Genesis Steakhouse & Wine Bar, the Meyerland restaurant known for its diverse kosher menu and Jewish holiday-friendly spreads, is officially closing its doors this April, following the loss of its kosher certification earlier this year.

The Genesis team announced the closure in a message on Facebook, stating that the steakhouse would close its doors on Wednesday, April 30, after 12 years in business. “This journey has been about so much more than food,” they wrote. “It’s been about community, connection, tradition, and heart. We’ve had the honor of serving you not just meals, but memories — celebrating your birthdays, anniversaries, simchas, and milestones together.”

The closure follows the steakhouse’s controversial battle against the Houston Kashruth Association (HKA), which revoked Genesis’s kosher certification in January 2025 after Rabbi Nosson Dubin, a member of HKA, visited the steakhouse on Monday, January 20. Owner Jason Goldstein told Culturemap that he was unable to provide Dubin the requested invoice for a package of fish found in the restaurant’s freezer, and the next day, HKA took the certification away. Goldstein says he typically relies on the restaurant’s chef and kosher supervisor to maintain the documentation, but the experts were unavailable. Still, he asserts that all the restaurant’s whole fish and filets were from a certified kosher vendor and were reviewed by the restaurant’s onsite kosher supervisor.

After losing the certification, Goldstein says the steakhouse lost out on $500,000 worth of private events and catering contracts. Goldstein later accused HKA in a now-deleted Facebook post of “bullying” and having a personal vendetta against Genesis, according to a Chron.com report. “Genesis was never just a steakhouse—it was a place of spirit, soul, and shared experience, and that legacy will always live on,” the team wrote in its post about the closure.

The restaurant’s Facebook post did not explicitly explain the reasoning behind the closure, but alluded to “recent unanticipated events” that “ultimately forced” them to decide to close. “We had hoped for a quicker resolution, but at this time, closing our doors is the unfortunate path we must take,” they wrote.

Genesis’s closing is a part of a trend of steakhouse closures in the Houston area. Tris in The Woodlands closed in late December after the chef resigned. Killen’s, also in The Woodlands, and Houston’s Korean steakhouse Karne closed in February, followed by Andiron Grille & Patio and Brazilian steakhouse Avenida Brazil in March.





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