Luther’s Bar-B-Q was a Houston staple for over 30 years. The restaurant was founded as the third venture of an entrepreneur who went by “Chandler” (His family name). A stockbroker by trade, Chandler’s first venture into food service was The Great Mining Company a Colorado/Gold Mining themed steakhouse. Which seems to have been inspired by the popular Aspen Mining Company in San Diego. The unofficial Houston counterpart was located at 2626 Tanglewilde. Positioned in the rear of the Woodlake Square Shopping Center, the new restaurant was in quite a hip area, and had a price tag to reflect this. The dining room included huge rocks hoisted in by crane prior to construction, support timbers, antiques, and mining equipment, all delivered from Colorado. The exterior of the building made it look almost like you were entering a mountain. The landscaping was filled in using mature East Texas pine trees. The detailed thought Chandler put into planning The Great Mining Company helped it to become a great success.
The Texas market commercial
Riding high on this success in 1975 Chandler decided to expand his restaurant ventures with a new bar named “The Park” located on Richmond at Fountain View. The Park sported a 1920’s theme and included an antique bar flown in from California along with multiple 1920s Tiffany lamps, it was an early example of a fern bar. While hip, the bar was not as exclusive as Chandler’s previous establishment. To compliment the bar, Chandler envisioned a simple restaurant directly across from the street. This restaurant would specialize in hamburgers, BBQ, and beer. This simple start would give birth to Luther’s. The first location was designed to resemble an old General Store with a wide front porch, and polished wood floors. Inside the restaurant Chandler used a cafeteria line to serve BBQ, and a separate counter to order hamburgers from. Both lines ended with beer and a cash register in the center. The exterior landscape was left open giving a courtyard feel between The Park and Luther’s. Similar to his previous restaurant Chandler planted mature Texas pine trees to help accent this location. All of these design features would be present in the later franchised versions of Luther’s.
A wildly different Louisiana variant
As Chandler developed his knowledge of running a BBQ restaurant, he wanted to expand on the concept. Being quoted as saying that he wanted to take Bar-B-Q and apply the Ray Kroc formula to it. At the time most BBQ restaurants in Houston were smaller family owned operations. It wasn’t really seen as a chain affair, and that was something he decided he wanted to change. One of the first changes for the new chain Luther’s locations would be that they were given Drive-Thru’s. While drive-thru BBQ was not a brand new it was quite the novelty.
Finally the Colorado version
In September of 1981 high end steakhouse chain Chart House acquired Luther’s. During this move Chandler left Luther’s taking a position to help develop failed Chili’s competitor, Spoon’s. Chart House maintained a steady cash flow by franchising hundreds of Burger King units, the company realized with a concept they owned the rights to they could easily increase their returns. This began a period of rapid expansion for Luther’s opening multiple locations in Dallas, Louisiana, and Colorado. An expansion into Phoenix was planned with Chandler acting as franchisee, but as far as I can tell it never happened. A single location was also constructed, and almost opened in Charleston, South Carolina. Although this was stopped due to the 1985 purchase of parent company Chart House by Pillsbury. Throughout the years Luther’s would continue to be passed through different sets of ownership.

While business hadn’t slowed in their home market of Houston, external forces caused the locations outside of the Houston close. First in the 1990s the Dallas locations became Colter’s BBQ, a clever re-imagining of the name to reuse as many letters as possible. The Colorado locations were removed from the website in 2003, leaving Louisiana and the original Houston market. Hurricane Katrina would destroy all of remaining out of state locations, forcing Luther’s to accept a purchase offer from competitor Pappa’s BBQ in 2005. The Luther’s name would last through most of 2006, with the final stores transitioning to Pappa’s by 2007. A sad and slow end to what had once been a bright and vibrant star, this still leaves one question. Who the hell was Luther?!
Photo Gallery
Store No | Address | Notes |
---|---|---|
000 | 3100 Fountain View Dr Houston, TX | July 1975-??? Original Location, Now Prospect Park |
001 | 9797 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX | May 1977-Present as Pappas BBQ |
002 | 8560 Gulf Freeway Houston, TX | September 1978-Present as Pappas BBQ |
003 | 1001 Gessner Rd Houston, TX | December 1978-2005? Demolished as Luther's during I-10 expansion |
004 | 703 FM-1960 W Houston, TX | September 1979-Present as Pappas BBQ |
006 | 1100 Smith St, Houston, TX | December 1980-Present as Pappas BBQ |
008 | 19713 US-59 Humble, TX | October 1981-Present as Pappas BBQ |
010 | 1101 W Dallas St Conroe, TX | March 1992-? Manny's BBQ Still resembles Luther's on the inside, likely relocated |
011 | 3814 Little York Rd Houston, TX | Burned down 2014 |
014 | 11311 Fondren Rd Houston, TX | Demolished for McDonald's |
018 | 7925 FM 1960 Rd W Houston, TX | Willowbrook Mall, has been multiple restaurants |
018 | 27752 I-45 Conroe, TX | Pappas BBQ |
1200 McKinney St Houston, TX | Unsure | |
8775 S Main St Houston, TX | Pappas BBQ Address Change? | |
765 | 5860 Eastex Fwy Beaumont, TX | July 1984-2008? Pappa's then Tony's BBQ and Steakhouse |
12917 Northwest Fwy Houston, TX | Pappas BBQ | |
20794 Gulf Fwy Webster, TX | Pappas BBQ | |
5860 Eastex Fwy Beaumont, TX | Papa's then Tony's BBQ and Steakhouse | |
Louisiana | Closed by 2005 | |
801 | 2750 Severn Ave Metairie, LA | December 1980-? Demolished |
802 | 8740 W Judge Perez Dr Chalmette, LA | October 1982-? Was an IHOP, now vacant |
803 | 4950 Lapalco Blvd Harvey, LA | October 1983-? Highly Remodeled for Verizon store |
804 | 792 E I-10 Service Rd Slidell, LA | August 1996-? Was a prototype full service location. Now Samurai Dragon |
809 | 509 Bertrand Dr Lafayette, LA | January 1982-? Now Agave Cantina |
818 MacArthur Dr Alexandria, LA | Now Outlaws BBQ kept original decor and signs until 2019. Still resembles Luther's just updated. | |
Colorado | Closed by 2002 | |
842 | 1595 S Havana St Aurora, CO | Demolished for Compass Bank |
840 | 11353 W Colfax Ave Lakewood, CO | Now Pfeiffer's Sports Tavern |
Mississippi | ||
3895 Metro Dr, Jackson, MS | Open around 1985-88? Outparcel of the Metrocenter Mall. Building still standing, subdivided. | |
South Carolina | ||
1193 Sam Rittenberg Blvd Charleston, SC | Completely built, never opened. 1985? Remodeled as Burger King torn down in 2011 | |
2415 Laurens Rd, Greenville, SC 29607 | Demolished | |
North Carolina | ||
4215 Wake Forest Rd Raleigh, NC 27609 | Demolished 2018 for Panda Express | |
4139 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd Durham, NC | Demolished for Chick-Fil-A | |
Florida | ||
630 N Navy Blvd, Pensacola, FL | Open 1984 Now a Sonny's BBQ, Highly remodeled | |
1750 S Federal Hwy, Delray Beach, FL | Probably this building, closed 1986 | |
494 W State Rd 434 Altamonte, FL | Unsure of exact location | |
1452 W 49th St Hialeah, FL | Auctioned in 1986 Building still standing highly remodeled as a Chase | |
4275 Park Blvd N Pinellas Park, FL | Now a Speedway Gas Station somewhat remodeled exterior | |
Georgia | ||
2580 Windy Hill Rd SE Marietta, GA 30067 | Demolished for Strip Center, original sign still used for barber shop | |
Maryland | ||
245 S Dupont Hwy Dover, DE | Still standing, has been a Mexican restaurant for several years. Open 1985. | |
Ohio | ||
7745 Mentor Ave, Mentor, OH | Address approximate, location destroyed by fire during construction. | |
4022 Mt Carmel Tobasco Rd, Cincinnati, OH | Opened 1984 later Tony Roma's now Butterbee's American Grille. Building heavily modified. | |
Alabama | ||
1553 Montgomery Hwy Hoover, AL | Still standing, now a cabinet store | |
Illinois | ||
7135 W 159th St Tinley Park, IL | Demolished, was likely converted to BK. | |
Oklahoma | ||
2920 NW 63rd St Oklahoma City, OK | Opened 1978! |
I remember Luther’s! DELICIOUS
Indeed it was. I’ve tried the Pappa’s version twice and have had to walk out. They have pepper confused with barbeque…shame.
Such a shame. Luther’s had some great BBQ but as you said Pappas over peppers and in my opinion under smokes. All black pepper heat with very little flavor.
I worked on the beltway north of I-10 back during the oil boom. I used to go to that Luther’s all the time. And I remember Spoons, which was right next door! This was the early 80s, back when places like that had drink specials at lunch.
At the time, I preferred Spoons to Chilis (because Chili’s was mostly hamburgers in the 70s and early 80s). Also because their daquiris were like two bucks.
I tended bar at Spoons…early 80’s. Used to get packed on weekends. I also recall when Chandler took over.
I’m trying to work on finding info on Spoons, but it’s sparse. Would love to hear any knowledge you have.
Lived and worked in Conroe. I remember when that one opened. It was always packed at lunch. The drive thru was a big feature at dinner time. Was surprised to see it closed and remained closed for years. “Chopped-Baker” was our main meal from there. Great food at a decent BBQ price.
Luther’s had simple & solid BBQ. Need that sauce recipe bad!!