I knew that my waiter would introduce him- or herself by name. The French Laundry can wait.īy this point I was becoming a Hillstone aficionado. It was a Friday night, and three thoughts were going through my mind as I sat with coworkers from the Bon Appétit publishing side in a booth at the packed Rutherford Grill in Napa Valley: (1) I’m only a few miles from two of the most revered restaurants in America, the French Laundry and the Restaurant at Meadowood, both of which I’ve been wanting to revisit (2) I’m about to devour a slightly sweet pineapple-soy-marinated Hawaiian rib eye at yet another Hillstone and (3) I’m perfectly okay with that. Each table also gets its own (literal) spotlight, meaning that you can read the menu without pulling out your phone for help-something my mom was quick to point out. The Biels know that booths offer the privacy and comfort that a freestanding table simply does not. At Houston’s, I don’t have to worry, since almost every table is a booth. Usually I’ll scan a restaurant to make sure I’m getting the best available seat. When she and I walked in around noon on a Wednesday in late December, the tables were filled with shoppers and colleagues from nearby offices. It’s also where my mom always wants to have lunch. This was the place where Shaquille O’Neal, Dominique Wilkins, and many other sports stars came to eat when they were in town. It had been ten years since I’d been back to the Houston’s across from Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta. You know who else? Your date, the client you’re trying to impress, and your impossibly picky friend. You know who loves a Houston’s? My mother. I made one last pitch by explaining that what Ralph Lauren is to American fashion-approachable, reliable, and nostalgic but forward-thinking-George Biel and the Hillstone Group are to American restaurants. “Forty-eight restaurants under 15 names in 15 states,” I said. “And how many places do they have now?” she asked skeptically. Whether Biel knew it or not, he was defining a uniquely American style of eating out that was unpretentious yet discerning. It wasn’t fast-food burgers, but it wasn’t fancy European-style dining, either. When Houston’s debuted, I argued, it identified and then filled a void in the American dining scene. George simply liked the ring of it, not to mention the city’s pioneering reputation at the time as home to NASA and big oil, I told her. Texas-born founder George Biel, the brains and passion behind the group, began his career as a server at Steak and Ale. I quickly explained that Hillstone Restaurant Group started in 1977 with the opening of Houston’s in Nashville. I even included in my appeal that Bon Appétit’s parent company, Condé Nast, is also a family-run business that values its privacy.Īs we made our way to the U-shaped bar at Hillstone-packed with Friday-night dates and the Brooklyn Lager–sipping suits from the Citicorp building above us-I tried to convince Christina that Hillstone was the non-chain chain. I assured him that I wouldn’t necessarily need to talk to George Biel, Brian’s father and the founder of the privately held group, who I knew from sources didn’t like to talk to the media. I told him how I had grown up in Atlanta going to Hillstone restaurants, how they were my mom’s favorite lunch spot for the Thai steak and noodle salad, how they were the place I’d taken prom dates in high school, and how I thought they had one of the best cheeseburgers on the planet. I e-mailed Brian a final time, pleading my case. Finally, Brian Biel, vice president of the group, responded a few days later: “We are not ready at this time to do a story…. (Hey, that’s my line!) When they did, it was only to say that they would discuss the possibility of my proposed story. That’s what happened when I first e-mailed the Hillstone Restaurant Group (perhaps known in your neck of the woods as Houston's, Honor Bar, R+D Kitchen, or 12 others). So why was a chain restaurant telling me to get lost? We got 8 never-before-published recipes for Hillstone's most popular dishes Big-name chefs are featured in our pages monthly. As the deputy editor of Bon Appétit, I’m usually the one fielding calls from publicists requesting coverage for the cool new place from so-and-so who worked for a month at Noma in Copenhagen. It’s not often that a restaurant turns down a story in a national food magazine.
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