Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Dixon.
Rick, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My culinary journey started at 15 when my father came home and told me I had a job at his favorite breakfast spot. I was not excited about it, to say the least… at that time, I would have never thought all these years. Later, I would look back and laugh about it. My first job in that restaurant was salad and veggie prep. My station was literally inside the walk-in cooler. It was a dream come true (sarcasm). Over the years, I worked as an oyster shucker, prep cook, line cook, server, bartender, and so on. After living in Austin, Texas and working in the industry there for around six years, I got the “itch.” I think it is something everyone in the restaurant industry goes through where they feel the need to get a “real” job… I need to grow up of sorts. I moved back to Houston to start a brokerage with my father that became immensely successful financially but left me empty. I was depressed, overindulging in food and alcohol, and extremely unhealthy.
Fortunately for me, upon returning to Houston, I met the love of my life and she was witnessing my demise. One night while talking she says “You need a change, you need to find something to make you happy again.” She supported my transition back into the food industry with all she had… and it was not easy. I took a job with a bar group and used that platform to cook whenever I could, starting with crawfish boils, steak nights, taco Tuesdays, anything I could do to get my food in front of people. By the grace of God, these events became successful and other people started taking notice and hiring me for their events. By no means, overnight, but one day, I woke up and I was a full-time cook again. Over the years, my little catering company Crooked Road had transformed into menu development, cook training, marketing, and Dixon Culinary Concepts were born.
While Crooked Road is still viable and can be found all around the city almost every night of the week, my passion now is in the consulting and private chef portion of my company. The newest and most exciting being my position with R-C Ranch Texas Craft Beef, I am the Ranch Chef and head of Client Development. I work side by side with our restaurant partners daily, have spent the last year finalizing all of our retail product lines like sausages, jerky, deli meat, spices, and what I believe will be a game changer our All Beef wagyu Boudin. Our focus in 2019 being accessibility for all Houstonians to get truly local wagyu beef conveniently from a trusted source. We are working on being in four strategically placed markets around town and our online store is just days away from launch. I feel truly blessed to be where I am today, to be in a city that embraces local small businesses and gives us a chance to be relevant.
Has it been a smooth road?
Well, I named my catering company Crooked Road Catering Co so that probably says it all. Without sounding cliche.. they say life is all about the journey. Thats where Crooked Road came from, I feel like I started my journey and the food was the end goal but somewhere along the way the road kept turning and I kept following it, luckily, in the end, it led me back here and do what I love to do.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Dixon Culinary Concepts story. Tell us more about the business.
So, on the Crooked Roadside, we are probably most well known for our Steak Nights. We have four currently around town including Tuesday nights at Nett bar near Washington Ave, Wednesdays we are Belle Station with RTB Event group for Raising The Steaks, also that night, we are at Woodrows Midtown for Trivia Night, Thursdays, we change it up a bit and offer Tuna steaks and Portabello Mushrooms steaks alongside the beef at Spring Street Beer garden on Houston Ave. We offer full-service catering year round with an emphasis on what I call Coastal cuisine. All the great foods of the south ranging from Florida style seafood, Creole from Louisiana, to great Texas BBQ. I don’t believe in a catering menu, everyone throwing an event is an individual with different wants and desires. They have a vision and it’s our job to build that food to make their vision a reality. Cookie cutter menus don’t do that.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think people more than ever want to know where their food comes from. I think being the little guy and knowing the local ranchers, knowing the local farmers will be a value-added service to my clients. I don’t need to use beef or pork from outside of Texas, I have friends raising it the right way right down the road.
Pricing:
- All of our steak nights are $20 and under. We only use locally raised beef.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.crookedcoastal.com www.r-cranch.com
- Phone: 2816865888
- Email: dixon@crookedcoastal.com
- Instagram: @crookedroadcatering
- Facebook: @crookedcater
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