Houston's Secrets: Kelly's Country Cookin'

If anybody leaves Kelly's without being full it's only because they didn't order. But how could they not? Kelly's Country Cookin', 8015 Park Place (at the corner of Erie and Park Place just west of the Gulf Freeway), is one of those old fashioned diners most folks thought had long since disappeared. It's a restaurant where real food is served by real folks with an ambiance that feels more like grandma's kitchen than a restaurant.


There's no massive billboards on I45 directing hungry out-of-towners to Kelly's. It's not on the service road. Exiting Park Place at about the 9500 block of the Gulf Freeway and go west to Erie. The sign across the nondescript store-front building makes barely a hint at the incredible food to be had inside. Only the dropped "g" on "Cookin'" implies Kelly's is something special. It is. It's down-home Southern comfort on a plate.


Guests enter to discover a massive dining area full of happy locals who pay no attention to the comings and goings at the front door. A sign gives the instruction "seat yourself." There's lots of tables but often not too many of them are free. Once seated the waitress greets with a smile and a big menu listing far more choices than a really hungry person should have to consider. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Sandwiches to Steaks, Omelets to Oatmeal, listings cover several pages with descriptions and photo's that make the process of choosing even more difficult.


Most guests unfamiliar with a restaurant look around at what's on plates nearby. What they see at Kelly's is sometimes hard to believe. Baked potatoes large enough to feed a family of four, biscuits the size of Frisbees, gravy-smothered chicken-fry's so thick and juicy-looking it'd make a grown man cry. This could be a bit of an exaggeration but not much. Most of what Kelly's serves comes on platters rather than plates.