What's Eric Eating Episode 27

Restaurateur's big move, Astros Series win, and foodie road trip are hot podcast topics

On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," Killen's Restaurants director of operations Graham Laborde joins CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler to discuss his role helping acclaimed local chef Ronnie Killen manage his growing company. Laborde, who won the CultureMap Tastemaker Award Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2016, shares some of his family history that led him to the kitchen, as well as the professional experiences he had in New Orleans and Houston prior to joining up with Killen.

So why did Laborde choose to sign on with Killen's after closing Bernadine's, the Gulf Coast-inspired restaurant he led for the Treadsack Group?

"He offered me something that didn't necessarily exist with a number of other offers I had, and that was the ability to really, really learn something," Laborde says. "The ability to learn different kinds of concepts that I hadn't done in the past. I'd never done a fast casual concept. I've never done a burger restaurant. I've never done barbecue before. Not only learning those cuisines, but really learning how to run those different businesses and the different challenges that come with it."

Prior to the interview, Houston Life producer/reporter Stephanie Gerry and Sandler discuss the news of the week. Even though the podcast primarily discusses food, Gerry and Sandler take a couple of minutes to discuss the Astros World Series victory. Then, they move on to Brasserie 19's plans to mitigate the effects of construction at its shopping center, celebrity chef Michael Mina's announcement that International Smoke, his globally-inspired barbecue restaurant with cookbook author Ayesha Curry, is coming to Houston next year, and the latest addition to UberEATS: caviar and truffles from DR Delicacy.

In the restaurant of the week segment, Sandler shares his impressions of two Dallas restaurants: Town Hearth, an over-the-top steakhouse that features a 300-gallon fish tank, and Zoli's, the New York-inspired pizza restaurant from the owner of Cane Rosso. Gerry recommends taking a road trip to Pete's Burger Place in Porter for a classic chili cheeseburger done right.

Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to it every Saturday at 11 am on SportsMap 94.1.

Killen's Restaurants director of operations Graham Laborde is this week's guest on "What's Eric Eating."

Courtesy photo

Killen's Restaurants director of operations Graham Laborde is this week's guest on "What's Eric Eating."

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an offer he couldn't refuse

Exclusive: Killen's Barbecue will soon shutter in The Woodlands

Killen's barbecue meat platter with sides

Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma

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Fans of Killen’s Barbecue’s location in The Woodlands have a days to make one last visit. The restaurant will close this Sunday, December 7, chef-owner Ronnie Killen tells CultureMap.

Open since 2021, Killen says that he’s in final negotiations to sell the location at 8800 Six Pines Dr. to Whataburger for a new location of the iconic Texas fast food restaurant. Neither the original location of Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland nor its Cypress location are affected by the closure of The Woodlands and will remain open.

“Whataburger made me a deal I couldn’t pass up. It would take 10 years to do that kind of revenue,” Killen writes in a text, adding that the company recently made a significant payment to keep the deal’s window open through the end of the year.

He added that the costs to operate the restaurant have gone up significantly. As one example, a cord of wood cost $175 when he opened the first Killen’s Barbecue in 2013. It costs $475 now, he writes.

If the deal falls through, Killen states that he could look for a new buyer or convert the restaurant into a second location of Killen’s Burger, the retro-styled burger joint he operates in Pearland.

The restaurant’s closure had been expected since February, when Killen sold The Woodlands’ location of Killen's Steakhouse. At the time, Killen said he also planned to find a buyer for his barbecue joint in the bustling suburb. He cited the driving distance from Pearland to The Woodlands as one reason he chose to divest both locations. He still operates Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland, comfort food restaurant Killen's near the Heights, Killen's Burger, and three other locations of Killen's Barbecue.

As it approaches its 13th anniversary in the spring, Killen’s Barbecue remains a vital part of Houston’s barbecue scene. The restaurant recently earned an honorable mention from Texas Monthly and holds a Bib Gourmand designation in the Michelin Guide. In July, it opened a new location at Hobby Airport.

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