Former longtime restaurateur ‘always ahead of his time’ with creative outlets
Lee Ellis, once a prolific and influential player on the Houston dining scene, died Monday. A resident of Round Top, Ellis was 63.
His death was confirmed Tuesday morning by his longtime friend and former publicist, Lisa Gochman. The official cause of death was not yet known.
As a partner in Cherry Pie Hospitality, Ellis once was at the top of his game on the local dining landscape as the public face behind restaurants including State Fare Kitchen & Bar, Lee’s Fried Chicken & Donuts, Pi Pizza, Petite Sweets, Lee’s Creamery and Star Fish restaurant. Before establishing Cherry Pie in 2016, Ellis was a founding partner in F.E.E.D TX Restaurant Group, which owned and operated Liberty Kitchen restaurants and the former BRC Gastropub.
In 2018, the Houston Chronicle reported Ellis resigned from Cherry Pie Hospitality and moved to Round Top, where he eventually opened Ellis Motel lounge, and Round Top Smokehouse, a barbecue restaurant.
Ellis first opened BRC Gastropub in 2010 at 519 Shepherd, a restaurant recognizable for the large red rooster statue or “big red cock” in the parking lot. That restaurant with its American fare menu, begat F.E.E.D TX projects that included Liberty Kitchen restaurants.
In 2016 Ellis announced he was ending his involvement in F.E.E.D, forming a new company, Cherry Pie Hospitality, which opened a number of new ventures. After having created new restaurants under that banner, Ellis left Cherry Pie in 2018. The company folded and its assets were acquired by other restaurateurs.
In August 2018 the State Fare Kitchen & Bar brand was acquired by Culinary Khancepts, a sister company to the Houston-based Star Cinema Grill Group (State Fare now has three locations: the original in Memorial City and newer locations in Sugar Land and The Woodlands). In September 2018 Star Fish, Pi Pizza and Lee’s Fried Chicken & Donuts were acquired by Sambrooks Management Company, the hospitality group that currently operates The Pit Room and Candente. Pi Pizza and Lee’s Fried Chicken & Donuts closed, but Sambrooks rebranded Star Fish as 1751 Sea and Bar, which operated until its recent closing this month.
Born in Lafayette, La., Ellis moved to Houston with his parents when he was 10. After graduating from Lee High
School, he opened his first business, a skate rental shop on Montrose. Before his restaurant career, Ellis was known as a partner in a sportswear brand called Big Ball Sports, a T-shirt company established in 1992 that by 1995 was doing $20 million in sales. He sold the company in 1999 to Signal Apparel Co. and began opening nightclubs in Houston including Tonic & Tryst downtown and The Social on Washington Avenue. He and his wife, Melissa Savarino, also opened Sam and lilli, a fashion boutique on Kirby in 2013.
“He was always ahead of his time,” said Gochman. “He was doing influencer and social media reach before everyone.”
Gochman said Ellis had an eye for what was hip and trending even before his customers knew it. “He was on the creative side. Everything looked spectacular,” she said. “He had an eye for that and was doing things five to 10 years before other people.”
Chef Lance Fegen, a former partner in F.E.E.D TX, said he carries lessons with him to this day learned from their restaurant collaborations.
“The experiences with him, both good and bad, have made me a better human being, so I have gratitude for the time with Lee, and a better understanding of the impermanence of everything in our world,” Fegen said. “My thoughts go now to Melissa and the family.”