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    Howdy, Modi

    Heralded Houston chef serves up signature meals for visiting Indian prime minister's team

    Eric Sandler
    Sep 23, 2019 | 10:00 am
    Kiran Verma Kiran's Modi visit
    Kiran Verma spent the week feeding visiting dignitaries.
    Courtesy of Kiran's

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Houston kept one local chef very busy. As the only approved Indian food caterer for Tilman Fertitta’s luxurious The Post Oak hotel, Kiran’s chef-owner Kiran Verma has been responsible for feeding properly prepared Indian food to dozens of dignitaries and diplomats who held meetings in Houston ahead of the prime minister’s visit on Sunday, September 22.

     

    Puja Verma, the restaurant’s director of operations and strategy, tells CultureMap that her mother created menus and worked with the hotel to oversee the preparation of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week’s worth of meals.

     

    “We’ve been fortunate enough to have so many business people from India dine with us,” Puja Verma says. “When they found out Modi is coming, they reached out to the Texas India Forum and said Kiran’s would have to do the food.”

     

    Chef Kiran has been dividing her time between the hotel and her restaurant to ensure that both ran smoothly — overseeing everything from ensuring hot naan made it to The Post Oak on time to larger challenges, such as having regional variety in the dishes. No easy feat, considering that many of the visitors who came to Houston for the “Howdy, Modi” event also dined at Kiran’s during their stay.

     

    Unfortunately, Verma can’t say for certain whether Prime Minister Modi ate any of the restaurant’s dishes. The hotel didn’t ask the chef to prepare anything specifically for him — although she knows that he received a pot of the restaurant’s signature chai.

     

    However, if he dined on any of September 21’s dishes, he ate very well. Verma’s menu included cumin-scented cream of broccoli soup, shrimp biryani, chicken korma, laal maas (leg of lamb with red chiles), aloo methi (potatoes with fenugreek), saffron rice, and two desserts — gulab jamun and rasmalai.

     

    Regardless of whether or not the prime minster ate any of the cuisine, the dishes have been well-received by the hotel guests.

     

    “They’re very happy as far as I know,” Verma says. “Someone made the comment to my mom. They thought some Indian chef had to be back there making the food.”

     

    Not just “some” Indian chef, but a woman whose namesake restaurant has been a part of Houston’s dining scene for more than 10 years. Verma’s food helped give the visitors a taste of home during their visit.

     

    “I think she’s excited that she was part of something so big for India, for Houston, and for the Indian-American community,” Puja Verma says. “I don’t know what her source of fuel is. She does not sleep. She just turned 65. She’s incredible with her energy.”

     
    chefs
    news/restaurants-bars

    something to talk about

    Country star Koe Wetzel opens new location of his lively bar in Houston

    Eric Sandler
    Jul 1, 2025 | 4:15 pm
    Koe Wetzel Riot Room Houston
    Photo by Motion Theory Media
    The pickup truck on the front of the building makes it easy to spot.

    One of Texas country’s rising stars has brought his lively bar to Houston. Koe Wetzel’s Riot Room opened last month in Midtown.

    Located at the former Electric Feelgood space (2416 Brazos Street), the Houston location of Riot Room builds on the success of the Fort Worth original that opened in 2023. Known for his outlaw country swagger, including his 2022 release, Hell Paso, that debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, Koe Wetzel partnered with Fort Worth hospitality veteran Emil Bragdon to bring the Riot Room to life. It consistently ranks as one of Fort Worth’s highest-grossing bars.

    At over 8,000 square feet, the Houston Riot Room has considerably more space than the original. Wetzel and his team have used that to their advantage, expanding on the country music dance hall theme with details such as:

    • A seating area made from a full-sized pontoon boat
    • A DJ booth in the engine bay of a Ford pickup
    • Photo ops in a “jail cell” and a life-sized bucking bull
    • Neon signs that display Wetzel’s song lyrics.

    A full kitchen allows the bar to serve a menu of Southern-inspired bar fare such as chicken wings, Texas chili, potato skins, Southwestern egg rolls, burgers, salads, and more. Signature dishes include smoked beer can chicken and the Trailer Park Sandwich, featuring two breakfast sausage patties topped with cheddar cheese and served on a biscuit with strawberry jam. Houston will also be the first city to experience the bar’s take on weekend brunch.

    Bragdon told CultureMap that the bar’s name references someone who’s fun to be around, as in a laugh riot.

    "It's about who Koe is and what he represents," he says. "He has a carefree party attitude, that whole persona, which is so infectious. He's a true Texas guy, a good old country boy who's hospitable and likes to have fun - that’s what the place is about."

    ----

    Teresa Gubbins contributed to this article.

    Koe Wetzel Riot Room Houston
      

    Photo by Motion Theory Media

    The pickup truck on the front of the building makes it easy to spot.

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