frankly delicious

Chicago-based Portillo's sets opening date for first Houston location

Portillo's is bringing its hot dogs to Houston.

Courtesy of Portillo's

One of this year’s most eagerly anticipated new restaurants is ready to make its debut. Portillo’s will celebrate the grand opening of its first Houston-area location at 10 am on Tuesday, October 22. Various soft opening and preview events will take place before then.

Located in Richmond’s The Grand at Aliana shopping center (11005 West Grand Parkway South), the restaurant offers a spacious 7,700-square-feet with interior seating for 170 people along with a 50-seat patio. To-go customers are serviced by double drive-thru lanes.

Portillo’s is known for its Chicago-style street food, including Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and chocolate cake. Its Chicago hot dog is a beef frank topped with mustard, relish, chopped onions, tomato, celery salt, kosher pickle, and sport peppers on a steamed poppy seed bun.

Their Italian beef features thinly sliced roast beef served on French bread, with the option to have it dry or dipped in gravy, and the double-layer chocolate cake is iced with chocolate frosting. Burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, sides, and shakes are also available.

Founded in Dick Portillo, the restaurant has grown to 85 locations in 10 states. Richmond will be the company’s seventh in Texas, but it won’t be the only Houston-area outpost for long. Plans call for three more by the end of the year — in Willowbrook, Stafford, and Katy.

On Tuesday, a ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 9:30 am. As part of the ceremony, Michael Portillo, the company’s vice president of restaurant, will present a check to its charity partner, Mamie George Community Center.

portillos news-you-can-eat openings

crawfish season is here

Essential Houston crawfish joint heads to Beaumont for new location

Photo by Paulina Olague

BB's Tex-Orleans is bringing its boiled seafood to Beaumont.

One of Houston’s favorite destinations for crawfish is heading east. BB’s Tex-Orleans will open 12th location in Beaumont.

Slated to open in April, BB’s will occupy the former home of The Park on Calder (2325 Calder Avenue). With 3,200 square feet inside and a massive, 5,000-square-foot patio, BB’s will seat 70 people inside and 175 people outdoors. The patio has enough space for a children’s play area and a 225-inch outdoor screen for showing the day’s games.

“At BB’s, we like to say that our culture is making Maw Maw, my grandmother, proud,” founder and CEO Brooks Bassler said in a statement. “So many of our recipes are inspired by Maw Maw’s cooking, but even more than the great food, it’s a way of living: family, hard work, fairness. Maw Maw was born in Winnie, and her sister still lives there, so BB’s roots actually start in the Golden Triangle. Finally opening a location in Beaumont feels like coming home.”

The menu will feature all of the dishes that have made BB’s a go-to for Cajun fare. That starts will boiled seafood, including crawfish, shrimp, and crab legs — all of which can be enhanced with Prasek’s smoked garlic sausage, alligator andouille sausage, corn, button mushrooms, red potatoes, and BB’s “Monsta Greens.”

Diners also turn to the restaurant for po’ boys, such as the Bedtime in the Bayou (fried shrimp) and the South Texas Fire Po’boy (marinated outside skirt steak topped with melted pepper jack cheese, avocado, sautéed peppers, and onions, topped with a spicy pepper cheese sauce).

Here’s founder Brooks Bassler with a Bedtime in the Bayou.

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Founded in 2007 in Montrose as a late night po’ boy destination, BB’s has grown across the Houston area. BB’s Cajun Cantina in San Antonio adds Tex-Mex flavors to the mix.

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