Lucille’s Chef Chris Williams Is Majorly Expanding His Culinary Empire

Beloved Houston chef Chris Williams has major plans to grow his culinary empire in the next couple of years with four brand new restaurants.

Williams announced the creation of Lucille’s Hospitality Group in a press release on Wednesday, and he’s joining forces with beloved Kulture chef Dawn Burrell to bring these new eateries to life. First up is Late August, a restaurant with Burrell at the helm that will “explore the soul of Afro-Asian flavors.” It’s expected to open in the latter part of 2021.

After that, Williams will open Rado Cafe, a “community cafe” that will serve coffee, cocktails, and a menu of as-yet-unknown dishes in the Third Ward. Named for the historic Eldorado Ballroom, the restaurant is expected to make its debut in late August alongside Hogan Brown Gallery, an art gallery that will showcase African-American art and artists.

Williams is also planning to take his culinary empire north in 2021 — way north. In the coming months, he’ll debut Emile’s Black Point Bistro in Nova Scotia, which will serve a menu of dishes made with local Nova Scotian ingredients and Lebanese flavors. The latter component is a tribute to the space’s original owners, according to Williams, a duo of Lebanese immigrants who operated a restaurant in the Emile’s space for more than four decades.

2020 was a seriously busy year for Williams, and it doesn’t appear that the pace will slow down any time soon. Since the start of the pandemic, Williams has served tens of thousands of meals to people in need via his nonprofit Lucille’s 1913, and his restaurant served as the meeting place for President Joe Biden and George Floyd’s family when the president visited Houston to attend Floyd’s funeral in June 2020.

Stay tuned for more details on these exciting newcomers as they become available.