This is not your mother's Hollister Grill. This is chef Jason Kerr's food truck fare—perfected inside the cramped quarters of his now retired truck, Zilla Street Eats—elevated to upscale dining here at Hollister on Washington. The original has operated quietly in its flagship Spring Branch location for years under the watchful eye of owner Chuck Pritchett; this new incarnation opened in March.

Pritchett's straightforward food at the original Hollister Grill speaks to a more settled, more suburban yet still refined palate: country-fried rib-eye steak with jalapeño gravy, crab cakes, pan-seared red snapper with corn risotto croquettes. And although those dishes are also on the menu at the second location of The Hollister Grill, Pritchett has wisely let Kerr have creative control over a few signature dishes of his own—the better to compete here along the restaurant-saturated Washington Corridor.