Heading into the former dealership back office at 2600 Travis near McGowen, one door down from the old Pontiac and Oldsmobile showroom that’s now home to Reef: a second installation of Barcadia, a bar-arcade-restaurant amalgamation begun in Dallas. The original location, just a few hours’ drive up I-45, offers an entire wall of eighties arcade games, brunch, a couple-dozen beers on tap, and a vaguely retro-carnival interior. A company website declares the Houston branch will be opening this summer, but a quick glance at the progress of construction in the 3,000-plus-sq.-ft. interior makes it easy to imagine a debut later than that.
Amid promises that a new “Green Vehicle” ordinance scheduled to come to a vote in September will eventually cover smaller no-emissions vehicles, Houston’s city council today approved revisions to the jitney ordinance. The new jitney rules require all new fixed-route shuttle services to have a carrying capacity of 9 to 15 passengers. Smaller vehicles already licensed under the existing ordinance can continue to operate, but Erik Ibarra — whose Rev Eco-Shuttle business operates two 5-passenger electric vehicles Downtown, in Midtown, and on Washington Ave — won’t be able to expand his service with additional vehicles of the same type. Unlike the jitney ordinance, the proposed rules for green vehicles will likely not restrict pedicabs and electric carts like Ibarra’s to a fixed route. [
Food and travel writer Salma Abdelnour, who grew up here, takes New York Times travel section readers on a tour of 5 Houston restaurants carved out of former something-or-others: the car dealership that became Reef, the ice house that became 
