Mimsy’s Rebrands as Pecan and Sage Supper Club, Expands Dinner Service
By Kelly Nicol
Messenger Publisher
CROCKETT — After five years of serving award-winning barbecue in Crockett, Wade and Kathy Elkins are taking their restaurant in a new direction.
Mimsy’s Craft Barbecue is being rebranded as Pecan and Sage Supper Club, a full-service concept featuring Southern staples, international influences and many of the popular specials the couple has introduced over the years.
The transition will also bring expanded evening hours. Pecan and Sage will be open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday for Supper. The restaurant will serve lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday and will be closed Monday and Tuesday.
Lunch will initially remain counter service, allowing customers to order, pay and leave as soon as they finish eating. Supper will feature traditional table service, with servers taking drink and food orders.
The couple said customers who do not want to wait in line during lunch may scan a QR code at their table, place and pay for their order and have the food delivered to them.
“Most people are in a hurry at lunchtime,” he said. “When you have an hour or a limited amount of time, counter service is a little speedier.”
The owners said they will consider expanding full table service to lunch if customers indicate they prefer that model.
The Pecan and Sage menu will include items previously offered as specials at Mimsy’s, including its popular smoked brisket Reuben. The Reuben will become a regular lunch offering.
Another returning favorite is the wedge salad, made with iceberg lettuce, blue cheese dressing, roasted pecans, green onions, balsamic glaze, marinated tomatoes and blue cheese.
Other lunch selections will include a grilled chicken Caesar salad featuring marinated chicken tenderloin, chicken tenders, cheeseburgers and fried catfish.
New dishes will include fried crawfish tails tossed in a honey-based sauce. The couple said they are experimenting with several possibilities, including hot honey, basil honey and basil-infused hot honey.
The dinner menu will combine what the couple described as Southern staples with flavors drawn from other cuisines. Planned offerings include chicken-fried steak, pork chops, fried catfish, fried shrimp, pesto pasta and other rotating selections.
“The idea of the concept is Southern influence with some worldly flavors thrown in,” Wade said. “There’s some essence of a little bit of everything.”
Specials will remain an important part of the restaurant. The couple said the ability to experiment and create new dishes is one of the things that keeps us interested in the restaurant business.
“I don’t think I can be pinned down to one set menu,” he said. “We’re always going to have special features. Things will always be rotating or shifting.”
In fact, much of the permanent Pecan and Sage menu consists of dishes that began as specials at Mimsy’s.
The couple has also remodeled the dining room to reflect the new concept. Light-colored walls were painted black, and a section of farm fencing was installed and backlit on the rear wall. String lights and other decorative touches were added to create a warmer atmosphere.
A new Pecan and Sage sign is also planned for the front of the building.
The couple brought years of restaurant experience to Mimsy’s when they opened the Crockett location in 2020.
Wade began his restaurant career as a server at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, where employees were trained in numerous areas of restaurant operations, including dishwashing, food preparation, expediting and table service.
He later worked at Boudreaux’s Cajun Kitchen, beginning as a dishwasher and becoming a manager within about six months. He said the experience taught him about scratch cooking, restaurant management and working with customers.
“That’s when I decided that one day we were going to own a restaurant,” he said.
Kathy’s interest in cooking began during childhood. She recalled preparing menus at home, asking her parents to ring the doorbell before entering, seating them, serving their meals and presenting them with a bill afterward.
She attended the Art Institute of Houston after graduating from high school and later worked at Giacomo’s Cibo e Vino in Houston’s River Oaks area. She said the restaurant and its owner helped shape many of the standards she continues to follow.
Kathy also worked with several prominent Houston chefs and restaurateurs, including James Beard Award-winning chef Justin Yu. In 2017, the couple launched a catering business together before Wade spent time working at established barbecue restaurants to gain more industry experience.
They moved back to the Magnolia area in 2019, where Wade worked at Reveille Barbecue. The couple opened Mimsy’s in Crockett in November 2020.
Within months, Mimsy’s earned recognition from Texas Monthly. The restaurant was recognized by the magazine twice during its five-year run.
Despite that success, the couple said operating a destination barbecue restaurant in a small community away from Texas’ major travel routes presented challenges. They initially envisioned selling out each day, with customers traveling from across the state to visit the restaurant.
“We’ve been incredibly blessed with the awards that we picked up along the way,” Kathy said.
The new name reflects both the restaurant’s Texas roots and the couple’s personal history.
“Pecan” was inspired in part by a large pecan tree on the family’s property. “Sage” refers to the herb, the native Texas plant and a favorite handmade pasta dish Kathy learned to prepare during her time at Giacomo’s.
Wade said the two words also describe their personalities.
“I told Kathy it was Pecan and Sage because I’m nuts and she’s down to earth,” he said.
Kathy added that those roles occasionally reverse.
The couple plans to grow sage, basil, rosemary, thyme and other herbs in flower beds outside the restaurant for use in its dishes.
“Supper Club” was added to make it clear that the restaurant will be open for evening meals — something customers have repeatedly requested.
The couple said they have always worked to balance the demands of operating a restaurant with raising their three children. Although they believe limiting the restaurant’s hours may have cost them some business, they said they would make the same decision again.
“We have never sacrificed our family for the business,” Wade said. “We’re never going to be open seven days a week from 11 to 9. We wouldn’t be able to spend quality time with our family, and we wouldn’t be able to spend the quality time in the restaurant making sure the food and service are right.”
Although the daily barbecue operation is ending, the Mimsy’s name and its barbecue will not disappear.
Mimsy’s will continue as a catering and private-event business. The couple plan to convert an area at the front of the restaurant into a catering showroom and private dining space for weddings, corporate events, church gatherings, workplace luncheons and meetings.
Customers will still be able to order Mimsy’s barbecue for catered events, while the expanded Pecan and Sage menu will give the couple opportunities to serve clients who want something other than barbecue.
