Bush Intercontinental Airport will be able to dine on Yu’s three-course menu that consists of:

Appetizer: Deviled eggs with white soy, aged cheddar, and chives
Salad: Chicory salad with spiced bacon, chickpeas, cucumber, onion, and oregano mustard vinaigrette
Entrée: Braised Texas short rib with ragout of mushrooms, red miso, and black eyed peas

“I wanted that slightly Texan touch,” Yu told CultureMap in March. “To me, the Houston part of it is the most important. There’s such a level of diversity. Introducing light touches of that to the meal was something I considered.”

Other participating chefs include Nancy Silverton (Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles), whose menu includes an appetizer of burrata with braised leeks, shaved Brussels sprouts salad, and beef brasato with garlic mashed potatoes; Jenner Tomaska (Esmé, Petite Edith, and The Alston in Chicago), who has created a braised leeks appetizer, an arugula salad, and halibut with sauce matelote; Tomos Parry (Mountain and Brat in London), whose menu includes an appetizer of grilled beef filet, lobster salad with grilled peach, and slow-roasted lamb with smoked potatoes.

Chefs representing United’s destinations in Newark, Denver, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., São Paulo, and Tokyo are also participating. The menus will be available through September 2026. They’ll be updated with new seasonal items beginning in October. Customers may opt for the Chef's Table meals beginning five days and up to 24 hours prior to departure.

"At its core, this collaboration with Chef's Table is rooted in a shared ambition to redefine what inflight dining can be," said Aaron McMillan, United's Managing Director of Hospitality Programs, in a statement. "Because our leading global network reaches into the world's greatest food cities, we're able to work hand-in-hand with world-class chefs and translate their points of view into dishes intentionally designed for the realities of travel and inspired by destinations we serve."

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