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    Chicken Tenders, Anyone?

    Big Sexy finds a brick and mortar home for chicken tender truck

    Eric Sandler
    May 6, 2016 | 10:31 am

    A Houston food truck will open a brick and mortar restaurant next month, thanks to a little help from one of the city’s fastest growing restaurant groups.

     

    Jason “Big Sexy” Hill has leased the Treadsack's Kipper Club Test Kitchen space to open a permanent location for his chicken tender truck Luv Me Tenders. Hill recently split with his long-time business partner Matt Opaleski, who will continue to operate Hugs & Donuts.

     

    “We’re at a point where both brands are ready to move forward with multiple locations, and we can’t do that without having 50-percent ownership in each individual business so that we can acquire more assets and loans,” Hill tells CultureMap.

     

    To help Hill realize his goal of opening as many as half a dozen Luv Me Tenders across the Houston-area, he’s found a new business partner in former Sandtrap Grill owner Cyrus Nasr.

     

    “Jason seemed like a really good partner regardless of what he was doing with chicken tenders or the truck,” Nasr says. “The location is excellent, very close to my house. It’s a totally different concept and a new direction for me.”

     

    During Hill and Opaleski’s Bird House fried chicken pop-up, Hill says he noticed customers, including Houston hip hop superstar Bun B, kept ordering the tenders he added to appeal to kids, which came as a surprise to the chef, who clearly hasn't read food writer Helen Rosner's James Beard Award-winning essay that calls chicken tenders "perfect."

     

    “I’m not a chicken breast guy,” he notes. “I always live by one theory: I like my breasts in my women and my thighs in my chicken.”

     

    Still, Hill’s been in the business long enough to realize that he should serve what customers want to eat. He opened Luv Me Tenders last year; a concept that Hill describes as a cross between Raising Cane's and Torchy's Tacos and a recipe that utilizes 15 herbs and spices and has helped it win fans.

     

    “Not that I was trying to outdo the Colonel, that’s just what we came up with,” Hill says.

     

    In addition to chicken tenders baskets, diners can get them on sandwiches or in tacos. The brick and mortar location will add some appetizers like boudain egg rolls and crab hushpuppies, as well as a few vegetable sides like fried Brussels sprouts with country ham and red eye vinaigrette that date back to Hill’s first truck, the legendary H-Town StrEATs.

     

    Hill also has plans for specials like Wild Wing Wednesdays, fried grouper sandwiches on Friday, and a waffle bar for brunch on Sundays. Patrons will be able to purchase beer and wine from the gas station next door, with Hill selling buckets of ice for $1 as well as michelada, mimosa, and bellini setups.

     

    Treadsack co-owner Chris Cusack says he received dozens of inquiries about taking over the Kipper Club space, but ultimately decided Luv Me Tenders would be the best fit.

     

    “What makes me really happy about what Jason is doing is that it will have a life of its own rather than being a commissary kitchen or test kitchen. That will make our neighbors happy and be great for the neighborhood,” Cusack says. “I also like that we’re continuing Yale north of 610 in terms of adding great places to eat.”

     

    In the next couple of weeks, Hill will introduce Luv Me Tenders to the neighborhood by serving from the truck in front of the restaurant. With only minor renovations required, Hill plans to open by mid-June. Apart from being a fully built kitchen that will need only mild renovations, Hill says the space appealed to him for another reason as well.

     

    “I like the fact that it’s connected to a gas station. As a Southerner, our best food comes from places that are connected to a gas station.”

    Jason Hill and Cyrus Nasr are opening a brick and mortar location of Luv Me Tenders.

    Jason Hill Cyrus Nasr Luv Me Tenders
      
    Photo by Eric Sandler
    Jason Hill and Cyrus Nasr are opening a brick and mortar location of Luv Me Tenders.
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    Award-winning NYC chefs join Houston rising star for pop-up dinner

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 10, 2025 | 4:45 pm
    Barbacana restaurant interior
    Courtesy of Barbacana
    Barbacana will host the special dinner on July 22.

    One of Houston’s rising star chefs is teaming up with two of his mentors for a one-night-only experience. New York chefs Fabián von Hauske-Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone are coming to downtown restaurant Barbacana on Tuesday, July 22 for a collaboration dinner with chef-owner Christian Hernandez.


      
     
     
     
     
     
     
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    A post shared by Barbacana Restaurant (@barbacanahtx)


    Stone and von Hauske-Valtierra earned a Michelin star and a Food & Wine Best New Chef award for their New York City restaurant Contra. First opened in 2013, Contra served an affordable tasting menu of dishes that could change from night to night based on available ingredients. It closed in 2023. The chefs opened a new concept called Bar Contra in 2024.

    Hernandez worked at Contra as a line cook in 2016 and 2017, which is when it first earned a Michelin star. He tells CultureMap that he turned down an offer from Eleven Madison Park, then considered one of the best restaurants in America, to cook at the smaller, more innovative Contra.

    “It really shaped everything I did afterwards,” Hernandez tells CultureMap. “Their level of creativity, their confidence and comfort with what they do — we’d change the menu every couple of days. It showed me a lot of what it takes to perform on that level consistently.”

    For the collaboration dinner, Stone and von Hauske-Valtierra will prepare three dishes alongside three dishes from Hernandez and the Barbacana team. Even though the dinner is only a couple of weeks away, Hernandez hasn’t finalized the menu yet. The plan is to shop for ingredients the day before and let them dictate what’s served.

    One possibility is a dish Hernandez is testing that’s inspired by his time at Contra. It’s a tuna crudo with seasonal melson and lacto-fermented blackberry consomme.

    “Two or three elements, simple plating — as I’ve been working on this tuna dish, I’ve been thinking about them,” he says.

    Hernandez opened Barbacana in late 2024. Located near Market Square in downtown Houston, it takes inspiration from Houston’s immigrant traditions, filtered through the chef’s work at fine dining restaurants such as Oxheart, March, and Contra.

    The six-course dinner is priced at $200 with an optional, $100 wine pairings. Reservations are available on OpenTable.

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