Lucille’s Serves Up Southern Charm

One of the perks – and at the same time a drawback – to working as a local restaurant reporter is that we get to try new restaurants, often before they open to the public. These “media dinners” or “media lunches” provide the opportunity to explore a new menu, have one-on-one time with the chef and hear about the ambitions and dreams of the owner.

That was the case recently when some of us from My Table had an opportunity to visit Lucille’s, a charming new restaurant set in a made-over bungalow in the Museum District. While the restaurant wasn’t quite up to speed yet, we and other Houston food writers were invited to taste several of the dishes and meet chef/owner Chris Williams.

Okay, the mushy crab cakes and shrimp with nearly textureless grits demonstrated that it’s not fair to expect a newly opened place to nail every dish. That’s the kind of drawback that is common. Sometimes the kitchen just doesn’t click yet, no matter how much you’re rooting for it. That said, other dishes were perfect straight out of the gate.

By far, the big hit of the afternoon was “pork & beans,” but not what you’re accustomed to eating. This was a long-braised pork shank on top of a medley of colorful favas, English peas, halved cherry tomatoes and black lentils, all pulled together by a sweet-sour agridolce reduction. There was plenty of seasonings, and the shock of color from the vegetables provided stunning visual contract. It was tough to pass the plate on to my dining companions once I had a taste, but I wistfully sent it on its way. (Oh, yeah, sharing one plate of food among seven people is another drawback to the job.) I’m going back on my own soon, and I’m not sharing next time. Sorry.

A whole, crispy-fried fish looked reminiscent of that served at the Sunday brunches at the Money Cat pop-up held last year. (The crew behind those wildly successful meals went on to open Oxheart.) Instead of having Asian influences, though, the flavors were country-fried all the way. The fish balanced delicately upright on a bed of maque choux, a traditional Southern side dish of corn kernels, tomato and onion.

Lucille’s has a small garden out back with raised beds, and the young tomato plants were clearly struggling in the late summer heat. But I think that what will make this restaurant unique in Houston is a their theme of incorporating fresh vegetables and herbs into traditional Southern dishes. Salads here are especially refreshing. Both an heirloom tomato salad with bacon and blue cheese vinaigrette and a watermelon salad that included baby arugula and iced red onions were available at our visit. I found the tomato one especially tasty and would order it again.

Lucille’s is named after chef Chris Williams’ great-grandmother, who was a noted cook, owned a restaurant way-back-when and left behind a plethora of her original Southern recipes. I can’t wait to try the much-touted chili biscuits (curiously unavailable at our tasting) the next time I visit. I have high biscuit standards and think I’m going to be in for a treat. The back wall of Lucille’s is covered with recipes on index cards, and I noticed several biscuit recipes.

Williams previously worked at Max’s Wine Dive and has put that background to good use, pulling together his own selection of wines at various price points. Max’s, of course, also has a strong comfort-food menu, but with a more contemporary flair. Lucille’s is all old-fashioned Southern charm.

Lucille’s soft opening was at the end of August, so hopefully the kinks are smoothed out by now. We look forward to revisiting this charming bungalow again in the near future.

LUCILLE’S 5512 LaBranch, 713-568-2505 lucilleshouston.com