Houston-born chef balances his Astros passion with his Philadelphia life
Randy Rucker grew up in the Houston suburbs. His wife, Amanda, was raised as a Philadelphia sports fan on the Main Line. Theirs is house divided, but they're managing.
Since his arrival on the Philadelphia dining scene in late 2019, Randy Rucker of River Twice in South Philadelphia has acclimated well, winning praise for his modern-American menu and laid-back vibe.
With the Phillies and Astros facing off in the 2022 World Series, he’s now a man caught in the middle. Rucker grew up rooting for the Astros in Tomball, Texas, a half-hour northwest of Houston, where he met Amanda Highbloom, who grew up on Philadelphia’s Main Line, a die-hard Phillies fan.
The Ruckers, now married with a little girl, say they manage their respective passions. But Philly being Philly, his allegiance has gone public.
This week, they moved into a house in Passyunk Square, near their restaurant. Amanda Rucker happened to mention her husband’s roots to their new neighbors. Shortly after, he said, “I pulled up and this woman opened her door and yelled, ‘Booooooo!’” — as he related Tuesday to Chaz Miller, a reporter from the ABC station in Houston, who was dispatched to Philadelphia this week to find Houston connections. (Miller said he found Rucker by Googling “Texas barbecue in Philly” and found an article about R. Scott Hanson, a Philadelphia college professor who does pop-up Austin-style barbecues on the side. Hanson made the intro.)
Rucker explained that he took the new neighbor’s negative reaction as tongue in cheek. “They have to do it,” he said. “It’s a hazing thing.”
“Philadelphia has been very, very nice to me and very good to me, and I’m very, very thankful for that,” Rucker said. Irascible neighbors aside, “they’re very open to a guy from Texas, which I know is not the easiest thing in the world for people to do.”
Rucker owned several well-reviewed restaurants in Houston before he and his wife decamped in 2016, first to New England and then to Philadelphia. He told Miller that he notices “a tremendous amount of similarities” between the restaurant scenes in Philadelphia and Houston — notably the diversity of cuisines.
But sports passion is requiring diplomacy. “I’ll be honest,” Rucker told Miller on camera. “I’m born and raised an Astros fan. They are near and dear to my heart. I will always be an Astros fan to the core, but in my time that I’ve been here in Philadelphia, I got to really enjoy watching the Phillies. We go to the games often, and I actually think I may have more Phillies gear here than I have Astros’. ... We’re a house divided, but it’s all in good fun.”
“You even have an Eagles shirt,” Amanda Rucker reminded her husband, who rolled his eyes. They are playing the Texans on Thursday.