Lucas McKinney
Josephine’s | Houston, TX
September 2025
Lucas McKinney had a familial bond with Gulf Coast seafood long before he ever called himself a cook. Raised in Southern Mississippi and shaped by time spent in Biloxi’s fishing camps, McKinney’s earliest culinary education came from charter boat cookouts and catch-and-clean suppers. While taking classes at Ole Miss, he got his start at The Second Line in Oxford, Mississippi in 2014, where his mentor, Chef Kelly English, encouraged him to pursue cooking professionally. From there, he trained under Chefs John Currence and Vishwesh Bhatt at City Grocery and Snackbar before heading to Houston in 2018 to join Rising Stars alum Chris Shepherd’s team at Underbelly Hospitality. He was promoted up the ladder at Hay Merchant before becoming a company-wide tournant. McKinney helped open five Underbelly restaurants in one year, sharpening his skills in menu development, butchery, and kitchen leadership.
After some back and forth between Texas and Idaho, McKinney opened Josephine’s in 2023—a seafood restaurant named after his great-grandmother and draped in the bounty of the Gulf. Located in Midtown Houston, the space is filled with artifacts, like cast net needles and oyster factory photographs, that depict McKinney’s connection to the long line of blue-collar seafarers from the region he calls home. At Josephine’s, he brings that legacy to life through ingredient-forward, unadulterated cooking from the Third Coast, plating redfish on the half shell alongside Matagorda Bay oysters and marinated blue crab fingers. Beyond the plate, McKinney prioritizes local, sustainable sourcing, promotes a positive staff culture, and supports organizations like the Southern Smoke Foundation, the Galveston Bay Foundation, and Shuck Cancer. Through Josephine’s, McKinney has become a champion of Gulf Coast hospitality and seafood, from fin to gill.
