08/14/13 3:30pm

SAY HOWDY TO THE LARGEST GAY COUNTRY BAR IN TEXAS Lamenting the closing of Brazos River Bottom in Midtown, the new owners of the 1955 Esquire Ballroom — where a young Willie Nelson, among other country crooners, cut his teeth — say they are restoring the vacant dancehall and saloon and will be opening on August 24 what they claim is the largest LGBT country bar in Texas. At 11410 Hempstead Hwy. in Spring Branch, the 10,000-sq.ft. building is now named Neon Boots and, according to a press release, is being renovated to include a “huge dance floor and performance stage, six bar stations, table service, [and an] expansive outdoor area with deck and patio. The owners also anticipate installing a mechanical bull.” [Neon Boots; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Esquire Ballroom: West Houston Archives

08/14/13 1:45pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT THE FATE OF THE ASTRODOME SAYS ABOUT HOUSTON “This whole Dome debate is more than a just a property tax issue that people want to paint it as. If you really distilled it down to a single point, well then I guess it is. However, it incorporates debates on size of government, government accountability / effectiveness, a city identity crisis, preservation, nostalgia, optimism vs pessimism, and cronyism. One could actually make the argument that in this one issue, we’re trying to figure out what it is to be a ‘Houstonian,’ what the future of Houston is going to be, and if it’s worth saving our past. This has been so fascinating to me because of all these issues are being hashed out whether consciously or unconsciously. This whole saga is definitely worth writing a book over. I guess we get to decide how that book ends (or continues?) in November.” [DNAguy111, commenting on Commissioners Decide To Let Voters Decide on Convention Center Plan]

08/14/13 1:30pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: HOW HOUSTON CAN SPEED THINGS ALONG “Can we replace the HOT lanes with hyperloop tubes? Who wouldn’t pay $5 bucks to travel from The Woodlands to Downtown in 5 minutes? It’d be cheaper than gas! That’d be a game changer. How about a hyperloop tube to Galveston? Think of how efficient evacuation would be with an on coming hurricane.” [Thomas, commenting on Headlines: Many More Dunkin’ Donuts; Free Metro Rides on Labor Day] Illustration: Lulu

08/13/13 4:30pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: LISTENING TO THE MONTROSE VORTEX “This looks like the tornadic vortex that tunneled through and created the Inversion House and could do the same to any bungalow left in Montrose. I’ve seen some of Renner’s gigantic spheres of the same colorful slats and this seems like the humongous fallopian tube that spit them out. It appears to move faster than the traffic that sits alongside it. I love that the colors reflect the rainbow flags along Westheimer left from the parade. Best of all is that HAA money went to a Houston artist! If I put my ear up to the big end, do I hear the live oaks singing? It appeals to all my senses.” [Mike, commenting on Now Ready To Be Looked At: Montrose “Funnel Tunnel”] Illustration: Lulu

08/13/13 1:00pm

COMMISSIONERS DECIDE TO LET VOTERS DECIDE ON CONVENTION CENTER PLAN You’ll get your chance at the ballot box this November to decide whether to approve a bond that would pay for the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.’s $217 million plan to clean up and slim down the Astrodome into a convention center. The Houston Chronicle’s Kiah Collier reports that the County Commissioners finally approved the bond order this morning — along with a few other items of business, including spending “$8 million for asbestos abatement, selective demolition and other work county staff says needs to be done on the vacant stadium whether it is revamped or torn down. That includes allowing the county purchasing agent to inventory and sell Dome-related ‘sports memorabilia,’ including signs.” If passed, adds Collier, the bond would raise property taxes by about $8. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: HCSCC

08/12/13 4:45pm

ENERGY CORRIDOR TO GET ‘BOTH BRICK AND STUCCO’ ALEXAN COMPLEX More Alexan-brand apartments are going up, The Memorial Examiner reports. But unlike that pair of ’em planned for those 2 stacked lots in the Heights, this one beyond the Beltway will have almost 6.25 acres all to itself. Trammell Crow says it should have ready this spring the 4-story, 354-unit Alexan Enclave at 13411 Briar Forest Dr., just off Eldridge Pkwy. in the Energy Corridor. Worried that the complex will disrupt the stylistic unity of the area? Or that it might be built with strange, atypical materials? There’s no need, Trammell Crow explains: “The traditional, exterior facade, which will incorporate both brick and stucco, is in keeping with the architecture of the surrounding neighborhoods.” [Memorial Examiner; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: Trammell Crow Residential

08/12/13 3:30pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BRINGIN’ DA FUNK EAST “The East End is getting Voodoo Queen and Moon Tower while Montrose gets a world-class croissant place, Vinoteca Poscól and The Susanne. The funk and character of Houston still exists but has relocated.” [Dana-X, commenting on Voodoo Queen ‘So Close’ To Opening in the East End] Illustration: Lulu

08/12/13 12:05pm

THE GAS STATION COFFEE PATIO COMING SOON TO MIDTOWN The Houston Chronicle reports a few more matter-of-fact details about Retrospect Coffee, the cafe that Tacos-A-Go-Go owners are planning to open in — but primarily around, it appears — that oft-painted former gas station at the corner of W. Alabama and La Branch near HCC and the Station Museum in Midtown:It will serve beer and wine in addition to coffee. . . . The building will hold espresso machines and perhaps a counter for patrons. . . . Most of the seating will be outdoors. Furniture will be bright orange to represent the old Gulf logo that once hung on the gas station.” [Houston Chronicle ($)] Photo: Allyn West

08/09/13 12:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW ETHNIC FOOD BECOMES FINE DINING, IN A FEW SIMPLE STEPS “The pattern in Houston is the same as in a lot of cities: Pricier ‘fine-dining’ establishments are found in city centers and more desirable neighborhoods where rents tend to be higher, while the more interesting but less refined ethnic restaurants open in areas where rents are affordable for their (often recent immigrant) owners. There is a sort of built-in prejudice against paying fine-dining prices for certain types of ethnic foods. One often hears ‘I’m not paying $25 for Thai/Vietnamese/Mexican food.’ We haven’t minded paying high prices for French or Italian food for at least two generations. And Japanese food followed a generation later. Spanish restaurants are commonplace, fine-dining Chinese food can now be found in many markets, and Houston has one of the finest Mexican restaurants in the country in Hugo’s. As 2nd generation immigrants come of age, you often see chefs receive ‘classical’ training, gain experience in the country’s best restaurants, then connect this knowledge with the food they grew up with. I fully expect Houston to have, say, a top-notch fine dining Vietnamese restaurant within the next decade.” [Angostura, commenting on Comment of the Day: Following the Great Chain Restaurant Migration]

08/09/13 11:00am

HERE’S YOUR RICE VILLAGE GROUND-FLOOR RETAIL The first tenant to open on the Morningside side of Hanover Rice Village will be Coppa Osteria, reports Eater Houston’s Darla Guillen, who pins the date in September. Coppa will be run by the folks who bring you Ibiza, Brasserie 19, and Coppa Ristorante Italiano, a fact that strikes Guillen as emblematic of a pattern in Houston’s culinary scene: “It seems like many upscale restaurants feel compelled to open the cool little brother to their high-end establishments.” At any rate, Coppa appears to have a cool walk-thru pizza window and cool neon signage. At 5210 Morningside and Dunstan, it’s right across the street from the site of the old Garden Gate, where Hanover is planning to build that 12-story tower with no ground-floor retail. Also coming soon to the Morningside side? Chef Chris Leung’s Cloud 10 Creamery, the signage for which has been strung up right next door. [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

08/08/13 3:00pm

COMMON BOND COMING TOGETHER IN MONTROSE Culturemap reports a few more details about Chef Roy Shvartzapel’s new pastry cafe, dubbed Common Bond, that’s moving into that 2-suite retail center (with plenty of parking in the back) that’s been going up on the corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy — including the co-aspirants Shvartzapel has persuaded to join him in his lofty quest “to make the best croissants you’ve ever had:” “[The team will] include executive pastry sous chef Jillian Bartolome (Bouchon Bakery at Rockefeller Center, Cyrus), chef de cuisine David Morgan (August Restaurant, Cyrus), head bread baker Drew Gimma (Bouchon, Per Se), assistant bread baker Tony Stein (Bouchon Beverly Hills) and assistant bread baker Alec Bartee (Cyrus).” And when is this place gonna open?Although he says the bakery ‘will not open before we’re ready,’ Shvartzapel hopes to welcome customers in November to demonstrate Common Bond’s ideas about Thanksgiving pies.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Allyn West

08/08/13 1:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: FOLLOWING THE GREAT CHAIN RESTAURANT MIGRATION “The ironic thing is that surburbanites get made fun of for a supposed lack of urban sophistication, and are portrayed as thinking Chili’s/Applebee’s is the pinnacle of good cuisine. Now, a lot of ethnic cuisine cannot be found inside the Loop and you need to go to the Beltway to find it (Indonesian, Peruvian, Nigerian, Malaysian) but we get a Chili’s and an evil Chick-Fil-A right near downtown.” [eiioi, commenting on Comment of the Day: How We’re Remaking the Inner Loop] Illustration: Lulu

08/08/13 11:15am

CHEVRON GETS A CHEVRON-SIZED TAX ZONE DOWNTOWN To further persuade Chevron to build that 50-story tower that it told everyone back in July that it was gonna go ahead and build, city council voted unanimously yesterday to create a tax abatement reinvestment zone for the 2 acres on which the tower would stand at 1600 Louisiana. The resulting cash should help Chevron replace a sewer line on the former Downtown YMCA property, the Houston Chronicle reports. And the Houston Business Journal’s Shaina Zucker adds up all the incentives that might be coming to help out the energy giant: “[The zone] could mean $2.7 million to $3 million for the company . . . . That money would be in addition to the $12 million it could receive from the Texas Enterprise Fund, which Gov. Rick Perry’s office announced in July.” [Houston Chronicle; Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Rendering: HOK

08/07/13 3:00pm

ALLSTON OR NOTHING: SIDE STREET NOW AT CENTER OF ALEXAN YALE APARTMENT DISPUTE About 290 ft. of Allston St. have become the latest point of contention between developer Trammell Crow and Heights opponents to the proposed 5-story Alexan Yale apartment complex. This complex, planned immediately south of the other one, would sit on the block bound by 5th, 6th, Yale, and Rutland, with Allston running through it. The Leader reports that Trammell Crow has requested that the city abandon Allston, which dead-ends just before 5th St., so the complex doesn’t have to be discontiguous; opponents, of course, want Allston to be opened up, to help with traffic and ensure connectivity to the nearby detention basin that’s been proposed as a recreation site. The abandonment request is going to be decided upon soon by a city committee of reps from public works, planning, and the fire department — though Trammell Crow appears to have some leverage, reports Cynthia Lescalleet: “The structure could go even higher, the developer says, if it doesn’t get what it’s seeking. . . . [Trammell Crow] has ‘alternate plans’ that would add two or three floors to the building. There’s also speculation about a possible sky bridge connecting sections on either side of the still-open street.” [The Leader; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Allston St.: Allyn West