Easy’s. Luke’s. The Park. Some have had longer stints than others in the Old Town neighborhood of Beaumont, but 2325 Calder Ave. will soon have a new tenant – BB’s Tex-Orleans.
In November 2007, Houstonian Brooks Bassler founded BB’s with the original 1,100-square-foot restaurant at Montrose and Westheimer in Houston. Bassler opened BB’s with the intention of creating a unique brand that would feature authentic New Orleans-style po’boys and “Tex-Orleans” cooking with a distinct menu, offered how and when customers wanted it – for dine-in, catering, and take-out, and available for late-night dining as well as during traditional hours.
BB’s dine-in menu was inspired by Bassler’s grandmother (Maw Maw), family recipes, and extensive research from inside the best po’boy shops throughout the New Orleans area. Serving traditional Southern Louisiana-style cooking fused with a Texas twist, BB’s created its very own homemade food concept called “Tex-Orleans cooking.”
The menu includes New Orleans’ favs such as Maw Maw’s Gumbo, Miller’s Red Beans & Rice, The Bubba Lump (boiled shrimp, jumbo lump crab, tomato, avocado, mixed greens and cucumbers), Mama B’s Famous Shrimp & Grits, Morgan City Pasta, boil bags, fried seafood baskets, seafood entrees, tons of po’boys, burgers and much more.
Bassler has locations in Houston including the Energy Corridor, Briargrove, Cypress, Heights, Kingwood, Montrose, Pearland, Tomball, Upper Kirby, Webster and Cajun Cantina in Katy and Alamo Ranch.
His locations are so buzzworthy, Beyoncé stopped in after a concert in 2017 at Bassler’s Montrose location and ordered fried shrimp and catfish.
No timetable on the Beaumont opening has been announced.
Bassler is a 2002 graduate of the University of Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship program, where he also ran track and won a conference title in high jump as a freshman.
“I started waiting tables in college and fell in love with the business when I was young,” Bassler said. “After college I continued to work in the industry as a waiter and bartender. The owner of the company approached me about needing a sales-oriented person to help jump start his catering program. I jumped on this opportunity and from here I never really looked back.”
After working in the catering business for nearly five years, it was time to try his own thing, so the 26-year-old did just that.
“I have a lot of family scattered throughout South Louisiana and grew up eating Cajun style foods,” he said. “I always loved the food, culture, people of South Louisiana. Also, New Orleans has always been my favorite city so my love affair with New Orleans was imminent. After deciding on the Cajun sector, it was time to research and develop recipes and concepts. My now wife, Maricela who was in the public relations and marketing industry, and I took off to New Orleans for a two-week research period and really studied the ‘mom and pop’ po’boys shops, art, architecture, bars and all things New Orleans culture. From here the menu was developed.”
Bassler started with a simple one page, 12-item menus that consisted of po’boys with a Texas twist, gumbos and a few appetizers. As the years went by, he grew into and developed the unique Tex-Orleans niche.
“We now have a 54-item scratch made menu, full bar, unique and innovative decor and over a dozen locations,” said Bassler. “The rest is history but we will never forget (or underestimate) the work it took to arrive where we are today and how much work still lies ahead.”