Nytassja Palacios was inspired to open a restaurant while cooking impromptu meals for her cousins and their friends in her northwest Houston apartment several years ago.

Palacios began creating the burgers, Buffalo wings and chicken sandwiches that evolved into the menu for her own eatery. At the urging of her cousins, Palacios took a leap of faith and began a journey in 2010 that later brought her to a storefront location on FM 1960 near Ella Boulevard in October 2014.

“They said, ‘You should open a restaurant,’” Palacios said. “They would say it jokingly, [but] they would say it so much that I kind of took it serious one day.”

So Palacios took money originally earmarked to pay her rent and opened Hi Snacks! through an agreement with a nearby gas station in 2010.

Five years later, the menu at Hi Snacks! still features the same hearty snack food she made for her cousins in her kitchen. The expanded menu features customer favorites, such as the Firecracker burger—a double-meat cheeseburger topped with bacon and jalapenos as well as french fries topped with chili cheese or bacon cheddar ranch.

For customer looking to indulge their sweet tooths, Hi Snacks! sells brownies and has a funnel cake bar with specialty flavors, such as turtle cheesecake and red velvet.

“When I opened my first restaurant, I just [cooked] some things that I did at my apartment with my cousins,” she said. “Creatively maturing, I’ve taken those same little fun meals and kind of put a more grown-up twist [on them].”

Palacios said the distinctive interior design of Hi Snacks! has also matured, meshing the look of her first apartment with a college dorm room and various social media platforms.

“The initial concept was kind of a mishmash,” she said. “My house wasn’t a college dorm, but it was just so fun that I wanted to incorporate the fun feel like you’re in college.”

Hi Snacks! arrived at its storefront at FM 1960 and Ella Boulevard a year ago, but Palacios is already thinking about growing her business. Within a year, she said she plans to launch a mobile food truck and hopes to add an Austin location in the distant future.

“The atmosphere [in Austin] is so eclectic and fun that I actually think this would be an awesome concept in Austin,” she said.

But wherever her business is located, Palacios said she wants to provide an environment where families and friends enjoy freshly-made fried foods.

Fun with funnel cakes


Hi Snacks! created a funnel cake bar in July that offers 10 specialty funnel cake options ($8) as well as a traditional option ($5). The process allows customers to see their funnel cake being made. Specialty funnel cake options include:


• Almond Joy
• Caramel apple cobbler
• Cheesecake
• Cherry cheesecake
• Cherry cobbler
• Cinnamon roll
• Red velvet
• Reese’s
• Strawberry cheesecake
• Turtle cheesecake







Hi Snacks!


1319 FM 1960 W., Houston
713-703-2200
www.facebook.com/hisnackshouston
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. 1-10 p.m.