After managing a number of European-style restaurants for seven years, Kitchen Tales Restaurant owner Jerry Breton moved back to Conroe in October 2015 intending to open an eatery. Breton knew he wanted the menu to feature Southern-inspired comfort food—like chicken-fried steak, bacon cheeseburgers and hand-battered fried pickles—but he also wanted the restaurant to stand out. On Sept. 12, 2017, Breton opened Kitchen Tales Restaurant along Hwy. 105 south of Lake Conroe, showcasing a made-from-scratch menu featuring Southern-inspired cuisine—with a European twist. “We make everything from scratch …if you buy chicken tenders here and then you go to the store, it’s a huge difference,” he said. “But it’s also challenging, because you have to make sure everyone’s doing their job the way it’s supposed to be done.” In addition to classic Southern dishes, the restaurant also features pork chops with an apple bourbon reduction and blueberry duck. Kitchen Tales currently offers a brunch menu on weekends that features dishes like eggs Benedict and filled biscuits with gravy. Beginning in late October, the restaurant will also serve breakfast on weekdays, Breton said. The restaurant recently received its full liquor license and plans to begin serving a variety of specialty cocktails and top-shelf alcohol in late October, adding to its existing variety of wines and craft beer from breweries in the Greater Houston area on tap. In the future, Breton said he hopes to slowly open more restaurant locations over the next five years. “If you go crazy and open a lot [of restaurants at once], you cannot give them the care that you have to give to a new restaurant,” Breton said. “You have to actually be here to know what’s going on.” Manager Gabriela Hunt, who has worked at Kitchen Tales for seven months, said the restaurant focuses on making a connection with guests through great service and food. “We put love in every single item we serve, we really do,” Hunt said. “We teach our servers to make a connection with people, because you cannot be in the restaurant industry without it … because food makes us happy. People come here to eat—to please themselves by eating good food.”