We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney and DeAndre Huddleston and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney and DeAndre, how does your business help the community?

Our slogan is “We are where we eat and what we cook”.

When the dinner bell rings and it’s time to eat, we like to take the opportunity to share new and favorite flavors with our family. Whether entertaining or just a basic midweek dinner, we enjoy placing a well-cooked meal on the table and decided to create a platform to share our best and most delicious from-scratch recipes that others can enjoy. Cooking is growth process. So we hope that by sharing our cooking journey with others, we can inspire and guide others to embrace their home kitchen and enjoy the process of creating delicious meals. Alternatively, we also enjoy dining out just like anyone else. With 2 kids with active lives and active lifestyles of our own, it’s hard to get a home-cooked meal all the time. Houston is a big city with so much to do and see and it’s often hard to know what places are worth trying. So, when we eat out, we try to make sure it’s an experience because the best meals always are. We work hard to display the best of those experiences to our followers as a guide to the new and exciting spots to try in HTX.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Food has a remarkable ability to bring people together. It’s the most truthful cliché we know. Before we met we both shared a love for cooking. Coming from a large family where everyone could whip up a meal for the masses that pleased, Courtney has an eye for things that make a meal visually appealing with the knowledge of how to expand a menu. DeAndre’s love for food is rooted in a hard knocks upbringing. Having spent his developmental years learning to eat with his taste and not his sight, he has the mind to concoct the best flavor combinations for a tasteful bite. Together, we are a deliciously dynamic duo. In 2022, we decided to take our skills to the internet. We developed a game plan and made some hard decisions on how best to present ourselves. There were so many examples to follow from people who had done this before us that we had to decide the best route to our long-term goals. The choices often led to long late-night conversations and tons of trial and error in developing start-up content. With the desire to help others, we aim to reach people across all dynamics with our love for everything edible. We bounce around from plate to place always searching for the best recipes and experiences to bring back to those we love. And now we hope to expand this circle to our growing group of followers.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’re always ready for family and friends to visit. Courtney is a born hostess and gets true enjoyment from showing guests a great time. We usually start off by recommending some of our favorite staycation hotels near downtown Houston such as Hotel Zaza, Marriot Marquis, or the Blossom Hotel. We always suggest that our guests fly in late in the day to avoid the airport crowds, spend the evening settling in and resting, and then join us at one of our favorite brunch spots the next day. Houston has a dynamic brunch scene no matter your style! Some of our favorite locations include Lost and Found, Bosscat Kitchen, Ouisie’s Table, and Black Walnut Cafe. If we bring our kids along, we would have to go to the Waffle Bus on montrose for fun waffle sandwiches. We definitely suggest Cidercade for some nostalgic fun and hard cider and after, we’d head over to Franks Pizza, hands down the best pizza in Houston! Of course there would be a visit to a rooftop bar like Z on 23 or a speakeasy like Behind Closed Doors in downtown. We would have to spend some time relaxing and we love the vibes at Milk + Honey spa followed by some retail therapy at the Galleria. If they’re in town for a while, we would catch the Metrorail to Main and Preston to grab Coffee at Day 6, walk over a few blocks to TUTS or the Wortham Center to catch a matinee show then walk over to Bravery Hall for Italian at Figo Sugo and drinks from Secret Garden. If there’s time, we would suggest squeezing in a trip to Gus’s Famous Fried Chicken and Jenni’s ice cream in the Heights. If they need some cute date suggestions, we would recommend walking through the Houston Farmer’s Market for fresh picnic produce after grabbing lunch at Underbelly Burgers. Those who know us well, know that we love date night and getting dressed to the nines for dinner and live music at The Palm followed by drinks at the piano bar above the restaurant. If they love exploring we would also recommend checking out the tons of little shops during a quick pass through Chinatown and of course grabbing some authentic Asian food and treats. We’d end the visit with a hot homecooked meal at our place featuring one of our signature recipes where we’d invite other family and friends to stop by and bid our guests farewell. Until next time!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We want to give a shout-out to our kids, family, and friends for beta-testing our recipes and accompanying us on dining adventures. They’ve given us honest feedback through the tasty and the ugly and their unconditional support and helpful criticism have made all the difference in our growth.

Website: huddhouse.com

Instagram: @huddhouse

Other: huddhouse.houston@gmail.com

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