The Brennan’s Restaurant building at 3300 Smith St. in Midtown — designed in 1930 by Houston architect John Staub — was originally the home of Houston’s Junior League. A fire during Hurricane Ike left it a brick shell. But now the owners say they’ll rebuild.
Alex Brennan-Martin — and the Brennan’s website — have said as much a number of times before. But today he announced it at a press conference with the mayor. An unspecified “80 percent” of the building will be restored. The new Brennan’s is expected to open in October, its old courtyard oak replaced with a free-range model imported from Hermann Park.
Also snuck into the press conference: the 2 new restaurants Brennan-Martin be opening with partners in the aptly named CityCentre, the Town & Country Mall replacement parked at the crotch of I-10 and the Beltway. Café Rosé and Bistro Alex should open inside the new Hotel Sorella there in July.
- Brennan’s of Houston to Re-emerge This Fall One Year After Hurricane Ike [Houston Downtown Alliance, via Swamplot inbox]
- Brennan’s to Reopen; 125 Jobs and One New Tree to be Added to Midtown [Eating Our Words]
- Brennan’s of Houston plans to reopen in October [Houston Chronicle]
- Brennan’s of Houston
Photo of Brennan’s after Hurricane Ike: Flickr users hannu & hannele
3 Comments
Great news all around. I miss the Sunday brunch at Brennan’s.
As original Louisiana resident, I was sad when this place caught fire. It was a great place to get a taste of high end NOLA cuisine.
I love Brennan’s and look forward to eating there again. But I have to admit, I won’t be able to enter that building without thinking about James Koonce and his daughter Katherine, who were seriously burned in that fire. For some reason, their story terrifies me more than any other Ike tragedy. (Apparently they are well but still have a long way to go to full recovery.)