Little Taste of Southern Hospitality

Every time the subject of the Lone Star State comes up in conversation, especially when we’re out of town, people want to know about one thing.  Food.  More precisely, how delicious the selection of food is here in Texas; how good our Mexican food is; and of course, what people mean when they talk about “Southern hospitality.”  This weekend we were invited to tour the new Luby’s in town, and had the opportunity to experience at least two of those very Texas characteristics.

From the in depth behind the scenes look at the restaurant’s surprisingly large kitchen and food preparation area (all of the ingredients are actually cooked fresh, from scratch… can you believe it?), to the presentation of how Luby’s employees use technology to cook only what they need as their day progresses (they have over 1,000 different recipes available at anytime), to the delicious taste testing we were invited to participate in before we were treated to lunch, our morning with Luby’s was definitely a finger-licking good one… to say the least.

Now I should mention, my relationship with Luby’s actually transcends several decades.  When we first moved here to Houston from the Valley, my mom and my sisters worked there for a couple of years.  I remember they would come home with big slices of pies after their shifts and we would devour them as soon as they walked in the door.  Por eso estabamos como estabamos.  But they were delicious!  Come to think of it, Luby’s is probably one of the first places we actually ate together as a family in a restaurant.

Crazy, huh?

The other thing that struck me while I was on the tour was that after my mother left Luby’s she was convinced that she needed to open a restaurant.  She would spend years trying to make that happen, at one point owning her own taquería, but her dream never really became a reality.  Seeing first hand the professional kitchen she had been working in at Luby’s all those years, I finally could understand and see her vision.

More than the delicious food, I think that was my biggest take away from the trip.

I did take pictures for you, desde luego.  Enjoy!