After 5 years at farmers markets, Houston chef opens laid-back spot for Southern food
Chef and pit master Reginald Scott of Coarse Restaurant slices brisket at the restaurant in Houston, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle)
A new Southern restaurant is opening in the Independence Heights area.
After five years selling sauces, pickles and barbecue at Houston farmers markets and food halls, chef Reginald Scott will debut Coarse, his first standalone brick-and-mortar. A relaxed neighborhood spot serving Southern classics with international influence, it will open at 5600 Yale St., Unit A on March 3.
Much of the menu seems to take a cue from Scott's barbecue brand, the Smoke. There's certainly plenty of smoke involved: Think fried green tomatoes with smoked catfish dip and hot sauce "caviar," beet salad with smoked collard green puree, smoked brisket ramen and smoked fried chicken with aji verde ranch.
Smoke fried chicken with homemade biscuits, aji verde ranch, strawberry black pepper jam and honey butter is photographed at Coarse Restaurant in Houston, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle)
"Essentially, this is what I've been wanting to do for the last 33 years," Scott said. "My whole life."
The 40-seat restaurant will be laid-back, Scott said, with blues and early '90s R&B playing in the background. Drinks are BYOB to start, though Scott will pick up fruit at the farmers market to mix craft cocktails.
At lunch, it will operate like a casual counter-service spot, with seated service for dinner. Appetizers start around $13, Scott said, and entrees range from $19 up to about $60 for market-price fish.
Scott named Coarse as a nod to the struggles it took for him to get here. He thought about christening it "Rough," but it seemed like an odd name for a restaurant. Plus, he liked that Coarse could also suggest the courses of a meal.
Brisket ramen with crispy puffed beef tendon is photographed at Coarse Restaurant in Houston, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle)
Growing up in Memphis, Scott said he started cooking as a kid, making fried chicken and chicken gizzards. He realized that cooking represented a path forward: "My way out of Memphis, my way out of poverty." So he studied French cooking at the University of Memphis and worked in Italian fine-dining there. He knew he wanted to move somewhere bigger, though, without going too far from home.
"I watched Discovery, in which they were talking about how Houston was the melting pot of the South," he said. "And I'm a Southern boy, so why try to get to New York?"
In 2017, he moved to Houston and began working at Kulture, a downtown neo-soul-food spot. He left in early 2020 and started working at farmers markets during the pandemic, selling West African-style pickles flavored with uda peppers until he earned enough to buy the equipment for barbecue.
A selection of dishes including brisket ramen with crispy puffed beef tendon, smoke fried chicken with homemade biscuits and preserves, sweet beet salad with collard greens purée and cornbread croutons, and green tomato croutons with smoked catfish dip and hot sauce caviar is photographed at Coarse Restaurant in Houston, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle)
Then he made Memphis-style barbecue, which tends to emphasize pork, though he learned to cook Texas brisket, too. He named his operation the Smoke and, for two and a half years, sold barbecue at downtown food hall the Finn. But in 2024, with traffic dwindling, he shut it down.
Now, his new restaurant will function as an "homage" to all the places he learned to cook.
"I'm from the Dirty South diaspora of the world, right?" Scott said. "That will be reflected on my menu."
