The Barbecue King and Mattress Mack — Ronnie Killen Looks to Iconic Houston Role Model as He Preps to Open New Heights Restaurant, Woodlands Barbecue Spot

Ronnie Killen does not have many role models. Few have traveled quite the path that Killen has in building a soon-to-be 13 restaurant empire from scratch. Insisting on never compromising on quality all the way. But this meat maestro does look up to one self-made Houston icon.

Mattress Mack.

“He’s one of my big fans,” Killen says of the big-hearted showman behind Gallery Furniture. “I love him. He’s such a role model. He celebrated his daughter Elizabeth’s birthday at (Killen’s) STQ. All the places in Houston and he chose us.”

One of Killen’s first paying food gigs was doing the cooking for a Gallery Furniture event back in 1994, years before Killen even enrolled in the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in London. Long before Killen proved that a classically trained chef could do barbecue to die for.

Mattress Mack believed in Ronnie Killen before almost anyone else in Houston even knew who the then young chef was. Killen’s never forgotten that — and these days, he refuses to ever let Mattress Mack pay for anything at any of his restaurants. It frustrates Mack to no end, but that’s what you do for a true Houston icon turned friend.

“I tell him his credit cards and cash are no good here,” Killen laughs. “Drives him crazy.”

Killen tells this tale as he stands in the Minute Maid Park Diamond Club dining room, promoting one (and there are many as usual) of his newest ventures — his 2020 season-debuting barbecue spot in the Houston Astros’ completely revamped upper right field deck. It’s an instructive story because it touches on how much Ronnie Killen reveres Houston institutions.

This is a guy who wants to be in both NRG Stadium (he’s had a permanent barbecue spot for Houston Texans games since the 2017 season) and Minute Maid. The only reason it took him this long to jump in with the Astros full time is that he insisted on making sure he could do it right. Which means cooking everything on-site at the ballpark rather than bringing brisket in from his restaurants.

“It’s all about the quality,” Killen says. “I don’t want to do something that’s not the quality of our restaurant. I’ve been asked to be here before, but it’s been like let’s cook briskets, bring it out here from outside.

“We have to be able to do it the way we want to be able to do it — or the quality’s not right.”

Minute Maid Park’s new reimagined right field area — picture the faraway land where Yordan Alvarez hit that seat with a home run, creating an impromptu tourist attraction last season  — allows Killen to do it his way.

This carries over to Killen’s new restaurant in The Heights, his first inside-the-loop restaurant. He has been itching to open Killen’s on Heights Boulevard for months now, but taking over the old Hickory Hollow restaurant space at 101 Heights Boulevard proved to be more trying than he even imagined.

“It’s taken a long time,” Killen tells PaperCity. “The building was built in 1940 and it had a lot of issues.”

This included the need to remove the roof because it was too low and weighed down by all the air conditioning for the building being up there — and essentially gutting the entire insides. With all its problems, Killen could only sustain the exterior bricks of the Hickory Hollow digs.

“When you’re outside, you’re going to be like ‘Wow, it’s the same building,’ ” Killen says. “Then when you walk in, you’re going to go, ‘Wow, it’s not the same building.’ ”

Ronnie Killen Goes to New Heights

Killen’s crew started pouring concrete at the Heights site on February 5 and he still hopes to be open in early spring. This will be a comfort food spot that pays homage to the cooking of Killen’s grandmother. It’s the food he grew up on and in many ways this will be his most personal restaurant yet.

For now, Ronnie Killed is embracing The Heights neighborhood — and all the possibilities it brings.

“So much traffic,” Killen says of his new play land. “I see other places like Voodoo Doughnuts (in the area) and I just couldn’t believe how they were doing right off the bat with so many people waiting for donuts.

“The Heights is going to be something that’s really close to my heart.”

“When you’re outside, you’re going to be like ‘Wow, it’s the same building.’ Then when you walk in, you’re going to go, ‘Wow, it’s not the same building.’ ” — Ronnie Killen

Expect Southern style comfort food — slathered pork chops, a little bit of Soul food, chicken fried steak, fried chicken (fried in pork belly for a distinctive taste), fried pork chops, biscuits, collard greens and fresh produce. “It will have a little bit of barbecue, but it’s not a barbecue spot,” Killen says.

Of course, there is also a new barbecue spot coming. Ronnie Killen does not just open one restaurant at a time — not these days. His second Killen’s Barbecue is taking shape in The Woodlands at 8800 Six Pines Drive. Interestingly, while it is close to his Woodlands Killen’s Steakhouse, its close proximity to another barbecue spot is what’s drawing more attention.

“Apparently, we’re close to Goode Company (BBQ),” Killen says with a shrug. “Someone said, ‘What about Goode Company? You’re right across the street from them?’ I didn’t know that. It’s just the building that’s available and we were looking to do something quicker.

“It’s not about competing or anything like that. It’s just a place where there was a building instead of waiting a year to build it.”

The plan calls for the Woodlands Killen’s BBQ to open by summer. Killen sees a craving for standout barbecue in the area — no matter who else is there.

“It’s just amazing how barbecue has taken off,” says Killen, looking back on the days he opened his groundbreaking Pearland barbecue spot in 2013. “In Texas, good barbecue — people will seek it out.

“When we did a our pop-up (in The Woodlands) we had bad weather and I couldn’t believe we had more people there than we had in any pop-ups in Pearland. When I saw that, I said there’s just pent-up demand for good barbecue in The Woodlands.”

Go where the people want you. It’s a lesson Killen could have learned from Mattress Mack himself. Killen still does the food for some of Jim McIngvale’s Gallery Furniture events and the furniture giant’s Wounded Warriors projects too.

Never forget where you came from — or who helped you along the way. Ronnie Killen figures he has one heck of a role model right across town.

After all, his own incredible journey is an only-in-Houston story too.