Little Trouble sees big changes

By Kyle Mooty

LPR Editor

Hoping to create upscale Texas cuisine with top-shelf, Lockhart’s Little Trouble restaurant has had a complete overhaul with several key staff members.

The restaurant will also be starting a monthly Supper Club on Wednesdays beginning June 11. Tickets will go on sale soon and will be capped at 30. That event will be held upstairs at the El Dorado and will include a four-course meal with different themes each month and they will be paired with wines.

The Supper Club and other information about Little Trouble’s happenings can be found at littletroublelockhart.com.

Little Trouble owner Alex Worthington has brought in a new chef, Kevin Fuller, who originally came from Fort Worth as the Sous Chef.

General Manager Elena Devin came from Austin but has a lifetime of experience in fine dining, growing up with her father’s restaurant in Colorado.

Madison Smith came from Houston and will be a jack of all trades at Little Trouble, working as a bartender and handling the restaurant’s web design and social media.

“We’re going through a rebirth with a whole new crew here,” Worthington said. “Kevin comes from a great background in Fort Worth. With Elena and Madison, it was like kismet. It was just perfect.

“The change was necessary. We needed to get a team in here that had a more professional fine-dining service. Something that has always been lacking in my mind with this place was the service, the knowledge of our staff with the food, the wine and the drinks. That is what this new team brings. We’ve got the perfect team now to be successful.”

The downstairs restaurant was a drawing card for the newcomers.

“When I first moved here, my oldest son and I were walking around on the square and I saw the sign going down to the basement,” Fuller said. “I thought, that’s cool. I’ll check that out. A few months later, I saw an ad saying Little Trouble was hiring. I came in and walked down the stairs and it was like, ‘oh yeah.’”

Fuller has catered with Madalena’s Supper Club and Billy Bob’s in Forth Worth, where he was the Sous Chef for two-and-a-half years. He opened several restaurants there as well as in Blanco.

Among his features on the new menu will include an old favorite, Texas Tartare, as well as Street Corn Caesar and a Cold-Smoke Ribeye with Duck Fat Frites. The tartare is sort of a Texas version of steak tartare with smoked cheddar, chipotle sauce, and jalapenos.

Devin’s background also includes mixology and has created an entirely new cocktail list.

“We’re starting to really get into the more eccentric things,” Devin said. “I’m planning on having some really cool cocktails coming in through the summer.”

Devin was bussing tables at her father’s restaurant as young as 5-years-old.

Devin and Smith had eaten at Little Trouble for Smith’s college graduation dinner two years ago.

“We thought this was such a really cool and different place,” Devin said. “You don’t see something like this in small towns in Texas. If I was going to start my own place, this is exactly what was in my mind. My dream restaurant.

“Alex posted where she was looking for a lead bartender. I came in and looked around and was like, ‘How about a general manager?’ As soon as I walked in I knew that this was somewhere I wanted to be involved in. This was what I’d been waiting for.”

For Smith, her friend, Devin called after getting the GM job at Little Trouble and said she needed her help.

“I dropped everything because I absolutely love this place,” Smith said. “I think the biggest change since we’ve started is the environment and the relationships we’ve built within the community.”

Devin wants visitors to realize the experience at Little Trouble is anything but.

“My goal is to have the best service, not only in Lockhart, but in the surrounding areas, too,” Devin said. “That’s kind of what I’ve been focusing on.”

The wine program has been upgraded and specialty drinks such as the Trouble Maker and Informant.

“We’re getting lots of positive feedback,” Worthington said. “People are excited about the new menus, the new staff. They’ve been so supportive through all the little trouble. We’re just grateful that the right people have kind of organically come together. It’s a perfect team.”

Little Trouble will begin Jazz Thursday (7-9 p.m.) on May 16 with Mikaela Kahn, followed by Michele Solberg on May 23.

There will also be a Wine Wednesday with discounted wines and specials created by the chef that will be paired with wines.

Little Trouble is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5-10 p.m.; Friday from 3 p.m.-midnight; Saturday from 3 p.m.-1 p.m.; and on Sunday from 3-10 p.m., with Mimosa Brunch on Sunday at the El Dorado from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.