Saturday, August 26 was not a good morning for Chris Cusack, the owner of the popular, eclectic bar Betelgeuse Betelgeuse at 2101 Washington Avenue. Around 9 a.m., its brand-new food truck went completely up in flames. The bar is dependent on having a truck in order to provide food to its patrons — specifically, its acclaimed “ironclad” (baked in cast iron) pizzas, unique burger (called “A Burger In a Pizza Oven” because of how it’s made) and judicious selection of snacks, such as Garlic-Parm Fries and Space Balls — ​​housemade dough balls with roasted garlic butter, Parmesan, basil and marinara dipping sauce. 

While the truck is a total loss, terrible circumstances tend to bring out the best in the Houston food and beverage industry. Thanks to several food truck owners offering to immediately work Betelgeuse into their schedules, for the next few weeks Betelgeuse will have a varied selection of food every night. The schedule for this week is: 

• Tuesday, August 29: Think Tacos from 5 to 10 p.m. 
• Wednesday, August 30: Fatboy’s BBQ from 5 to 10 p.m. 
• Thursday, August 31: Seoul Side Wings from 5 to 10 p.m. 
• Friday, September 1: El Botas Tacos from 6 p.m. to midnight 
• Saturday, September 2: Blk Mkt Birria from 6 p.m. to midnight 
• Sunday, September 3: Based Burgers from 2 to 10 p.m.

There are other silver linings to the situation. Betelgeuse’s main building did not catch on fire, and no one was hurt. It could have gone much worse. 

“There are some things we are incredibly thankful for,” said Cusack in a Facebook post. “First and most importantly, no one got hurt. Although there is a lot to clean up, to figure out, etc., we are so lucky and thankful that everyone here is OK. The second is we want to say an enormous thank you to the Houston Fire Department. They got here quickly and made short work of a potentially even worse situation. Thank you for your service and for saving the store.”

Cusack is currently estimating that Betelgeuse will get a replacement food truck in approximately two weeks. Soon, there should be additional good news, as the new location at 4500 Montrose is getting very close to opening. Two days ago, Cusack revealed that the first pizza had rolled out of the oven there. 

In the meantime, keep up with the latest food truck schedule on Betelguese Betelguese’s Instagram. The bar’s hours are Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Friday through Sunday from noon to 2 a.m. Once open, the Montrose location will have the same hours. 

Phaedra Cook

Phaedra Cook has written about Houston’s restaurant and bar scene since 2010. She was a regular contributor to My Table magazine (now closed) and was the lead restaurant critic for the Houston Press for two years, eventually being promoted to food editor. Cook founded Houston Food Finder in November 2016 and has been its editor and publisher ever since.