Celebrity endorsements boost Houston businesses
Partying like an A-lister includes luxury hotels, expensive sushi — and Trill Burgers
When the Rolling Stones and Bad Bunny and their entourages roll into town in the coming days, where they stay and where they eat will tell us a bit about what Houston life is like for A-list celebrities.
Some aspects of that experience may not be accessible to most of us. Rooms at luxury hotels such as Tilman Fertitta’s Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston, for example, range from $750-$1,000 a night, and megastars sometimes book entire floors of hotels to accommodate their crew and improve security.
But the stars who come to Houston in many ways aren’t that different from you and me when it comes to their culinary tastes, thanks to the city’s extensive and diverse food scene. There may be a line at local celebrity hotspots such as Trill Burgers, the popular smashburger spot owned by Bun B and Chef Mike Pham, which has served celebrities such as Mike Tyson, Alex Bregman and Drake since opening its first brickand-mortar location at 3607 S. Shepherd last June. But there isn’t a hefty cover charge, secret handshake or velvet rope.
“Coming to Trill Burgers, there may be a wait, but you’re getting a Trill burger,” Bun B said last week. “You don’t have to make a reservation. You just have to have a bit of determination.”
Take the Rolling Stones and Bad Bunny, who have upcoming shows at NRG Stadium and the Toyota Center respectively. The British band and the Puerto Rican pop star have enjoyed eating like locals on previous visits to Houston.
The North American leg of the Stones’ No Filter Tour, in 2019, had to be postponed for several months after frontman Mick Jagger underwent heart
surgery. When the band finally arrived at NRG stadium on July 28, the day after Jagger’s 76th birthday, he told fans the Stones had celebrated the occasion with the “National Beer of Texas,” which retails for about $20 a case.
“We went mutton bustin’,” said Jagger, who even now probably has the agility to handle a racing sheep. “Not really. It’s just something I thought you did here. And then to celebrate we had chips and queso and Lone Star beer and margaritas.”
This year, he went to visit NASA, posting April 26 on Instagram, “Thanks @nasa for being so welcoming to us and great to be shown around by astronauts Josh Cassada, Bob Hines and Jessica Meir.”
Bad Bunny, meanwhile, reportedly ordered takeout from Michy’s Chino Boricua to enjoy backstage when he toured Houston in 2022. The ChinesePuerto Rican restaurant, which opened its first location in west Houston in May 2021, is now planning a second, larger location in Katy.
Swankier options are of course available. Actor Robert De Niro is a co-owner of Nobu, the worldwide Japanese restaurant, which offers a 17-course, chef-selected omakase for $225 at the sushi bar at its Houston location in the Galleria, which is itself a popular shopping destination for celebrities visiting Houston.
But the foodways most associated with Houston — Mexican and Tex-Mex, Vietnamese, Cajun, Viet-Cajun, barbecue, soul food, kolaches — don’t have to be expensive, and often aren’t.
Celebrities with Houston ties have helped put a number of such spots on the map in front of a worldwide audience.
Beyoncé, who grew up in Riverside Terrace, is known to be a lifelong fan of Frenchy’s, the chicken, fish, shrimp and crawfish chain that opened its first location in Third Ward in 1969. She paid a visit to the restaurant while in town for her Renaissance World Tour last year, and complimented it in her film about the tour, jokingly calling the food “dangerous.”
The singer and flautist Lizzo, who studied at the University of Houston, shouted out a number of restaurants with studentfriendly pricing in advance of her 2022 tour dates in the city.
“Shipleys do-nuts, pappadeaux, chachos, what-a-Burger, taco cabana, cheddars, razzoos, Mai’s, Chapultepec lupita, Timmy chans, kolache factory, pappasitos, B-TCH IM BACK,” Lizzo said in a post on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter.
Such endorsements, in Houston and elsewhere, can have a dramatic impact on a business.
A recent example comes from Taylor Swift, whose new album, “The Tortured Poets Department” includes a song called “The Black Dog.” Since the album was released last week, fans have theorized that the song refers to a London pub of the same name, with the result that the normally sedate watering hole has become “an unexpected hive of activity,” according to CNN, spurring its owners to hire extra security and start a TikTok account.
And in Houston, the celebrity support for a range of eateries and other establishments has helped elevate the city at large as well as individual establishments like Trill Burgers.
“Houston’s definitely a destination spot right now with lifestyle and food,” Bun B said. “There’s a lot of different choices. I’m just glad and happy that we’re one of those choices and we can live up to expectations. It’s been very beneficial for us as a company. It’s turned us into a destination restaurant not just for people who are into food, but people who are into particular artists.”
When it comes to shopping, dining and lodging, a city with the wealth of Houston offers no shortage of luxury experiences for local billionaires and visiting celebrities alike. But here, at least, aspects of the A-List experience are more accessible than one might think.