After five years of serving Southern comfort food in the Heights, one of Houston’s Michelin-recognized restaurants is preparing to close its doors.
Killen’s Heights will serve its final meal on Sunday, July 19, ending the run of chef Ronnie Killen’s family-inspired neighborhood restaurant that earned Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition in both 2024 and 2025. Before saying goodbye, Killen is giving diners one last taste of the dishes that helped define the restaurant.
Beginning Tuesday, June 30, Killen and culinary director Ryan Hildebrand will revive a lineup of original menu favorites, many inspired by recipes passed down through Killen’s family. The farewell menu includes the restaurant’s signature chicken-fried steak—a nod to the building’s former life as beloved Houston institution Hickory Hollow—along with Ronnie’s 24-hour fried chicken, fried and smothered pork chops, smoked and braised oxtails, chicken pot pie, and the Cafeteria Burger, created in honor of Killen’s grandmother, who worked in a Texas school cafeteria.
“My grandmother was Czechoslovakian and grew up with very little, so she made something special out of simple, honest food,” Killen said in a statement. “My German godfather, Wilfred, is the one who taught me how to barbecue, and that tradition is at the heart of what this restaurant was about.”…