Keysha Nichols-Friar and Victor Friar opened Nana B's Country Kitchen in September 2025. (Brooke Sjoberg/Community Impact)
When Victor Friar and Keysha Nichols-Friar first opened their smoke shop Ash, Smoke & Glass near the Round Rock-Hutto border, they celebrated with smoked wings.
At the time, customers told the couple they should consider opening a restaurant. About a year later, in September 2025, they did exactly that, opening Nana B's Country Kitchen in the retail space next door.
About the business
Named for Nichols-Friar's mother, Nana B's was originally planned to be a food truck, she said. However, when the restaurant Mi Vida Comida closed in the space next door, it presented an opening for a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
"That opportunity came at the right time," she said. "I'm very spiritual and I believe it was nothing but God's plan."
Meet the owners
Through comfort and soul food, the restaurant aims to share the couple's passion for cooking with its customers, Nichols-Friar said.
Nichols-Friar said she has a heart for people, and spends much of her time in the restaurant checking in with customers.
"I love when new people come in," Nichols-Friar said. "I always tell them, 'I'm going to watch you take your first bite.'"
Connecting with the community has gone both ways, Friar said. Recently, the restaurant's barbecue pit was stolen. However, the theft did not slow down business at the restaurant as a community member volunteered to loan them a pit while they secured a permanent replacement.
"The community is phenomenal," Friar said.
On the menu
The restaurant's menu includes signature dishes inspired by family recipes, such as beef tips and rice, scratch-made cornbread, oxtails, greens, and made-to-order fried catfish.
Nana B's also offers unique items, such as oxtail quesadillas, deep-fried burritos and Southern classics such as peach cobbler and sock-it-to-me cake, a type of butter cake.
Nana B's menu includes dishes such as oxtail quesadillas, which owner Keysha Nichols-Friar said have gone "viral."Courtesy Nana B's Country Kitchen
Nichols-Friar said the banana pudding served at Nana B's is her mother's recipe.
She said food is prepared in small batches daily, minimizing end-of-day food waste.
The pair also offers catering, especially around the holidays. Customers can order fried turkeys, stuffing and other holiday favorites. To preview its seasonal menu, Nana B's offers smothered turkey legs and stuffing on Sundays.
Nana B's serves smothered turkey and stuffing ahead of the Thanksgiving season. Courtesy Nana B's Country Kitchen
