Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks gets a reboot – Chron.com

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Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle

The BLT-Better Grilled Chicken Sandwich done "Denverado Style" (with fried chicken, bacon, smashed deviled egg, pickles and green garlic ranch) at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

The Pineapple Room Loco-Moco'ish' Cheeseburger (plancha-style beef patty, fried chicken breast, cheese, grilled Spam, fried egg, fried onion ring, and "angry" Russian dressing) at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

Shrimp with jalapenos is offered on the patio menu at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

On the patio menu at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks: grilled crab ball and shrimp Louis tacos.

F.E.E.D. TX Team includes COO Brian Schrumpf, from left, culinary director Lance Fegen and development director Carl Eaves stand in the beer garden at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

The rooster from BRC Gastropub now sits in front of the beer garden at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

Poutine with Spam and brown mushroom gravy at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

The beer garden bar at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

The interior of Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks is set to open mid-June 2016 at 3715 Alba. It will be the fourth restaurant in the brand from F.E.E.D TX. Shown: Details of interior.

The BLT-Better Grilled Chicken Sandwich done "Denverado Style" (with fried chicken, bacon, smashed deviled egg, pickles and green garlic ranch) at Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks.

Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks gets a reboot

So many things can go wrong when a restaurant opens. But what happened to Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks is something even the most seasoned restaurateurs were helpless to correct.

Shortly after the F.E.E.D. TX restaurant group opened its charming new restaurant a year ago at 3715 Alba, the city began a full-scale construction project for street drainage and sewer improvements that blocked access to the restaurant. It was a major blow to a restaurant that was eager to begin business in an area not known as a restaurant mecca.

"If we had been a single-entity business, we would have shut down," said Carl Eaves, partner and development director for F.E.E.D. TX which at that time had three other Liberty stores in operation.

But the restaurant didn't shutter. In fact, it survived the long construction ordeal thanks to neighbors who, undeterred by mud, blocked off streets, and construction madness, found their way to Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks. Last week only two weeks after the restaurant regained street access after construction LKGO threw a party to thank those loyal neighbors who kept them afloat.

And now the restaurant is ready for its re-debut to the public. A year after opening, LKGO is marking a "re-opening" with a new menu (about 30 new items) and a new beer garden with its own outdoor bar. Although technically a year old, the restaurant feels brand new an opportunity to start fresh.

F.E.E.D.'s partners took that to heart and made the most of an opportunity to reboot. There's even a new/old mascot in front of the restaurant: the familiar Big Red Cock rooster statue from the former BRC Gastropub.

Culinary director Lance Fegen has made sweeping changes to the dinner menu as well as the happy hour menu and a new beer garden menu that launches June 17. The main dining menu welcomes some familiar dishes from the BRC menu including fried chicken and biscuits, biscuits with bacon jam, pork roll sandwich, poutine with Spam and brown mushroom gravy, triple-cooked wings, and dill and garlic pickles. There are more salads (including variations on the Crab Louis salad), new sandwiches (including a towering Pineapple Room Loco-Moco-ish Cheeseburger made with a beef patty, fried chicken breast, grilled Spam, fried egg, and fried onion ring), a new dry-aged Prime beef program, and expanded children's menu offerings.

"This neighborhood is so rich with kids and families, it doesn't make sense for us not to cater to children," said Brian Schrumpf, company COO, adding that it is the largest kids menu of any of its Liberty Kitchen stores.

When the beer garden menu launches it will offer famous Sabrett natural casing hot dogs, a selection of street tacos, queso made with beer, and a combination plate of tuna salad and egg salad.

LKGO also has an unbeatable happy hour, weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. There are the J n' B Tacos that the company launched when the company briefly launched The El Cantina Superior (at 2 for $1.49, it's a happy hour steal). But there are other bargains: garlic butter and parmesan grilled oysters (2 for $2.50), pimento cheese and ranch-flavor Ritz crackers ($2.50), sweet and hot flank ribs ($3), and $1 fresh oysters. Coupled with $2 domestic can beer or $5 well pour cocktail, and you're sitting pretty.

Fegen said the new menu offerings represent a new commitment to options. "We're going back to choice. One thing that could always be said about BRC and the original Liberty Kitchen: you always got a lot of choices."

A bigger menu, at least in Garden Oaks, is a better menu, Fegen said. "If you can satisfy four out of four people in a family, we're going to be the restaurant of choice," he said.

Maybe it's time to check out the "new" Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks?

Liberty Kitchen Garden Oaks, 3715 Alba, 713-290-0074; libertykitchengardenoaks.com