Cy-Fair Helping Hands Scholarship Awards

CREEKWOOD GRILL

An Interview with Brian Sandel PLACES TO EAT

Story by Patricia Hudson

"I love Creekwood Grill. Relaxed atmosphere, good prices and great food. Onion rings, shrimp/fish tacos and roasted corn are all items I will highly recommend.” -Linda Lanier.

Creekwood Grill, located in Cypress at 12710 Telge Road, is a popular site for gatherings of family and friends. What began its life as a grocery in the 1940’s, was probably best known in the 1980’s as P.O.’s. In August 2018, Brian Sandel and Mark McShaffry became partners of Creekwood Grill. I interviewed Brian to learn more about this favorite Cypress restaurant.

Brian, your partnership with Mark McShaffry at Creekwood Grill is coming up on three years in August. How did this come about?

Mark and I met when I was a Managing Partner for Raising Cane's. We met in 2012, maybe 2013, at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the old Northwest Forest Conference Center, directly across the street from Creekwood, (irony!) His general manager and I ran into each other a lot at various school and marketing functions; we got to know each other through doing business in the Cypress area in the same industry. The way he built his business at The Backyard Grill is strikingly similar to the way I went about building a brandnew concept to Cypress, Raising Cane's, so we ended up running into each other a lot.

What do you see as the reason Creekwood is so popular with the folks in Cypress?

I think it's just basic business. We have a great location, away from the freeways and crazy traffic areas. We have a good menu that's easy to understand and we use high quality ingredients; we followed what our customers were telling us that they wanted us to be. We're a fun, laid back, easy to hang out at with friends kind of place, with a killer burger and great beer. Oh, yeah, the BEER! We have 40 rotating taps of great beer with a style and choice for anyone. We work hard to be a place where people can come learn about new beers without feeling like the beer snobs are everywhere. We're constantly looking for great, mostly local craft beers for everyone to try. There is so much amazing beer that is brewed right here in the Houston / Gulf Coast area, and we try to showcase as much of that as we can. In a nutshell, good food, good beer, good music in a comfortable environment.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Photo by Patricia Hudson

More than a year into the pandemic, has business finally turned the corner?

Absolutely! We are so blessed to have the support of the community and it seems like some of the folks that were waiting for things to become safer to return to normal are coming back to restaurants. I've heard many times over the past few weeks that "This is the first time we've eaten in a restaurant in a year."

Known as a music venue, entertainment plays an important role at Creekwood Grill.

The stage in our building has seen a lot of talent over the years. When we started, we just asked a few friends to come set up a guitar and a stool and sing a few songs. As word got around, we had more and more artists approach us to play. Now we have a group of probably a dozen or so artists that play on a rotational basis.

What are the improvements/accomplishments of which you are most proud at CG? What improvements are still in the works?

We are happy with the way we've taken a location that has been a go-to for multiple generations of Cypress families and just continued to evolve it to fit what the community seems