It's a recent Monday night at Hickory Hollow just off Heights Boulevard, and the Texans have just been duped by a fake punt from the Baltimore Ravens. This has not been an easy year to be a fan of pro football in Houston, but at least I have chicken-fried steak, brown gravy and Hot Tots to soothe my nerves.

A nearby folk-art painting of J.J. Watt, who is likely sitting at home watching the game, stares menacingly at my chicken-fried steak. It's understandable; this stuff is better than leftover holiday turkey.

RELATED: Texas beef (partially) helped win the American Revolutionary War

Long a popular Houston institution, Hickory Hollow has two locations - one off Washington (101 Heights) and another on Fallbrook (8038 Fallbrook) - geared toward soothing our Texas comfort-food needs.

"I bought the original Hickory Hollow from a family in 1979. They had opened it on a lark," owner Tony Riedel says one morning while doing prep work at the Heights location.

That couple - a nuclear physicist and his nurse wife - had opened the Fallbrook location in 1977. By the time Ohio-born, Florida-bred Riedel came along after stints in restaurant management across the country, they were ready to hand over the reins to someone else.

With the purchase of the original Hickory Hollow came that famous chicken-fried-steak-and-gravy recipe, which keeps bringing customers around all these years later. According to Riedel, the dish we all know and love was a copy of one served at the long-running Goodson's Café.

He's tweaked it here and there since the early 1980s, but the "Texas River Bottom Gravy" still comes from a chicken-based roux made each morning.

People can't get enough of his restaurant's chicken-fried steak but, according to Riedel, that isn't even the best-selling item on the menu. That would be barbecue.

RELATED: The pros and cons of the biggest Buc-ee's locations across Texas

"When we started serving barbecue alongside chicken-fried steak, it was nearly unheard of. It was one or the other. I'd like to think we kicked down that door," Riedel says. "Jim Goode was the only barbecue guy in town."

He's seen more decadent foods such as chicken-fried steak trending down with changing health trends. Fad diets, he emphasizes, will never endanger the Large Rancher, the Medium Hired Hand or the Small Plowman.

"Most people think chicken-fried steak is unhealthy for some reason," he says with a laugh.

Also available is a somewhat secret Wagon Master - two of the Large Ranchers put together. That comes with salad and a choice of four sides. It's not meant for one person, but, hey, it's your cholesterol level to worry about.

RELATED: Ketchup on tamales and other alleged food sins that some Texans are guilty of

A few years back Riedel was featured on an episode of Food Network's "Outrageous Food" showing off the Large Rancher. Riedel is about to burst some bubbles.

Hickory Hollow's owner Tony Riedel  Photo: Dave Rossman, For The Chronicle
Photo: Dave Rossman, For The Chronicle
Hickory Hollow's owner Tony Riedel 

"I can't cook a chicken-fried steak really well, so I had a stunt double," he says. "We had an employee who is much better at it than me wear an identical denim shirt to cheat it out."

Hickory Hollow in most respects is the same as when Houstonians first had it in the '80s, a rare thing in the Houston area. What's Riedel's key to success all these years on?

"Keep your eye on the guest and not on the money."
