20 years as police officers, but now they’re the 2023 Live Music Venue of the Year? Now that’s a career shift.
Tony and Rita Krueger weren’t always music venue and restaurant owner extraordinaires. Back in the day, they were police officers for the Washington County Sheriff's office. They moved up in their careers, Tony to Harris County, and Rita to be an investigator for the State of Texas.
Tony’s parents owned a steakhouse in Navasota and Tony and Rita handled the catering. They had three young kids at the time, all involved in activities, so in addition to all of that, Rita had a casserole delivery service for elderly people in assisted living facilities, to supplement their income.
One day Rita decided that she had to get out of police work; that if she didn’t change her situation (and leave her job) it was going to change her.
Around that time, she started having recurring dreams about a brick wall; there was something behind that brick wall, but she just didn’t know what.
At the time, their sons were going to a Thursday night jam session with the old country guys at a run down, one room beer joint named The Kenney Store. Playing music and allegedly drinking with these old fellas.
Tony’s cousin worked at that beer joint, and one day Tony and Rita decided to stop in and visit.
When they walked in, Rita knew exactly where she was. She stopped Tony in his tracks and said this was it. He said, “THIS is the place you’ve been dreaming about?” Astonished, because why would she be dreaming of an brokedown bar?
“It was a god thing”, is how she explained it to me.
Three weeks from that day, Tony and Rita opened the doors. Six months later they had built out the kitchen and started serving food. Three years after that, they bought the adjoining building and expanded their dining area. Now, in 2023, just the day after I interviewed them, they were awarded the 2023 Live Music Venue of the Year award by the Texas Country Music Association. Tony told me that Rita stood on their stage early on and told him that they were going to be the #1 music venue in the state of Texas, and boy did she nail it!
I feel so blessed that they allowed me to come in and check things out. Ya’ll since I’ve been doing this, I’ve gotten to taste some amazing foods. There have been fun, beautiful, fancy, and delicious foods, but I have yet to go to a place where it tasted like home and love as much as it did at The Kenney Store.
The fried chicken platter, the hamburger steak, and the fish tacos was what was brought out. Everything here is made from scratch, from the biscuits to the apple butter.
The fried chicken platter came with four huge pieces of chicken, a street corn coleslaw, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, a biscuit, and apple butter. The fried chicken was fresh, hot, crispy and not too greasy. The street corn coleslaw had roasted corn, bright crunchy cabbage and a dressing with a southwest flare. A little bit of potato skins in the mashed potatoes, just like when Momma didn’t peel them all the way, and piping hot cream gravy on the side. That biscuit though, if it had been a different shape I would have sworn it was my Grandma’s recipe (she dropped them by the spoonful on a cookie sheet, instead of using a muffin tin.)
The hamburger steak was perfectly cooked, with a crust on the outside and nice and tender on the inside, with sauteed onion ribbons on top. Served with a bowl of brown gravy to the side along with mashed potatoes, a biscuit, and apple butter. And the best damn green beans around. I think they were simmered in bacon grease and love, or maybe magic before they were brought to me. The homemade apple butter was out of this world. It smelled like fall and was just the perfect little warm hug on top of that fluffy biscuit.
Honestly, for breakfast just give me a couple biscuits, some fresh salted butter, some of that apple butter, and a hot cup of black coffee and I would swear that I was sittin' down to breakfast with Grandma.
The fish tacos really blew me away though. I don’t usually do fish tacos, they kind of give me the heeby jeebies. So I was completely surprised when I loved these. Fried catfish filets, on a warm tortilla, topped with a slaw mixture. This slaw had a honey dressing and the balance of the sweet slaw against the savory fish was intoxicating. It was served with a big ole basket of warm tortilla chips and a bowl of Rita’s specialty green sauce. Y’all, had I not been in public, I probably would have been eating that sauce with a spoon, no chips required. It’s cool, creamy, and refreshing, with a hint of spice and cilantro.
Check out their website to see all of the upcoming concerts and to buy tickets, artists like Corey Morrow and Sunny Sweeny frequent their stage. Also, check out my YouTube channel to see a clip about how they passed on a really big artist, and why! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7CpRKu0-eJIcobg1VsW71Q
It might look like a humble little general store, from the outside, but it’s Texas’ best country music venue, some of the most incredible home cooking, fun markets and events, and a family atmosphere you won’t soon forget.
You’re going to have to take the backroads to get to The Kenney Store, but when you get there, tell Tony and Rita I said hi! Brunch, lunch, or dinner, you’ll be glad you stopped in!
I’m on a mission to help Texas mom and pop restaurants thrive, and I need your help! So if you enjoy my articles, reviews, photos and videos, please consider sharing and help me get some butts in booths at places like The Kenney Store.
811 South Loop 497, Kenney, TX 77452
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