Ronnie Killen's highly anticipated Mexican restaurant now open in Pearland
PEARLAND, Texas (KTRK) -- Killen's TMX, chef Ronnie Killen's eagerly anticipated Mexican restaurant, held a two-day soft opening over the weekend of Dec. 29-30. The chef invited a small group of media members in for a first taste Saturday night.
As Killen told CultureMap back in October, Killen's TMX brings together two distinct styles of cuisine: the Tex-Mex items that first appeared on the dinner menu at Killen's Barbecue and the more traditional Mexican cuisine that the chef became interested in during travels to Mexico. At TMX, diners may opt for queso, enchiladas, and/or tamales loaded up with barbecue brisket, but they can also choose for delicate ceviches, a tuna tostada, or smoked scallops in green mole.
Most critically, Killen, working with director of operations Graham Laborde and Killen's STQ executive chef Teddy Lopez, found a way to give some of his signature items a TMX twist. For example, creamed corn comes in empanada form. Beef ribs, a favorite at both the barbecue restaurant and STQ, get a barbacoa-style treatment with a slightly spicy adobo topping. Instead of STQ's pork belly with cherry habanero barbecue sauce, TMX serves the fatty meat with a little bit of skin on that's smoked and then fried, chicharrones style; the result is juicy meat with a crispy, crunchy bit on top.
