Wagyu Beef Producer to Open Market Outside LG

Construction is underway at the old La Grange Smokehouse property on TX-71. Houston-area businessman Joey Rinando purchased the property in February and hopes to re-open by the end of the year as Walhalla Valley Smokehouse and Market.

“This will be true farm-to-table,” Rinando said in an interview on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Rinando plans to sell Wagyu beef at the market, which he raises at his ranch in Walhalla, south of Round Top. Those are the same breed of cattle raised in Japan to produce the famed Kobe beef.  

Beef marketed as “Kobe” must come from Wagyu cattle grown under specific conditions in the Kobe region of Japan. Some of those conditions include regular massages and feeding the cattle beer. Kobe steaks can cost over $100 a pound. 

At Walhalla Valley Ranch, Rinando has been crossbreeding Wagyu cattle with Angus bloodlines to produce a more affordable alternative. Rinando said his cattle remain on pasture and are fed a grain supplement rather than being shipped to a feedlot. Rinando said his cattle are not given growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics.