QUITTIN’ TIME FOR MUSEUM PARK COWORKING SPACE 
Culturemap reports that Caroline Collective, the coworking complex with that friendly fake zebra, is closing, after 5 years behind these gates in Museum Park: “The . . . site at Caroline and Rosedale is under contract to make way for Museum District’s current rush of development,” writes Tyler Rudick. It has not been reported yet what that development might be; Urban Deal, explains Rudick, has the deed to the 8,000-sq.-ft. property here at 4820 Caroline for at least a few more months. [Culturemap] Photo: Ed Schipul [license]
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Openings and Closings
EL GRAN MALO TO OPEN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE VERSION DOWNTOWN 
It must be that like attracts like: Another restaurant is getting ready to open near Market Square Park, reports Culturemap’s Eric Sandler: This time, it’s El Big Bad, a Downtown translation of the original El Gran Malo at 2307 Ella Blvd in Shady Acres. El Big Bad will take up that corner pocket at 419 Travis most recently vacated by Pepper Jack’s (and Cabo before that) on the block bound by Preston, Prairie, Main, and Travis — that’s where Hines has said it just might build a residential tower and across Travis from where the 41-story Gensler-designed International Tower just might be going up too. [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo of former Pepper Jack’s: H-Town in Pics
A reader sends these photos and news of bars getting ready to give it a go in Midtown. The photo above shows the former Opium nightclub undergoing renovations in the Midtown Shoppes on Travis and Anita St.; the reader reports that sometime this fall that spot will become the 3030 Pub. It’s catty-corner from where the Midtown Superblock has been proposed.
It looks like the squat building on the corner of W. Gray and Montrose will be upgraded into something like this rendering, reports 29-95. Pizaro’s Pizza Napoletana, which also has a spot in Memorial, will be replacing long-time tenants Bobbitt Glass and Southwestern Paint here at 1020 W. Gray, converting the space into a 2,500-sq.-ft. restaurant with a 300-sq.-ft. patio — and 2 of those massive brick ovens, adds Alison Cook. They’re expected to open in about a year.
- An Authentic Italian Pizzeria [Pizaro’s Pizza]
- Pizaro’s Pizza announces new Montrose location [29-95]
Rendering: Pizaro’s Pizza
A reader sends this photo of a suite being renovated in the Memorial Bend Shopping Park, where a Japanese izakaya-style restaurant and bar is planning to begin serving, the reader suspects, sometime near the end of the year. And a brief in Ultimate Memorial shows that Izakaya Wa requested last month the permits to operate here at 12665 Memorial Dr., which is just east of the Beltway 8 feeder.
- Memorial fictitious name filings, July 14-20 [Ultimate Memorial]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
A reader sends this photo from the Washington Corridor: Is Sawyer Park coming back from the dead this September? The 4-year run of the 2-story sports bar with a checkered past at 2412 Washington came to an end in February. But the marquee — plagiarized from that ubiquitous Dos Equis ad campaign though it might be — suggests that something might be happening sometime soon. HCAD data show that the property hasn’t changed hands. Still, there aren’t any clues or further omens on the bar’s Facebook page or Twitter feed, and calls to Rockwood, what appears to be a design-build firm whose sign hangs from the bar’s terrace, haven’t been returned.
- Good Food, Good Sports [Sawyer Park]
- Sports Bar Sawyer Park Has Closed [Eater Houston]
- Previously on Swamplot: When Pigs Fly: Sawyer Sportsbar Gets Its Wings, The Pig’s New Gig: Sawyer Sportsbar
Photo: Swamplot inbox
FARRAGO FORCED TO LEAVE COSTLY MIDTOWN GROUND FLOOR 
After 13 years of serving mimosas in Midtown, Farrago World Cuisine is closing. Catty-corner from the under-construction Midtown Park and one of the first ground-floor participants in that two-block urban walkability experiment around the Post Properties buildings at Gray, Webster, and Bagby, Farrago announced the shuttering in a recent Facebook post that suggests how primo the ‘hood is becoming: “We endured the construction, paid parking and towed customers. Alas, the over double rent was more than we could bare.” [Facebook; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Farrago World Cuisine
A reader sends these photos that show a new location — if in name only — of the Tex-Mex restaurant that couldn’t hack it up on the mean streets (and drives and boulevards) that’s getting ready to open in the tunnels Downtown beneath the First City Tower at 1001 Fannin. This would appear to be the 2nd of the version of Maggie Rita’s operated by Tony Shannard, who paid the original restaurateurs Carlos Mencia and Santiago Moreno to use the name; Shannard runs another Maggie Rita’s in the tunnels beneath the JPMorgan Chase Tower at 600 Travis; that’s about half a mile away from here as the mole scurries.
- Tex Mex Grill & Bar [Maggie Rita’s Mexican Kitchen]
- Previously on Swamplot: Maggie Rita’s Closes Shepherd Location, Calls It Quits, Bringing That Lady Home from Maggie Rita’s, Out with Mama Ninfa’s, in with Maggie Rita’s
Photos: philaphonic
DIPPING INTO DOWNTOWN’S BAR SCENE 
Tweeting this photo of its brand-new TABC sign in the window at 304 Main St., Little Dipper has emerged in Downtown’s twinkling constellation of new bars and restaurants: Eater Houston reports that this proposed bar is owned by the same folks who have brought you Poison Girl on Westheimer and coffee shops Black Hole on Graustark and Antidote on Studewood. It appears that the Little Dipper will be going into the space right next to ramen shop Goro & Gun at 306 Main, just around the corner from the OKRA Charity Saloon on Congress and that lot catty-corner from Market Square Park where Hines has said it is considering building a residential tower. [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: @littledipperbar
DUNKIN’ DONUTS WON’T OPEN MONTROSE LOCATION FOR ANOTHER WEEK 
You might have read here or here that the first one to open inside the Loop of those 24 new Dunkin’ Donuts locations would be ready tomorrow at the former Arby’s on the corner of Fairview and S. Shepherd. Well, it won’t be. A company rep writes in an email that the S. Shepherd team won’t be making (or selling) the donuts until next Monday, July 22. A grander opening will follow on July 30. (You can head to the new one in Westchase if you can’t wait.) [29-95; Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
A tipster tells Swamplot that the former Broken Spoke Cafe at 1809 Washington will soon be home to a new bar called the Caddy Shack. The cafe, located between Silver and Sabine in the Old Sixth Ward, closed last fall — and, unfortunately, soon after received the brunt of a fire that destroyed a vacant duplex next door.
- Landmark Washington Avenue cafe goes up in flames: Fire burns nearby house down [Culturemap]
- The Broken Spoke Goes Up in Smoke: Pictures and Video [Eating Our Words]
- Previously on Swamplot: Breaking Through the Smoke at the Broken Spoke
Photo: Allyn West
FILLING THE DONUT HOLE IN RIVER OAKS 
A few weeks ago the doors and drive-thru window of this new donut shop in River Oaks owned by billionaires Jeff and Mindy Hildebrand were flung open, and the tony feel of the scaled-up endcap at 3601 Westheimer has apparently won the affection of Houstonia’s Annabel Massey: “Never before have I walked in to a donut shop to find beautiful countertops made of marble, artwork by Lorri Honeycutt, or a display of delicious taste-testers in the form of donut holes for me to pop into my mouth as I wait in line.” Massey also seems taken with the Hildebrands’ rigorous recipe development: “Every afternoon, nine boxes of donuts would be delivered . . . . Mindy distributed them to family and friends, looking to get feedback on their work-in-progress. After three months of taste-testing, they finally landed on a delicious one-of-a-kind recipe.” [Houstonia] Photo: Allyn West
A WEST AVE SUSHI SHUTDOWN 
Friday was the last day for West Ave sushi joint Katsuya in Upper Kirby. Next up to throw its use into the mix? Nara, which claims in a press release that it will be Houston’s first Korean restaurant inside the Loop. Katsuya was open here for about a year and a half, reports Eater Houston, feeding the likes of NFL pals Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, but seemed to lose a certain something: “One Eater tipster reported that things had become grim at the end, with the restaurant only serving sushi but not prepared entrees.” Nara is expected to open this fall. [Eater Houston] Photo: Ryan Forbes
You’ve got to make some divots before you can start replacing them: Construction will begin this week in Spring on another TopGolf in Houston. This 65,000-sq.-ft. bar, event venue, and aim-required golfing alley will be located on almost 11 acres at 560 Spring Park Blvd., a few miles south on I-45 of the coming-along-now ExxonMobil campus. In December, TopGolf opened its first Houston location at 1030 Memorial Brook Blvd. You can see more renderings of what to expect after the jump.
MONTROSE ART COLLECTIVE TO HAVE SEX CHANGE BEFORE REPLACING DOMY BOOKS 
Culturemap is reporting that Westheimer Rd. purveyors of fine comics and doodads Domy Books will be closing July 14. Apparently, building owner Dan Fergus (who also owns Brasil next door and the smaller building next to that that Space Montrose is trying to raise money to leave) has already secured a new tenant: Cody Ledvina, the painter of weiner dogs and poolside cats and co-founder of Montrose art and performance whatchamacallit the Joanna. And though it seems this relocating incarnation will be undergoing gender reassignment to become the Brandon, Ledvina says that that won’t alter the quality of what goes on there: “The programming, as far as the art goes, will be basically the exact same. Not any more refined or professional.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Larami Culbertson
