Houston's This Is It Soul Food

About the Business

Specialties

Traditional home-style, soul food cooking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Home atmosphere & great service! Catering all events, both family & corporation.

History

Established in 1959.

We are the original soul food restaurant in Houston, Texas! We dish out delicious soul food from the steam table for a diverse mix of customers from working-class and professionals to politicians, entertainers, tourists, and conference attendees. Frank and Mattie Jones, the late grandparents of the current owner, opened This Is It in 1959 in a frame house at 1003 Andrews, located in Freedmen's Town. Frank Jones had been inspired by his mother, who in the '20s and early '30s ran a boarding house in the Fourth Ward at the corner of Ruthven and Crosby. She served soul food to her boarders, who included jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway. The Jones' turned the business over to Craig Joseph in 1994, after which, he purchased property for This Is It at 207 Gray. During the hot summer month of July 2010, Craig and Georgette Joseph and the This Is It family moved to its current location at 2712 Blodgett where the dream of Frank and Mattie Jones is kept alive.

Meet the Business Owner

Business owner information

Craig J.

Business Owner

For 24 years, Frank & Mattie Jones operated "This is It" at 1003 Andrews. Then in 1982, the restaurant was moved to 239 West gray. By this time the restaurant had become so well known that it was used as the location for the movie "Jason's Lyric", starring Jada Pinkett & Allen Payne. After 12 years and passing on his many recipes in hopes that one day his grandson would continue his legacy, Frank retired.Continuing the legacy, in 1995, Frank & Mattie's grandson, Craig Joseph and his wife, Georgette, took over the business. Like his mother, Frank had taught his grandson how to cook at an early age. Although Craig is now a retired Houston firefighter, he and his wife got involved in the restaurant and took the vision to another level by purchasing property in the fourth ward district and later in the third ward community. Now Craig Sr., is teaching his children the ins and outs of continuing their great-grandfather's legacy!