Landry's Serves Up a Marine Thrill Ridge Along with its Seafood

Hang on for a biodiesel thrill ride on the water! “The Boardwalk Beast” is a B100 biodiesel-powered boat that is a featured attraction at a Texas amusement park: the Kemah Boardwalk. The 70 foot boat and the Boardwalk recreation area are owned by Landry's Restaurants, Inc., whose prolific line of restaurants includes Landry's Seafood, Chart House, Rainforest Café and Saltgrass Steak House, just to name a few.

The Beast measures in at 18' wide, which is big enough to haul 140 passengers. Rides go up to 40 MPH, thanks to two 16 Cylinder Turbo Caterpillar Diesel Engines rated at 1450 horsepower each. According to Randy Brown, Director of Transportation for Landry's, the boat was designed to run on pure biodiesel, and has never seen regular diesel fuel. The $1.6 million vessel has been offering daily thrills and splashes since April 2008.

The Kemah Boardwalk evolved from a waterfront dining experience to an entertainment destination. Just 20 miles from downtown Houston, it boasts 11 restaurants and several amusement rides. One unique restaurant – the Aquarium Restaurant - serves guests a great view of a 50,000 gallon aquarium brimming with marine life.

Landry's Restaurants, Inc.'s transportation department has also had programs in place to pick up waste grease from a group of approximately 50 Houston-area Landry's subsidiary restaurants, have it processed at a local biodiesel producer, and then run the Beast on it. Landry's has a biodiesel storage area in Kemah, Texas. A couple of Landry's fleet pickup trucks are running on biodiesel as well. Landry's restaurants use canola oil.

In addition to being the home of the Johnson Space Center, the Clear Lake Recreational Area, in which the Boardwalk is housed, is also known as the Boating Capital of Texas. It claims the third largest fleet of recreational boats in all of the United States and has the greatest concentration of boats of any region in Texas. Please see www.kemahboardwalk.com and www.boardwalkbeast.com for more on the boat and the destination.