Skip to main content

Shaq Eats Houston for Lunch: 'The Big Chicken' Buys Holiday Meals

Shaquille O'Neal makes a trip to Houston during the holiday week and spreads some good cheer - and good lunch.

HOUSTON - Shaquille O'Neal is a citizen of the world, so we don't see it as unusual that he might swing into our fair city for lunch.

Shaq visiting his son, Shaqir O'Neal, who is playing basketball for Texas Southern University? Sure!

Shaq checking in on his Texas-based business interests, featuring the expansion of his Las Vegas-based "Big Chicken'' restaurant chain, with 50 locations coming soon to The Lone Star State ... and Houston apparently in line to be first? Sure!

Shaq is hungry for a Christmas Eve snack so he swings in to Houston's Kenny & Ziggy's New York Delicatessen ... and ends up using his oversized personality and his oversized wallet to spread some holiday cheer? Sure!

Kenny & Ziggy's posted a photo on social media of Shaq hanging out, posing with an employer and smiling that smile ... and noted that the legendary NBA star paid for everyone's meal in the restaurant.

Shaq has been a public presence all over Texas in recent months after having purchased a home in the Dallas area ... and he's also been a generous presence. In August, the Hall of Famer bumped into a family at a Best Buy in Dallas and ended up buying them a new washing machine. 

We also know that O'Neal pulled over one day in Dallas and interacted with a woman, eventually giving the person in need cash and a hot meal.

And how he's giving in Houston.

"You never know who will walk into Kenny & Ziggy’s. Our friend Shaq paid us a visit today. This was his first time at the new store, and loved it," Kenny & Ziggy's wrote on its Facebook page.

Want the latest in news and insider information on the Houston Rockets? Click here

Follow Inside the Rockets on Facebook here

Make sure to subscribe to our weekly podcast Bleav In The Rockets today! Click here To Listen.

Follow Inside the Rockets on Twitter @InsideRocketsFN