SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Your email here GOGO

A Look Inside MonicaPope's Sparrow Bar +Cookshop

EATER INSIDE

Brandi Key of CoppaRistorante Italiano

ONE YEAR IN

Jeff Anon of BerryhillBaja Grill

EATER INTERVIEWS

1 COMMENT

ATKINSON FARMS

BOULEY

DAVID BOULEY

EATER INTERVIEWS

INTERVIEWS

LYLE LOVETT

RDG

RELEASE ME

ROBERT DEL GRANDE

TOP

EATER INTERVIEWS

Lyle Lovett on Favorite Houston Restaurants andMoreMonday, March 12, 2012, by Amber Ambrose

[Michael Wilson]

Fresh off the release date of his new album, Release Me, and right at the startof a tour with John Hiatt, Houstonian musician and celebrity Lyle Lovett tooktime out of his busy travel schedule to chat with Eater Houston about food.

Lovett gave us the scoop on all his favorite local restaurants, places he makes it apoint to dine at when on the road and offers his thoughts on food, farming andhis grandmother's homemade jelly.

In a recent interview, you mentioned that your grandmother would

fix you after school snacks. What are some you remember?

My grandmother always made her own jelly, and so one of my favorite snacksafter school was just white toast with butter and jelly.

What kind of jelly?

She made really great peach preserves and always had blackberry jelly. Becauseblackberries out there were plentiful and come blackberry season we'd alwayspick blackberries and so, that was really one of my favorite snacks.

Tell us about growing up on a farm in Klein, Texas.

On the farm, in those days, my mom was from a family of seven children, and mygrandfather (his name was Adam Klein), he had one of the largest farms in

Like 56

Search Eater HoustonCity HOUSTON TOP STORIES PLACE PAGES JOBS

Lyle Lovett on Favorite Houston Restaurants and More - Eater I... http://houston.eater.com/archives/2012/03/12/lyle-lovett.php

1 of 4 8/30/12 8:20 AM

How about we… order drinks and abunch of appetizers at Ibiza Food &Wine Bar.

ezra44, 33, M Send Message

FOLLOW EATER HOUSTON

Terry Derek Albert Bill Philip

Matt Jill Katie Richard Hugh

Eater Houston on Facebook

1,851 people like Eater Houston.

Like

Facebook social plugin

WHERE TO EATEater's 38 Top Restaurants MAP

Heatmap: Where to Eat Now MAP

Heatmap: Where to Drink Now MAP

Heatmap: Where to Eat Brunch MAP

UnderbellyPizaro's Pizza NapoletanaGiacomo's Cibo e VinoMala Sichuan Bistro

NEWS BY NEIGHBORHOODAcres HomesAliefAlvinAnahuacBellaireChannelviewChinatown

Harris County. Back in those days, as you know, the local farmers supplied thelocal markets. My uncle Calvin still has a cattle business. He has a cow-calfoperation on our place, there in Klein. He cites the advent of refrigeratedtrucking as sort of the demise of the local farmer, because before refrigeratedtrucking became so prevalent and efficient, local markets were, you know,supplied by local farmers. Where I grew up in north Harris County really was abig part of what people ate around Houston. Things have changed in a big waysince then, but that's how things were.

Well, it looks like things are headed back toward local again.

It's nice to see people interested in quality, really giving thought to what they liketo eat. It's nice to be able to eat a tomato that's ripened on the vine as opposed tobeing picked early so that it ripens in a truck or in the store.

Is cattle the only thing still coming out of your family's farm now?

Yes. We're not really growing any vegetables. But there are some local growersstill in the area. I don't know if you're familiar with Atkinson Farms down onSpring Cypress, but their growing season starts in the spring and you can goright into their place and buy fresh produce.

When you come into the city, where do you like to eat?

When I'm home, I make the rounds and try to go to all my favorite places. Gosh,one of my favorite places to go for Mexican food is The Original Ninfa's onNavigation. A great, small Mexican café is Andy's in the Heights. Andy's is open24-hours, so that was one of our regular stops after playing gigs back in the olddays. For a really great dining experience, I love going to RDG and the old CaféAnnie. Houston wouldn't be the same with them. Around home, I like going toStrack Farms restaurant on Louetta, that's a really great place. There's a placecalled Santa Fe Flats on 249. It's a New Mexican-style place. They fly in greenchiles, Hatch chiles, every week from New Mexico and they do a roasted Hatchchile there that's just like being in New Mexico. It's really good and reallydifferent. Not Tex-Mex at all. Another one of my favorite Mexican food places isthe Rancho Grande in Tomball. There's several Rancho Grandes in our area now,but the one in Tomball's the one I usually go to. Real Tex-Mex.

I know you're an Aggie, what are your favorite places in College

Station?

Café Eccell does a great job in College Station. That's one of my favorite places.One of my favorite hamburger places is called Koppe Bridge. And I think it'sclosed down, but my go-to Mexican place in Bryan was Los Nortenos. It was areal institution.

Any other restaurants you'd like to send a shout-out to?

Can I mention my favorite restaurant in New York? This is a chef I got to knowin 1990 or so, and we ended up being motorcycle riding buddies. He's justamazing. His name's David Bouley. And he has an amazing restaurant inTribeca. He hosted the band and I last week. We were up in New York doing apress trip and he invited us in for dinner one night. We had an amazing tastingmenu there at Bouley. I highly regard him. Dean Fearing's restaurant up inDallas is another great one. My favorite barbecue places are the City MeatMarket in Giddings, and of course Cooper's Bar-B-Que. Another great Mexicanplace in Fort Worth is Joe T Garcia's. And of course, Nobu. Our favorite Nobu isin Los Angeles, and Nobu is often there and he comes out and says "hello" toeverybody, which is great.

What's one meal that stands out for you over the past year?

Oh gosh. If I pick one I'd make my friends mad.

That's one thing that I really do enjoy about being on the road, though. I'm inMilwaukee today, and there's one really great (and we're staying downtown inMilwaukee), and there's an area close to downtown called the Third Ward, youknow, kinda like our areas in Houston, and it's kind of an artsy neighborhoodand it's got great restaurants and it's been revitalized in the last 20 years here inMilwaukee. There's a really nice little French-style restaurant called CoquetteCafé. And that's kinda how our travels go. I start looking forward to the citieswe're going to and thinking about getting to go to some of my favorite

NEW LISTINGS AT EATER JOBSBOQUERIA SEEKING JUNIOR SOUSCHEF at Boqueria Tapas Bar and Restaurant(Washington, DC)Line Cook - Prep Cook - Dish at SuperbaSnack Bar

Lyle Lovett on Favorite Houston Restaurants and More - Eater I... http://houston.eater.com/archives/2012/03/12/lyle-lovett.php

2 of 4 8/30/12 8:20 AM

Clear LakeConroeCottage GroveCy-FairDowntownEaDoField StoreFifth WardGalleriaGalvestonGarden OaksHeightsKatyKemahKingwoodLazy Brook/TimbergroveMemorial CityMidtownMontroseMuseum DistrictNorthsideNorthside VillageOak ForestPearlandRice MilitaryRice VillageRiver OaksSecond WardSharpstownSouth LoopSpring BranchStaffordSugar LandTanglewoodThe WoodlandsTomballU of HUpper KirbyWashington CorridorWest HoustonWestchaseWillowbrook

TIPPING IS CUSTOMARYhouston@eater.com

ADVERTISE WITH USsales@curbed.com | Media kit

MONTHLY ARCHIVESSelect month... All archives

FROM OUR PARTNERSOne of the nicest men in the Business of Show.

Reply to this.

#1. 03/12/12 08:57 PMGary R Wise: 11 comments

RELATED LINKS

[?]

COMMENTS (1 EXTANT)

POST A COMMENT

restaurants, places that I've learned about over the years.

Is it a big deal when you go out to dinner, or do people leave you

alone (because you're a celebrity)?

People are nice. And around home, I see people every day when I'm in theHouston area, people that I've known my whole life. I see people that I went tograde school with, and being home is just normal, like anybody. I guess one ofthe chances I've gained is getting to meet people like Robert Del Grande and goin the kitchen and watch him work, see a little bit behind the scenes, and I reallyenjoy that. It's just amazing what they do with food. Just amazing.

Do you like to cook?

No! But I really love to eat. My girlfriend, April Kimble is a wonderful cook. Myfavorite meals in the last, well 14 years really, have been because of her, themeals that we have at home. Because she's really wonderful and reads aboutcooking and knows about cooking more than I ever will. I'm a good tester for her.

Does she have a signature dish?

Everything she does is really great. A lot of times we'll do something verystraightforward, but just the was she does it is incredible. Especially in the springand summer, we'll grill and she gets the prime beef from HEB. HEB has reallywonderful beef. She'll grill up some filets or ribeyes from HEB, and complementthem with fresh vegetables with Atkinson Farms. It's really wonderful, just howfresh it all is. Another one of our favorite grocery stores in the Houston area isHubbell & Hudson up in The Woodlands. They do a really amazing job. And ifwe're in town, we'll make it a point to stop by either Central Market or WholeFoods, just depending on where we are in town. We don't have those kind ofstores out in north Harris County. But I tell you, that prime beef at HEB, interms of beef you get at the supermarket, it's our favorite in the area. We dooccasionally eat our own beef [off their farm] too, and that's really good. Whenyou butcher your own calf, you end up with a lot of meat, so we don't always dothat.

Are there any songs that you've written that have been inspired by

food or a meal?

A lot of my songs have food references. I think it's because food is such afundamental part of life. It's as basic and necessary as the air we breath, andcertainly, what we need from each other in terms of human relationships. Foodis such an important connector in terms of the emotional relationships that wehave in life, and I think it can be a great way to underscore what we feel for oneanother.

Nude York City(Curbed NY)

Where FrenchChefs Eat(Eater Houston)

Cheesy Onion PitaBread(Taste forAdventure)

Beware Of TheseRestaurant Pitfalls(OPEN Forum)

Best burgers foryour buck(Bankrate)

Gary R Wise

Let's Dish: What's Your Go-To Camping Snack?

Thrifty Tipples: Best White Wines Under 15 Dollars

Savory Sight: Spanakorizo Greek Rice

Sugar Shout Out: Bring Your Zen Along With the

SPONSORED SPONSORED SPONSORED

Lyle Lovett on Favorite Houston Restaurants and More - Eater I... http://houston.eater.com/archives/2012/03/12/lyle-lovett.php

3 of 4 8/30/12 8:20 AM