ChopnBlok and Trill Burgers' founders met over 10 years ago at Rice. Now they're teaming up on comfort food.
Oct 2, 2025
ChopnBlok and Trill Burgers are partnering up for a two-night collaboration, serving West African takes on classic comfort food.
It’s a full circle moment for both ChopnBlok owner Ope Amosu and rapper/Trill Burgers co-founder Bun B. They first met more than 10 years ago, when Amosu — then getting his MBA at Rice University — enrolled in Bun B’s class on hip-hop and religion.
“Neither of us were looking at a future in food… I was already in my career. Ope was considering other things at the time,” Bun B, whose full name is Bernard James Freeman, said in an interview. “And here we are. Our paths have crossed again, which is amazing to me.”
Since the two first met, ChopnBlok has won critical acclaim for its fast-casual West African food, landing on the New York Times’ list of 50 best restaurants in the U.S. in September. Bun B, too, got into the restaurant game, starting Trill Burgers as a pop-up in 2021 before opening its first brick-and-mortar two years ago.
For their collaboration, Trill Burgers chefs will come to ChopnBlok on the evening of Oct. 9. From 9 to 11 p.m., with DJs playing Afro-soul music, the Montrose restaurant will sell dishes like suya-spiced sliders. They’re a transformation on Amosu’s suya steak skewers — instead of serving chunks of meat, he’ll grind it and add peanuts, pepper, garlic, ginger and onion for an intensely flavored patty.
Then, on Oct. 23, ChopnBlok will go to Trill Burgers, at 3607 S Shepherd Dr., for another late-night selection of West African riffs on burgers and tenders.
The events, Amosu said, will be “a love letter to the city from each of our perspectives.”
The collaboration is part of his celebration of ChopnBlok’s one-year anniversary at its Montrose location; it opened Oct. 1 last year. Before that, ChopnBlok had run as a pop-up and then found a home in downtown food hall Post Market, where it is still a vendor.
That’s where Bun B and Amosu crossed paths for a second time, the rapper said. Having fallen somewhat out of touch after Amosu graduated, Bun B said, he just happened to stop into the food hall and realized that his former student had become a chef.
“I was like, ‘This is crazy,’” Bun B said. “And then we tried the food, and the food was amazing.”