those that don’t know, it’s a place where I had the opportunity to hone my skills as a young cook and is absolutely a place that I still call home.

It was the restaurant that I wanted to work at so badly after graduating culinary school. I had applied once before, but did not get the job. I was disappointed, but now that I look back I am really happy I didn’t get the job. I wasn’t ready and I know that now. I took a job at a country club at the time and thought that I was going in the right direction in my career. I worked hard at that job, was promoted to sous chef and made some really amazing friends but something was missing.

Becoming a Chef at Brennan’s

My friend Randy Evans was working at Brennan’s, which is why I wanted to work there. I wanted to continue the push for knowledge and skills. Randy stopped by my apartment on his way home after work to have a drink and a chat, and I asked him how his night was. He told me that they did 400+ covers for service and it was exhilarating. He then asked how my night was, my answer was that I put out the taco buffet and was home early.

That moment is when my head started to spin. I questioned a lot of the things I was doing. Please don’t get me wrong, the job I had was a really great one, and I know it’s the right fit for a lot of people. It just wasn’t for me, and that night changed a lot for me.

Randy and his wife Melanie invited me to dinner at Brennan’s for my birthday. That night I met Mark Holley, Jose Arévalo, and chef Carl Walker. Mark asked me what I was doing and where I wanted my career to go. I started working at Brennan’s two weeks later.

I worked there for nine years, because I was given the ability to learn as much as I could. I was able to work my way through the kitchen, while Randy and I pushed each other as hard as we could to learn as much as our brains could hold, and we had great mentors that helped us with that. I learned how to cook like a good cook, practiced technique, repetition, creativity, and leadership — I was being trained to be a chef and not just a cook.

I was questioned about every new dish I would create by Alex Brennan-Martin, chef Carl, chef Jose, chef Mark, and my friend Randy about the thought process, the flavors, the techniques, and, most importantly, “the whys” behind the dish. They believed in me and taught me to believe in myself. Randy and I studied everything that had to do with food and wine. I mean, there is literally a magazine named Food & Wine and years later, I now get to work for that publication. How cool is that????

I had the opportunity to take that passion into the dining room and become “The Wine Guy” aka the sommelier because I wanted to know how the dining room worked as well. At the same time Randy was promoted to executive chef, and it was a great feeling for both of us. We will be out in Sonoma next month as we celebrate 30 years of working in this industry together, and we owe a lot of this to this restaurant and the people that work there. So when I say it’s a special place to me, now you have some context to why. But enough about me — let’s talk about what’s really exciting me at Brennan’s right now.

Brennan’s New Bar

I have seen the bar at Brennan’s remodeled a couple of times over the years but nothing like what was unveiled recently. They nailed it. With this remodel they made the bar bigger and more exciting. The restaurant has always been a fine dining restaurant — a special occasion restaurant where you celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other momentous life occasions. This restaurant has more regulars (people that are there literally all the time) than any other place I’ve worked — multiple generations of those regulars!

When they looked at the bar, they knew they wanted a fine casual bar. But what does that mean, exactly? They built basically a restaurant inside a restaurant that gives you a place to go watch an Astros game while having a delicious cocktail, an amazing bottle of wine, and shrimp po boy or a hot dog and slider tower. Yeah, you read that right. I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

As part of the renovation, Alex Brennan-Martin installed black and white tile floors and zinc bar and table tops, just like you’d find in any cafe in Paris. The light fixtures are made of whiskey decanters. If you spend some time looking around, you will notice there are nods to the almost 60 years of history of Brennan’s of Houston. It’s beautiful and relaxing at the same time as you either look into the bar or out into the beautiful and iconic courtyard that is just so reminiscent of New Orleans.

Now let’s talk about the important stuff: cocktails, food, and wine! The cocktail program has really taken a shift to fun, thoughtful but still tipping a hat to the classics. Let’s start with two styles of the Old Fashioned. There is the “Old” Old Fashioned which is the classic bourbon, bitters, muddled brandy, cherry, orange and a sugar cube — classic, right? Then we have the “New” Old Fashioned which is bourbon run through a Yama Still, a still that is traditionally used to make the best cold brew coffee where water slowly drips through coffee beans extracting the the best flavor of the beans. In this case instead of the beans, the middle infusion chamber is filled with the oranges and cherries. The bourbon slowly drips through the chamber infusing all of those delicious flavors and ends up on the other side. It’s outstanding.

The Parisian Gas Lamp is a cocktail that pays tribute to the iconic glass lamps in the restaurant and is made from Cognac, Cointreau Noir, and flambéed orange peel. They have also added some frozen cocktails like the Bananas Faster (not Foster but Faster), which made from rum, banana purée and vanilla soft serve, perfect if you are too full for the classic dessert.

I also want to remind you that you can get those infamous 25 cent martinis at lunch Monday through Friday with the purchase of an entree. The wines by the glass are fantastic, but the whole wine list is deep and one of the best around. It is filled with true gems from all over the world, don’t sleep on it because it’s a well put together novel!

This is not just your regular food menu. As I said before, they have literally developed a restaurant inside of a restaurant for you to enjoy. When I first sat down, I was really surprised to see the menu. Traditionally a bar menu has four or five items on it but not this one — this one has more than 25 items, and most are designed specifically for the bar.

Yes, you can get the famous snapping turtle soup, the seafood gumbo, and a Jill Jackson Salad, but that’s just the beginning. Raw and roasted oysters, seafood towers, flatbreads, and snacks like pimento cheese and deviled ham with fire’crackers, muffuletta sliders, and even New Orleans-style po’ boys. That’s just where the madness begins! The team has added some really amazing items like some over-the-top seafood nachos with fried oysters, shrimp, crabmeat — if you’d like to add caviar, they sure as hell will let you!

Then we get to the piece de resistance, the tower of power, the all-gas-no-brakes kind of dish that I am in love with: The Hot Dog and Slider Tower. Full Tilt Hot Dogs, prime brisket sliders, all fries (house made fries, sweet potato fries, tater tots) with Creole chow chow, comeback sauce, and Andouille sausage queso for dipping! Even writing this I’m overwhelmed with joy.

Full Tilt Foods is a company that my wife and I started, and we now make the official hot dog of the Houston Texans and The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Brennan’s is the first place outside of NRG stadium to carry them, and they are meaty hot dog heaven. The sliders are rich and delicious from that prime brisket, and this is one of the best shareable, show stopping dishes out there and absolutely worth a try.

It's nice to see a bar that is open all day, not just to have a fantastic beverage but to enjoy some delicious food with friends and loved ones in a fine casual atmosphere. I have been in love with this restaurant for most of my life, and I think what they have done gives folks an option to either come in and have an amazing dinner or relax with friends, have a hot dog tower with some great cocktails, and watch a game on the TV.

Thanks team for reading along on my love story to a restaurant. We all have our special places that hold those memories to us. What’s yours? Let me know your story.

-----

Share your favorite Houston restaurants with Chris via email at chris@chrisshepherd.is.

Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. The Southern Smoke Foundation, a nonprofit he co-founded with his wife Lindsey Brown, has distributed more than $12 million to hospitality workers in crisis through its Emergency Relief Fund. Catch his TV show, Eat Like a Local, every Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2 or on YouTube.

Photo by Kason Foster

Yes, that's fondue for dipping.