Atlanta Good Food category interest

*No matter how far you travel, there is no place like home. For Kelly Rowland, home is Houston, TX, where memories of one of her favorite places still bring good food and good times. So much so that she came back to Houston to surprise local diners and workers at Houston This Is It Soul Food.

The visit, which happened earlier this month, was in connection with Rowland’s partnership with Pepsi’s Local Eats Better With Pepsi. Referencing a press release, Eater Houston reports the soda company’s program highlights local restaurants around the country in hopes of finding its next “dine-star.”

As the face of the promotion, Rowland is doing her part in shining a light on its goal to encourage eaters to nominate their favorite local restaurant and dish through October. With Houston This Is It Soul Food, the entertainer is off to a good start, with a namesake dish of her own.

The $14 Kelly Rowland meal, which is available through Sept. 24, features meatloaf-like pepper steak patties served over rice with lots of brown gravy, a side of green beans, peach cobbler, and a fountain drink of choice.

Those taking part in the Local Eats Better With Pepsi promotion will share a fate similar to Rowland from receiving the same honor with a tasty dish at their chosen restaurant named after them, which they’ll also get to eat for free for a limited time.

“Every time I come home, there are certain places you hit up, and This Is It is one of them. It’s not even just about the meal,” The “Like This” singer/actress told Eater Houston as she shared how her namesake meal reminds her how her family, originally from Atlanta, cooks at home.

“I remember my aunts cooking gravy, and then I remember moving from Atlanta to Houston and finding this gravy that kind of reminded me of my great aunt’s consistency of her gravy and steak. Who doesn’t love steak?”

Houston This Is It Soul Food is not the only culinary hot spot on Rowland’s must-eat list.

The former Destiny’s Child vocalist, who has a picture she signed of her and former bandmates Beyonce and Michelle Williams hanging on the wall in the restaurant, cites her Houston meal plan as breakfast at the Breakfast Klub as well as stops at a local whiskey bar, and Lupe Tortilla, her personal favorite, especially when she craves queso strikes.

“I haven’t been in a minute, but I imagine the atmosphere is the same. I would just go there and have the queso and the chips and put a little bit of the taco meat in the queso, and sit there and have a nice margarita and be so content,” “said the “Freddy vs. Jason” star.

Although she appreciates Houston cuisine, Eater Houston noted Rowland spread the love to her loved ones who provide eats that are on the same level as her favorite restaurants.

“I feel like when you’re in Houston, you’re either at a restaurant or you’re at somebody’s house, and that’s when you get the best version of food,” said “The Seat Filler” fixture, who remembers growing up eating Greek food and downing enchiladas at her best friends’ homes. “I always had an open palate as a kid and still do, even to this day.”