The Best Cajun on the Bay
By Alisa Star
Come try authentic Southern Louisiana style cooking fused with a Texas twist. Creator and owner Brooks Bassler opened his 10th location of BB’s Tex-Orleans restaurant right here in Webster. Houston’s most popular Cajun restaurants are on the rise and becoming ever so popular among the public.
Bassler and his wife Maricela began their enterprise with a small, quaint restaurant located in the Montrose area, featuring a small menu serving gumbo and his famous overstuffed shrimp po-boys inspired by his grandmother’s (maw maw) cooking. Since then, they have stamped the footprint of BB’s Tex-Orleans all over the Houston area.
Bassler was born and raised in the small town of Rockdale, Texas, but most of his family is from Louisiana. His mother was born and raised in Morgan City, and all of her family still live there.
Brooks went to the University of Houston, where he waited tables at a high-end wine bar while attending the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, which is one of the top five best programs in the country.
After graduating, Bassler stayed in the restaurant business, which was his passion. While working at TwoRows Restaurant in Rice Village, the owner approached Bassler with the idea of helping jump start their catering program. While learning the ropes and sales, and several years of successfully doing catering for multiple companies, Bassler saw the writing on the wall and took that leap of faith. His passion in life is food and the Louisiana culture and that is captured in BB’s Tex-Orleans.
Most of the menu items are family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. Bassler wanted to be as unique as possible while penetrating the Cajun food market. It all kept coming down to his mother’s Cajun Louisiana roots and loving the food, culture, and people of South Louisiana, but wanting to be different from others. Bassler put a Texan flare to his one-of-a-kind Cajun cuisine.
BB’s Tex-Orleans is a family owned and operated local restaurant chain that specializes in Tex-Cajun cooking.
“We add a unique Texas twist to Cajun and New Orleans food. NOLA style po-boys, seafood gumbo, and hot and spicy crawfish are our specialities. BB’s is most proud of creating opportunity for fellow Tex-Orleanians (employees). Watching them grow personally, professionally, and financially are my proudest moments. I pride myself in the values I have and bring those values here. We are a big family!” Bassler said.
One of BB’s employees, Kaleb Jenkins, a Louisiana native, walked into the restaurant one day and loved it so much that he began working as a dishwasher and at catering events. Soon to become the commissary driver for all BB’s Tex-Orleans chains here in Houston. “Your dreams can never be too big.” Jenkins said.
“Our menu, culture and decor separates us from our competition. We have a diverse menu with bold Cajun flavors. All of the art is from Louisiana. One of the local artists, Lance Vargas, creates one-of-a-kind pieces that we carry in our BB’s restaurants. We are proud of the real Louisiana vibe throughout all of our chains,” Bassler said.
BB’s is most known for their famous po-boys, overstuffed with spicy gulf shrimp between a crisp bun straight from Leidenheimer bakery in New Orleans. Other delights include mouth-watering crawfish, tender roast beef debris, juicy oysters and fajitas.
If you have a little Cajun in your soul, and you’re looking for authentic Louisiana Cajun flavors, you have to try BB’s Tex-Orleans, located at 1039 W. Bay Area Blvd., Webster, TX 77598. BB’s is your all day and late night headquarters serving Cajun with a twist.