who's your daddy?

California chicken sandwich restaurant flies into the Heights with breakfast and more

Daddy's Chicken Shack is now open in the Heights.

Photo by Shannon O’Hara

A California-based chicken sandwich restaurant has opened its first Houston location. Daddy's Chicken Shack is now slinging sandwiches and chicken tenders at the corner of N. Shepherd Dr. and 11th Street in the Heights (1223 W. 11th St.).

Founded by Chef Pace Webb and her husband Chris Georgalas, Daddy's blends classic Southern flavors with Asian touches. The restaurant serves chicken sandwiches, salads topped with chicken, chicken fingers, and breakfast items.

Webb's chicken is brined overnight in buttermilk and double battered to ensure its moist and crispy. The menu starts with sandwiches such as the Big Daddy, topped with Napa slaw and sriracha mayo; the All-American, topped with Napa slaw, bacon, and pickles; and the Nashville Daddy, a spicy sandwich topped with slaw and pickles.

Daddy's Chicken Shack spicy daddy sandwich Get a Spicy Daddy sandwich with fries.Photo by Shannon O’Hara

Breakfast, served all day, includes Daddy’s Rosemary Biscuit Sliders and the Breakfast Waffle Daddy Sandwich, a bacon and egg sandwich served between two waffles. Coconut curry-brined cauliflower serves as the vegan option.

Daddy's Chicken also sets itself apart with its use of technology. Customers have a dozen ways to order for dine-in, pick-up, or delivery.

"We’re so humbled and excited to bring this concept to Houston, not only because I grew up not far from here, but because Houston is well-known for its diversity and culinary scene,” Webb said in a statement. “We look forward to serving Heights residents and beyond by delivering accessible, chef-driven fried chicken sandwiches, while honoring our commitment to sustainability and creating a warm, welcoming environment for all.”

Daddy's Chicken Shack Pace Webb and Chris Georgalas Chef Pace Webb and her husband Chris Georgalas.Photo by Shannon O’Hara

The Houston location will serve as a flagship and training facility for the restaurant's future growth. Two lines in the kitchen — one for dine-in and one for to-go — ensure speedy service. The restaurant has two drive-up windows to pick up online orders. It can accommodate up to 50 people between its dining room and patio.

Daddy's will introduce itself to the neighborhood with an open house on October 26 from 11 am-3 pm. The first 100 guests will receive swag bags, and all customers will leave with a buy-one-get-one free coupon good for their next visit.

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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